El Puesto Hostal — Hotel in Río Ibáñez

After reading what a wonderful place this eco-friendly Hostal El Puesto was (and they truly are eco-friendly), we 4 older adults were so impressed and overwhelmed by the hospitality and care that we experienced at this most beautiful and comfortable place. From the moment we checked in with Michelle, who spoke English very well until we left, we were treated extremely well by very caring staff and the owners. We arrived at 10:00 pm in the cold and rain and they went out of their way to provide us a delicious dinner. Tamara, one of the owners and our chef did her best to accommodate my husbands and my gluten-free request. We loved relaxing in the living room when we were there reading from an array of books. Our rooms were clean, warm and the bed was so comfortable I hated leaving it but I knew I didn't want to miss the wonderful breakfast- including delicious brewed coffee. The shower was also perfect. They also helped us secure a tour of the Catadrals de Marmol and also gave directions to see 2 glaciers. No words can express the beauty of the entire area- in our top 5 most amazing places we've ever been to!! Our tour guides from their own travel company- I apologize that I cannot remember their names were excellent and did their best to take us to different caves that most people don't go to. A word of advice about the drive to the hostal from the Balmaceda airport: 3-4 hours- do not rent from Europcar. They put over a $1000 US hold on our credit card and for 3 weeks would not reply to remove it after we returned the car. I had to resort to posting on their FaceBook page and only then did they remove the hold. There are other car rental places at the airport and in the city of Coyhaique- 50 min away. The drive to the hostal from Balmaceda has spectacular scenery and most of the drive is on a gravel road so if you can go during the daytime it's well worth. We look forward to visiting the caves again some day and staying at Hostal El Puesto. You...

One of our most unforgettable experiences. We were treated like VIPs as soon as we met our friendly guide aptly named Macarena aka “Maca”||We were a small group and the other couple that were with us were very helpful with translating the information that Maca freely shared with us on the way up to the glacier.||Before we started our hike out to the glacier, we stopped to get our gear at their base camp in the mountains. We packed our ice crampons, snow gaiters, sunglasses, sunblock, gloves, helmets and of course snacks. We brought only a little bit of water as Maca told us we could drink the glacier water!! We were looking forward to that!||She double checked our gear, made sure we were suitably dressed for the weather and off we went. We were impressed with how professional everything about our tour was. ||But of course, seeing and hiking on an actual glacier was the highlight. And we were overwhelmed with views we saw… it was one amazing view after another! ||Thank you El Puesto Expediciones for the...

We didn’t like village of Puerto Rio Tranquilo much. Its a place with no infrastructure and overpriced. It’s also very irritating to have all those people on the main road trying to sell the boat trip to the same cave, where - by the way, you can not enter. You can only see it from the outside. The El Puesto Hostal is the most beautiful place here and it’s immaculate. Absolute perfection. We also booked the kayak trip with them and it was awesome. We went there very early, way before everyone else arrived. However, this has its price and its not cheap. Is it worth to spend 300 $ to see this caves? I would say: maybe not. We went to puerto Guadal afterwards and liked the village a lot better. The hike to glaciar Leones is also awesome but it’s impossible to get to the entrance of the park where the hike starts without a jeep. The terrain can also be overflowed with...