Pukantu Hostal

Good spot for a night layover in town, helpful staff and comfortable enough room.

Really clean hostel, comfortable and excellent value for money. The staff let us leave our bags when we arrived at 5am - the breakfast was great everything was perfect. The decor was quirky and fun. We had our own balcony over the street.

It was a tall building so lots of stairs which could be a problem for some people. But wasn’t for us.

Very Friendly staff. Several extensions and a booking for another night after the lake tour was very uncomplicated. We were allowed to leave our luggage securely locked away for 1 night during our lake tour. Clean and comfortable rooms. Electric outlets near bed, nightstand tables, night/reading lights. Decent electric heater in room. Very decent breakfast buffet: bread rolls, fruit, butter, jam, ham, cheese, cereal, yogurt, juice, even someone who makes fresh scrambled eggs. Beautiful interior hotel interior with some nice artistic touches. Good location in city center, lose to restaurants, shops, bars. Free toiletries. Hand towels. Daily housekeeping available (we didn't use it). Hot water & tee available at reception. Oxygen (for altitude sickness) available at reception (3 minutes free. Per day? Customer? Stay? Not sure)

Cons/negative: It's a bit loud. Most people do tours and leave early. From 5/6 am on people start making noise, trampling on the stairs and I think around 6am the staff members also start cleaning. Soundproofing is not great and due to the staircase and open hall design theres echos and all noises are amplified. Soundproofing should be improved and the staff should enforce the quiet hours. Rooms on floor 4 and 5 also get some noise from the bars around. Its nothing extreme, heavy sleepers and ear plug users will be totally unfazed. Even though there's a heater it's a bit cold. We had 2 rooms and in the first the heater was loud and annoying. After some hours the room gets decently warm, but the bathroom is still very cold. The bathroom sink was leaking Shower curtains are too short, the whole floor gets wet. Very weak wifi. Eating and alcoholic drinks are forbidden in the rooms.. that's a bit silly I think. So this is definitely more than a hostel. Currently I think it's a great deal if you manage to live with its flaws. If they'd invest in soundproofing, heating/insulation and wifi I think they'd be the best hotel in the lower price range.

The staff at reception & the breakfast chef were very friendly. Despite the bustle of the street below, our room on the fourth floor was nice & quiet. Bed was comfy, & the layers of bedding (duvet & wool blanket) made it very cosy. Our room was compact, but big enough for our purposes & very affordable so won't complain there.

The lack of elevator was a problem for me (as I was struggling with the altitude), my husband had no issues though. Only real issue was the black mold on the shower ceiling. I understand it's likely a ventilation issue, but maybe a sign to open the window after showering would help manage it? Otherwise our room & the premises overall was very clean.