Hotel Costa Fósil — Hotel in Caldera

Caldera is popular with local tourists during summer - so being too picky about the hotel (especially if you have no advance reservation) may not get you too far.||||Arriving early in the morning, we managed to secure a room for the next night, even though the room was not available right away as the hotel was full the night before. But we could leave the luggage there while walking around the town.||||No English is spoken at the hotel - but frankly, it does not take sophisticated linguistic skills to get a room in any country in any language, does it?||||The room wasn't very big, but it had have a private bathroom - so as said in the title, nothing special, but perfectly acceptable.||||The hotel is next to the main plaza (which has a tourist information kiosk), there are several grocery shops are around, the bus station is on the same street just 4 blocks away.||||It is a reasonable compromise to stay in a hotel like this in Caldera overnight - and spend the day on a beach in nearby Bahia Inglesa. Frequent taxi collectivos go there for about 1000 pesos, so one can enjoy the more "posh" environment without paying the much, much higher accommodation...

That Costa Fosil is considered by TA and guidebooks the best option in Caldera says more about the town than about the hotel. It is a relatively large hotel and conveniently situated near the central plaza and the waterfront. The balcony has an interesting view of abject poverty. However, our room was clean, comfortable and spacious. The bathroom offered a shower with hot water and strong pressure (not to be taken for granted in Chile!). The man at reception was exceptionally congenial. He offered us secure parking, a great restaurant recommendation, and chatted animatedly about things to do and see in the area. The breakfast area features an enormous 3-D map on the wall of the area, which is fun to peruse while digesting the mediocre carb-heavy breakfast. I should second other reviews, which attest that Caldera is a much cheaper option than Bahia...

I wouldn't visit this place ever again. The receptionist was terrible, he barely paid attention to us and once we finally got his attention he replied in a very unfriendly way so we just left. He never even offered an alternative and just ignored us until we basically left.||||We had already booked a room there, so it wasn't as if we just arrives out of the blue. So to me it was very disappointing as I came all the way with my family.||||We are NEVER going back to this place. It gave us a terrible first impression. Don't go there. There are better...