Hostal Atacama Ancestral — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

Meant to be a hostel with a handful of private hotel-ish rooms tacked on. Small and crowded: can’t use the bathroom with the door closed, shower is the shape and size of the average postage stamp. Overpriced for what you get, but that’s true of every property in SPdA so won’t hold it against them. Check in was bizarre. Arrived around 5 or 6 pm, rang the bell, no answer. Continued ringing for ten minutes before walking around and knocking on doors and windows. A small child eventually answered. Odd. Continued to hear the bell go unanswered and let people in myself on a few occasions since my room was unfortunately closest to the entrance. Not a professional first impression. Kitchen available with coffee and tea. Laundry sink for handwashing clothes. Wifi slow and unreliable, worked about two-thirds of the time I was at the property. Management communicated well over WhatsApp, shame that wasn’t employed to make arrival and check in more…normal. Location is fine, away from the core but in such a small town that’s just a ten minute walk. Multiple mini-marts around for water and supplies. The shared rooms likely offer better value. I’d try my luck elsewhere for a private...

Stayed here recently and had a great experience. The room was nice and clean and its very close to the center of town (literally like a 5 minute walk, if not less). We arrived at San Pedro earlier than what we had told hostel staff the day before, so i contacted them and they said we could check-in early. We rented 2 rooms with private bathrooms for 4 days and 3 nights. The rooms were spacious and the beds were very comfortable. Originally i hadn't planned on spending a lot of time in the hostel other than for sleeping at night, but we ended up spending a lot of time just hanging out in the common lounge area, it was very nice. Everything from the accomodations to the hostel staff was great. Communication was great as well, they're always available via WhatsApp. On our last day we were scheduled to be picked up at 4:30pm and even though check-out was at 11am-12pm, we were allowed to stay in the room for much longer and allowed to use all the facilities until we were picked up. I highly recommend this hostel to anyone planning to visit San Pedro. Also, can't forget to mention the...

Camino a Toconao can be confused with Calle Toconao and I had a bit of trouble finding this guest house, as street signs are scarce. This hostal lies on the dusty edge of town, where the nearest landmark is the Customs post. I could have done without the mosquito in my room. Not a bad place otherwise with a friendly tortoiseshell cat in the patio and there are facilities for washing clothes, which dry in minutes in the desert sun.||||If arriving in San Pedro from Argentina, it's probably best to buy your ticket in Salta even if you plan to start at Jujuy. The Pullman ticket office in Jujuy isn't always open and there is no Geminis office at all. You can always use Andesmar if you want to start at 2.45 a.m.!||||San Pedro is expensive and very busy these days, hosting a cast of Ben Hur in February. It's however unavoidable for visiting the impressive...