Hostal Casa Huéspedes Turipite — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

This property receives a lot of good reviews based upon location and for this, those reviews are well deserved. It is quiet which you will not find in the town center. In the town center when the lights go down and the tourists leave the packs of dogs take over. Unless you are an extremely heavy sleeper be prepared to be disturbed. If you prefer quiet, a property like this should be welcome. There are also a couple of convenience stores and bakeries nearby. |||| The walk is not as bad as some reviewers have made it out to be. Once you are properly oriented you’ll get to this area from the center very quickly. ||||I strongly advise taking a flashlight with you if you are planning to return after dark. Make sure that vehicles can see you|||| Away from the noise, this property offers clean rooms, a hot shower with plenty of pressure, a few lounging areas and in indoor seating area where breakfast is served. |||| In general terms the bar has not been set very high here where service is concerned. The owners/operators are often absent and difficult to locate although daily cleaning is performed when most people are out partaking in tours. Beyond that, everything service related is rather perfunctory if not completely apathetic.|||| The included breakfast offers a very limited selection of yogurts, cheese, deli meats, a few fruits, hot and cold beverages and sugar coated cereals. Also available as part of your nutritional breakfast is a plate of Oreo type cookies, chocolate chip cookies and cream filled wafers. Going back on the lack of service it was only on my 5th morning here that I was made aware that eggs were on the menu. Apparently the woman preparing breakfast for the previous 4 days doesn’t fancy the trouble of making them. |||| At this point I was of the opinion that the benefits outweighed the disadvantages at the property. That was till checkout. Ownership insisted on using an unfair exchange rate (above both the local and International rate) when calculating the charge to be applied to my credit card. The rate was both above average and well above the typical commission charged by some merchants in order to recuperate the fees charged by credit companies. With my flight transfer imminent there was little I could do. This behavior is not only unfair but also completely unethical. |||| As mentioned previously there are benefits to a property like this and there are many options in this area that comprises a dozen or so square blocks. I strongly suggest giving this one a pass and looking at other options. Bottom line, when you approach someone with the intention of doing business in good faith one always hopes that the party on the other end of the transaction is participant in protecting your interests rather than taking advantage of you....

San Pedro is a small town and most of the tourists are concentrated right in the town center in hotels/hostels right next to mass production souvenir shops, restaurants and tour agencies. If you are looking for a quieter and less touristic place Turipite is the choice (or one of the surrounding options for that matter). It's a short walk (10 min) from the town center and easy to reach and with the benefit to be away from the mass tourism fuss. Some small shops and cafés (which sell f.e. empanadas) are close by. Neither I felt unsafe walking back there in the dark and the property could only be reached with the key. Stepping out of the property on the street you get a nice view of the volcano Licancabur.||The property is really charming, especially the outside area gives you the real desert feel. You can enjoy sitting outside under the shades while the sun is burning hot on the street. The rooms are big and the bathroom is spacious too. Room service was there every day and everything was very clean (which isn't all that easy with all the dust from the desert). Breakfast was basic, but if you don't expect a 5 star breakfast in a hostel, everyone will find something. There were always some fruits as well and sometimes even self-made cake. When we had an early tour they prepared a packed breakfast without any problem. ||Both Christina (the cleaning lady) and Pamela (owner) were friendly and helpful. Christina was always around somewhere and therefor reachable until 3pm and after that Pamela (who was living next door) could be reached by ringing the bell (and we never had a problem reaching her through that). They both don't speak any English I think (which is pretty much the norm all over Chile even in touristic places), so prepare the basic Spanish (or bring a Spanish speaking travel partner). ||If you want to avoid surprises with the payment, book beforehand and pay in cash with US dollars. We paid the exact amount of the booking without...

We (4 men, senior citizens) liked very much our 4 nights stay at Hostal Turipite, a small and pleasant hostel, and recommend with no hesitation booking your stay there when visiting San Pedro de Atacama.||||Our 2 twin bedrooms + private bathrooms were very clean, cozy and quiet.||Pamela, the owner, went out of her way to give us the feeling of being at home, and was always ready to help.||||Due to our very poor Spanish we could not communicate with her, and missed the opportunity to express our gratitude for her kindness and generosity.||||Being a bit far from the city center (10-15 minutes walk), was even an advantage for us, since we learned to appreciate this hostel's tranquility.||||While comparing the pricey accommodations in San Pedro de Atacama with what you pay in Hostal Turipite, the conclusion is quite clear - why pay more when this hostel is truly nice, clean, quiet, friendly and reasonably priced…||||Yossi Kimhi, Mevasseret...