Ickota Hostel — Hotel in San Pedro de Atacama

Absolutely amazing place to stay when you're in San Pedro! In short: the rooms are really nice, elegant and perfectly clean; all furniture and equipment is new, high standard and functional (really comfy bed!); there's a really big inner yard with chairs, tables and sunshades; large and well-equipped common kitchen, with delicious breakfast included!; and the owner is the nicest person we've met, speaking perfect English and going out of her way to help us with everything we needed; and all this for an unbelievably low price! :)||||So, me and my girlfriend actually stayed in another place most of our time in San Pedro, and only spent one night in Ickota Hostel, which we found by chance when our plans had changed suddenly and we had to stay one day longer in San Pedro than we originally planned, after coming back from our 4-day Salar de Uyuni trip in Bolivia. And boy, do we wish we found this place first instead of the other one! The other place, despite being nearby and more expensive, was pretty much mediocre, with only basics covered, much lower standards and a busy owner who, while nice, was mostly absent. Meanwhile, Ickota felt more like a really nice hotel, with a very hospitable, awesome host. Let me give you some details.||||Location||10 min walk to the town centre, really quiet, with a grocery store around the corner. the hostel is enclosed with sturdy walls giving you privacy from the outside world, while you can still enjoy fresh air in the spacious yard, having a cold drink in the shade provided by the awnings. Each room has a separate entry directly from the yard, and in the middle there's a nice large kitchen, filled with daylight and really well equipped, with a fridge you can freely use (really important, but, sadly, not a given in San Pedro)||||Rooms||Our room wasn't huge (it wasn't tiny either - from what we've seen such size is pretty much standard in San Pedro), but it looked shiny fresh and brand new, decorated and furnished with taste, as was our bathroom (each room has its own, private one, with a shower and a toilet). The bed was big and comfortable, with nightstands, lamps and electric sockets on each side. There were other amenities and little things that make your life during a hotel stay easier and nicer, like small rugs, a table, curtains to block the heat if you want to, a cabinet or a coat hanger - these may feel obvious, but not all of them are if you look at other places in Chile. ||||Other services||First of all - breakfast! Included in the price, homemade by the owner, fresh, wide choice, yummy, and a lot of it :)||Second, WiFi - good signal and internet speed.||And last but not least - laundry. It was a priority for us, as we had limited supply of clothes (we were backpacking) and we just came back from the deserts of Bolivia. We just packed our clothes in a bag, and for a small fee they've been washed, dried and folded in a record time. Beats any other place I stayed in, including fancy hotels on business trips.||||Extraordinary hospitality||I said it before, but it's worth repeating - the owner is super nice and extremely helpful. She speaks fluent English (again - not something you can take for granted in San Pedro or Chile in general) and made great effort to ensure that our stay was top-notch. Apart from what I described above, she offered to order us a shuttle bus to the Calama Airport the day we were leaving; smoothed it out with the bus driver, who arrived half an hour early demanding that we go with him now even though we weren't ready; and, as our flight was in the afternoon, she let us stay a bit longer past the nominal check-out time so we didn't have to wander with our backpacks in the Atacama heat in wait for the bus.||And, an absolute cherry on top - after we left, when we were already far from San Pedro and not coming back, I realized that I left my pendant, dear to my heart, most probably in the hostel; I contacted our host via WhatsApp, and she replied promptly, offering to send it back to me to Poland - which she did, making sure that I got it! Like I said, the nicest host we've ever met :)||||I know this review looks too rosy and hence suspicious, but I swear I have no affiliation whatsoever with this hostel, other than being a hugely grateful and satisfied guest, and the review is honest-to-gods truth. It's just that it was absolutely refreshing and relaxing to stay in such a comfortable and welcoming place before starting our long journey to the south of Chile. After staying for a week in a mediocre and pricey place in San Pedro, then experiencing the really basic hostels in Bolivia, then after coming back finding out that another hostel we booked for our last night didn't actually have a room for us, coming to Ickota Hostel was this big relief and amazingly pleasant surprise.||||I know that if we ever visit San Pedro again we'll be staying here for sure. Amazing hospitality & great value for a low price. I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone...

Great hostel, 2 min walk from Caracoles Street and short walking distance to some of the best cafes and restaurants in San Pedro. The entrance is very low profile, unlike some other hostels in the area, which is good. Just make sure you don't miss the entrance! Very clean, daily room service. Nice, spacious bedrooms with a proper bathroom and big shower, just what you need after long day tours! It has a nice swimming pool, basically empty all day. All the staff is very friendly, you can hardly notice them. Deborah, at the front office, she's great, just ask, and she will try to accommodate your requests. You can even book your tours with her, so it will be hassle free, she will do all the work, instead of you just walking from agency to agency. There's bikes to rent and a nice patio, where you...

Absolutely amazing place to stay when you're in San Pedro! In short: the rooms are really nice, elegant and perfectly clean all furniture and equipment is new, high standard and functional (really comfy bed!) there's a really big inner yard with chairs, tables and sunshades large and well-equipped common kitchen, with delicious breakfast included! great laundry service for a small fee the owner is the nicest person we've met, speaking perfect English and going out of her way to help us with everything we needed and all this for an unbelievably low price! :)

THE perfect place to stay in San Pedro, we had the most refreshing and relaxing time here, we'll definitely book our stay here if we ever come to San Pedro again, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone...