Sala De Payogasta — Hotel in Municipio de Payogasta

We departed the Hosteria ACA, taking the paved road 10 km north to this hotel. Having received our TripAdvisor confirmed reservation, the Spanish speaking receptionist welcomed us, and after filling out the guest form, gave us the key to our room inside the adobe courtyard.||Large stone floored #1 had a comfortable king with 2 nightstands, table and 2 chairs, fireplace, then a nook with a twin bed (we used for storage), a shelved closet and a wall heater. Next was the fully outfitted bathroom with a slippery jacuzzi bathtub shower. ||The backside of our room faced Route 40 with occasional noise from a passing vehicle but otherwise a quiet night’s sleep. We had good open WIFI, but several mosquitoes overnight. The 8AM breakfast in their lovely hall with huge windows facing the scenic farmed valley and the snow covered Andean Chain with 6,380 meter Nevado de Cachi; fruit, yogurt, cereal, homemade multigrain bread, goat cheese, fresh magdalenas, tea and cafe con leche. ||We enjoyed lunch (cabrito asado and vegetable cannelloni with a nice wine selection) across the road at their quaint restaurant where a constant stream of customers filled the al fresco tables. The owner spoke excellent English and was very helpful with information and specific directions concerning sights of interest in this area. ||We chose this hotel for its access to the Granero Incaico-one of many sites of the 2014 UNESCO Qhapaq Nan, Andean Road System, and to depart the next morning for the Enchanted Valley to Salta. ||In our opinion, this unique hotel should be part of the Cachi experience offering good location, a fine restaurant, and...

We thought being a bit outside of Cachi would be serene, but this hotel is just out there without much to recommend it. I would suggest staying in Cachi instead, where you can walk to restaurants at least.||At check in, the young woman seemed annoyed to have to deal with us. It was a big deal to even get a glass of ice for us. The room was large and faced into the courtyard, but even though only one other room appeared to be booked, we were given a room fronting the main road (hearing cars and trucks go by all night long) instead of one facing the Andes. ||The room was stuffy, so the windows needed to be open. But there were no screens on the windows, so flies and mosquitos got into the room, making for a night spent under the thin sheets on the bed. The window needed to be open to get some air. It is outside of Cachi and there is nowhere to walk once you arrive. ||The hotel was advertised as having a restaurant, but we couldn't even get a glass of wine until we went to the restaurant (across the road from the hotel). We were the only guests and the food was fine, but the same young woman from reception was our waitress. She finally smiled once at the end of the meal, but that was it for the day. ||The breakfast room was stuffy and we had to go find somebody to bring some coffee. The food was very minimal, capping a generally unsatisfactory experience. On a positive note, when the toilet backed up, the maintenance man came quickly to fix it and was...

I can usually find something positive to say about a hotel, I dislike writing bad reviews but the Sala de Payogasta is an exception. This is a really run down property - looking at the date of previous reviews it seems nothing has been done to the hotel since 2019 and the arrival of covid. I'm sure it's been tough for them but the property really needs a refurbishment. Room was nasty, peeling paint, very basic, bathroom needs a revamp (bizarrely has a jacuzzi bath but the hot water takes so long to come through it would never fill). From the moment of arrival and the surly non-greeting (we were interrupting her watching a film) to the check out we hated our stay. There was a gas fire in the room (working fireplace was a black hole) which took ages to light but we turned it off for fear of carbon monoxide. We had asked about dinner but when we went into the restaurant room it was strewn with the previous meal's debris - dirty plates and glasses and old food. We said it was dirty and would go into Cachi - thumbs up from the receptionist! We didn't bother with breakfast, we just wanted to leave. The photos on the website are obviously old and are not what it's like today. Ah yes, a good point: whoever cleans the rooms does an okay job, sheets too. Really, until they get their act together, stay...