HOSTAL SALARES — Hotel in Tupiza

We stayed in this hostel – and did the salares tours with Santos – the husband of the owner.

IT WAS THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE TOUR DONE IN MY LIFE. I have done many tours in my life and this one is the best. Not only would i recommend Santos from Salares Tours as your guide any day, but also what you will see is AMAZING. This was made amazing thanks to Santos our guide. He took extra care of us, so that we would always avoid other cars or tours doing the same trip. We where always on a perfect timing without feeling stressed. We easily asked for more time when needed. He had us arrive at sites with the best timing of light for photos or simply viewing. We could easily ask for more time at stops, or asked him any time to stop – which he did immediately. ALL WAS ALWAYS EASY. We asked him loads of question and he happily answered 99% of them. Some he honestly said that he didn't know. At the end of our journey he helped us to take really good photos in the salt lakes which brought us good laughs and great memories. Other memorable moments where the night skies, the sunrise on salt lakes, the hot baths, the flamingos, the rock formations... and so much more. At the end of the trip we had tears in our eyes from having to leave Santos – as he really touched our hearts and showed us his soul. We traveled long hours in the car – nearly all day – but the atmosphere was kind and always joyful. THE CAR AND HIS EQUIPMENT IS REALLY GOOD so we didn't feel tired, shaken or tossed around on those desert tracks. Finally we really enjoyed that Santos was more on the cultural side of things as other tours just seemed to be getting drunk and listing to loud music all the time. We never really met or got bothered by these groups, as Santos knew all the short cuts – having done this since he was 14years old. For your personal comfort; People who do this trip must pay attention in bringing warm clothes as the nights are very cold and the hostels you will be sleeping in are not heated. And if you like eating veggies like we do, please tell Santos to only cook veggies and if possible loads of quinoa, potatoes, corn and other local stuff.

As for the hotel: the rooms where clean, the location is quite and out of Tupiza being an easy 10 minutes walk to the towns restaurants. The owners are really nice and helpful. The Wife makes great pancakes with a great smile. Love is everywhere with its peace too. It is possible to have your laundry washed at the hotel. And tow - three daily nice walks can be done in near by canyons. As in all hostels we have been to in Bolivia the blankets are synthetic making us sweat but the rooms the clean

Have Fun and...

My wife and I stayed here for three lovely nights while passing through Tupiza on the way to Argentina. The owners were friendly.

Our room on the second floor was spacious and we had a good view of the mountains on the western part of the city (see attached photo). The hot shower worked well. The Wifi was alright; the signal was stronger in the common area than from our room, but we could still use it for basic stuff from the room.

There is a small shared kitchen that is available for guests' use. But note that the property has a rule of no cooking with onions and garlic, as well as no deep-frying (to avoid the smell permeating through the entire building).

We booked directly via WhatsApp (contact on their website) in Spanish, which was cheaper than doing so on Hostelworld.

Breakfast was not included in our rate, but we could order it for an extra cost. We ordered breakfast for one morning (15 BOB for bread and 1 egg, with coffee/tea and milk). We felt that the portions were quite small, and it would have been better to buy our own produce and prepare our own breakfast.

Laundry is also available at 15 BOB per kilo.

The location was also decent - it took us about 5 mins to walk over from the bus terminal, crossing the river as well as a busy road. Walking to the city centre took a bit longer: about 10-15 mins depending on where exactly...

Our experience of the Hostal was excellent. I can see from reviews and that the staff could be unfriendly if you did not book a tour however we did book a tour and have no complaints..... The hostel is excellent value, the rooms are clean with hot showers- couldn’t ask for better value. Breakfast is nothing special but you do get hot eggs each day which is fairly rare in our experience. || The whole feel was very family orientated, super friendly and helpful and I would definitely recommend.||We booked their salt flats tour, the itinerary was no different to any of the others but it was slightly cheaper and was fantastic. Our driver, David (family member also I think) always tried to get ahead of the crowds and had a really good sense of humour. He was great to be around for 4 days. Even though he spoke minimal English he made it very easy to understand even with our basic Spanish. We did know this in advance and it was a great opportunity to learn more Spanish whilst we were there. ||||Overall would say go for...