Palcos de Apalta — Hotel in Santa Cruz

This is a wonderful place to stay in Chile's Colchagua wine valley. We loved it. Some features may make it not ideal for certain guests (see later). For most folks it will be a magical and unique place to stay in the region. The positives are many - the amazing setting and view being foremost. Four container glass boxes with modern amenities and comfort built into a hillside, each with a lovely terrace of walnut shells, repurposed wood furniture and careful landscaping of garden boxes and local plants. The stay is low key-luxury....rooms are tastefully decorated with wonderful modern and classic mixes of style and function. The bathroom and shower have good hot water and pressure, the bed is extremely comfortable, with top notch linens. The effort that has gone to paying attention to details, especially in reuse of material and awareness of biodiversity is commendable. A hot tub under the starts is a great bonus. Breakfast is sufficient and thoughtful in variety and certainly in quantity. You have a small fridge and good air conditioning. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the peaceful and beatuiful view, although I wanted to look at every little plant they had planted in our little garden boxes and down the hill. ||||||The caveats to the wonderful stay may be definite concerns for some people - and insignificant to others -so I will list them for your own assessment. First, there is no person on site, no reception – you will be strictly dealing via text or messages from your booking site with the host. On the plus side, the host is very responsive and immediately communicates with excellent English, so we had no issues. For us, on the negative side, communication is only ideal and rapid via free texting using WhatsApp and if you have an aversion to placing a Facebook-Zuckerburg application on your phone, this is not ideal. You can communicate via the booking site or other means, but its not as efficient. Unfortunately most of this part of the world seems to prefer WhatsApp text as the only form of communication, so if traveling in Central or South America you will often be left no choice but to install this- with all the associated concerns. Second, payment is requested via a Chilean online paysite in advance of stay, and the option to pay through credit cards directly or as archived on the online international booking sites used to book the stay does not yet exist. Again, if you are averse to providing payment information to a site you have no familiarity with, it is a hindrance. On the plus side, the pay bank site is easy to navigate, we paid easily. I think the owners will soon see that placing a higher price on the rooms to cover booking site fees and allowing prepayment through the travel sites advertising the place are more convenient for travelers coming from beyond Chile. The directions to Palcos are very clear, you need a car to get here, but the very rocky, steep and uneven short ‘dirt road’ that leads to the paved road for the Palcos may be a concern to some city drivers....it is best traveled by 4 wheel drive or SUV. Having said this, we had a very small car with zero uphill power that managed it with some careful effort to avoid rocky areas. The owners explain the common stretch of road cannot be paved without agreement of other community owners, so this is not the fault of the Palcos, as clearly indicated by the very nicely paved longer road stretch they have leading to their small parking lot, but perhaps some flattening of larger bumps and valleys can be done. Finally, the steps leading up to these units wooden open riser style, are numerous, built into a hillside and most definitely any person with accessibility issues should be aware of this before booking. We had a few other minor room issues which do not warrant mentioning, as the host likely takes care of them before the next person's stay.||||All in all, the previusly mentioned concerns were minor for us, and will likely not thwart most people who have already made it to this part of Chile.||We were extremely happy we selected this place. The light at twlight is pure magic, the view and setting is wonderous, the plants are beautiful, the room is comfortable. There is so much care taken with so many details, and you simply have to applaud these owners for creating this...

Nos alojamos en el Palco 4 de Palcos de Apalta, y si bien la vista es realmente espectacular, hay varios puntos que es importante considerar antes de reservar.||La habitación ofrece una panorámica preciosa, ideal para desconectarse visualmente. Sin embargo, el acceso es por largas escaleras, lo que no lo hace apto para personas con movilidad reducida.||El camino hasta el lugar requiere sí o sí un vehículo SUV, ya que es pedregoso y complicado para autos convencionales.||Uno de los aspectos más decepcionantes fue el aseo. La señora encargada llegó después del horario acordado, fue muy hostil en el trato (incluso nos ignoró cuando le agradecimos), y la limpieza fue apenas regular.||La atención por WhatsApp, en cambio, fue excelente. Karina siempre estuvo atenta y respondió rápidamente nuestras dudas.||Lo más grave y que empañó completamente la experiencia fue la falta de transparencia respecto al ruido constante de una planta de áridos cercana. Nos enteramos por comentarios en TripAdvisor, y lamentablemente lo confirmamos al llegar: ruidos intensos de maquinaria pesada, piedras y locomotoras desde muy temprano —el domingo comenzó a las 6:00 am y el sábado a las 7:00. Reservamos con dos meses de anticipación y el viernes, antes de viajar, intenté suspender la reserva al enterarme de estos ruidos. Aun así, el dueño nunca nos avisó de esta situación ni aceptó la cancelación. Nos dijeron que no podían devolver el dinero porque no era responsabilidad del hotel, pero cuando se promete privacidad y tranquilidad, este nivel de ruido lo vuelve completamente incompatible. Además, nos mencionaron una supuesta resolución que impediría estas faenas, pero las máquinas siguen activas a plena madrugada.||Sería un lugar maravilloso si realmente ofreciera paz. Pero mientras esta situación continúe y no haya transparencia desde la administración, no lo recomendaría para quienes buscan...

We had an amazing 2 night stay at Palcos de Apalta for our anniversary trip. The room was adorable with incredible views. We enjoyed eating the delicious breakfast spread provided for us each morning on our deck. The sunset views were unparalleled and we enjoyed lounging in the hot tub in the evening. Our only complaint with the room is that it got very hot in the afternoon/early evening. However, the views, quaintness of the room, and impeccable customer service more than made up for it. It has a great location with world class wineries only 5-10 minutes away. We would...