Hostal Mamatierra — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

Nice hostel, cool decor, clean bathrooms, decent rooms, good WIFI. Hostel, however, turned out to be my WORST hostel experience ever (and I stayed in hundreds of hostels both in South America, as well as Europe, Asia, US, Africa). Never experienced such an unpleasantness. In short: all is good and nice until it’s not. If you happen to have any kind of dispute,stay might become very unpleasant. I also imagine the hostel will reply to this review by saying it was all my fault and that I am a difficult client (this seems to be the case with other negative reviews, and also their style of handling the discussion when things get difficult).

In my case, the contentious case was about joining a tour with the hostel. I said I will join the tour with them (due to weather situation it was only decided the tour will go 2 hours before it was supposed to start). I then changed my mind (found a tour leaving from the city immediately so with higher chances of missing the rain) and informed the hostel that at the end I will not join the activity. The hostel requested me to pay full amount saying I cannot cancel and that costs have already been incurred (apparently during this one hour between my confirmation and change of decision). No one informed about any cancellation policies, and in case of a tour being organised with 2 hours notice it didn’t occur to me my cancellation will be an issue.

I do believe that there is a way in each difficult situation and we could meet somewhere in the middle. In this case, the hostel quickly escalated the case, the tone was rude and demanding. It was the first time ever throughout years of traveling that I encountered such an unpleasant way of handling things and addressing challenges. From that moment the hostel seemed to do every possible thing to make my stay difficult. Twice during my stay, I asked whether I can leave my luggage until the evening and wait for my night bus in the common area. They confirmed that twice, but then at the check-out, at 11 AM I heard I can only put my backpack until 1 PM. At that time I already had a day of dessert trip organized. After long requests to be able to store my luggage, they finally agreed. Two hours later (when I was on a bike in a middle of the desert) I got a message I need to immediately take my bags, otherwise I need to pay for an extra night. I was also not allowed to use the common area to wait for the bus. My usual experience in South America was that either hostels allowed to keep the luggage and wait for the night bus in the common area, or inform straight away that this is not possible. In this case it wasn’t only the nuisance and stress, but the I fact that I had to wait for my bus at night at the closed bus station was - in my view - a safety risk no hostel should procure. To add on top of things, the weather conditions were dangerous and in the evening everyone got an alarm that San Pedro has to be evacuated due to the risk of a flood. Even in those circumstances, the hostel required me to leave (well aware everything in town, including bus station, is closed).

As mentioned above, hostel seems really nice and I assume I could have a great stay there. Sadly, it wasn’t the case. I feel like they are very much money-oriented (I assume if I paid for the tour and paid for the extra night to wait for my bus all would be ok).

As mentioned it was the first situation of this kind throughout years of travel. Very sad to see that no amicable dialogue was seeked for, and we immediately entered the war zone.

Very disturbing, very stressful. Obviously it doesn’t have to be your experience and I imagine, if things go easy, you can have a...

I had the most amazing stay at Mamatierra. It was such a refreshing place to stay at after weeks of backpacking and staying in many different hostels, which gave me something to compare Mamatierra to.

The best way to describe Mamatierra is that it is a place where someone asked themselves the question: what are all the little things that are missing or neglected in other hostels that would uplift the guests' stay? And then made sure all these things are there and well taken care of.

The rooms and bathrooms were spotless as they are cleaned every day and bins are also emptied daily. Bathrooms have plenty of toilet paper and hand soap. Showers have soap and shampoo and 24h hot water with good water pressure. A towel is furnished.

The rooms are spacious and well arranged. All beds have lights and electric sockets. The mattresses are comfortable and there are two warm blankets per bed, more than enough to protect you from the cold.

The hang out area is shaded and great to take some rest, read a book or drink a beer. Behind it, the kitchen is also very clean and well equipped, making it enjoyable to cook lunch or dinner there. The included breakfast is tasty and well furnished with fruit salad, eggs, pancakes, jams, spreads, cheese, cured meat, sliced tomatoes, cereals etc. There's tea and coffee. If you leave early for a tour or the airport, you can ask for a packed breakfast to be arranged for you.

WiFi works well and is good given the location.

The hostel is very well located and only a 5 min walk from the main street where you can find everything you need.

Nayira, the manager, was great, professional and friendly. She made me and all other guests feel very welcome from the start. When I needed something, she was both helpful and responsive and made my stay very smooth and stress free.

Given all these positive points, I found the price to be extremely good value.

Mamatierra is the perfect place for you to rest and recharge your batteries while you discover the hidden gems of the...

We absolutely loved our stay at Hostal Mamatierra! Rooms were clean, nice common areas with hammocks and kitchen is very well equipped with all of the essentials including cling wrap, oil and salt & pepper making it very easy and convenient to cook. The hostel also offers complimentary coffee and tea with an excellent variety available - things you don’t always find in a hostel. The breakfast was one of the best we’ve had in South America - a choice between scrambled eggs or pancakes made to order, fruit salad, bread, ham, cheese and a variety of spreads including Nutella! Nayira was so incredibly warm and welcoming and absolutely nothing was too much trouble. We booked all of our tours through the hostel with Nayira’s help and were not disappointed - all were executed at a high standard. Nayira was also very understanding and accommodating when we had to postpone our El Tatio Geysers tour for 24hrs at late notice due to being unwell with altitude sickness. Nayira was such a fantastic host, always very generous with her time and advice. Wifi in the common areas is excellent, but often dropped out in our room - though this may have been because our room was at the end of the hostel. Convenient location with a supermarket next door and only a short walk to the Main Street. All in all an absolutely brilliant stay in San Pedro Atacama, would not...