Hostel Cienfuegos — Hotel in Santiago

For personal reasons, I spent 1 month staying at Cienfuegos Hostel, so I can elaborate on a deep analysis of how I lived that time there.

The experience has been fantastic for 3 reasons: the human warmth of its staff, the price, and the location.

The Positive:

The reception and cleaning staff: Mateo, a very friendly guy always willing to help and share good vibes, Ignacio, very respectful, attentive, and kind, Alvaro, also a very friendly and cordial guy, Estefany, very sweet and kind, always giving off good vibes, a smile, and attention, Marcelo, very kind and cool. Gilmert, a very hospitable guy and great conversationalist, in the human aspect, this staff achieves an unparalleled experience.

Tranquility, in Cienfuegos, you can have your space for silence and reflection as it is characterized by a quiet atmosphere.

Location, it is located in a very central point and close to subways, Plaza de Armas, central station, etc.

Price, the price is very good for what they offer, that is, there are no luxuries, but a simple and quiet experience.

The Negative:

In the kitchen, there is a shelf where guests can leave their food separately, but thefts of food and drinks are common.

Whole teams of workers come in from companies and rent for weeks, and it becomes a bit difficult to coexist during those days since they monopolize the kitchen and make a lot of noise.

There is a person in charge, something like a reception manager, named Claudia, who unfortunately comes to unload her personal frustrations at work, and her treatment can be rough, authoritarian, and hostile; it seems like she chose the wrong profession.

If you want some quiet atmosphere this is the...

This hostel is excellent for workers and digital nomads. It is owned and run by the same people as hostel Casa Roja, located a few blocks away, and if you stay at Cienfuegos you can participate in an social activities organized at Casa Roja if you want to. ||Parking: Safe parking behind locked gate. The parking space is ample and we had no problem fitting 2 motorcycles among 3 -4 cars. ||Room: We stayed in our own room but with the shared bathrooms. The room was nice, had windows that opened to the street, natural light and an office desk with an office chair. It wasn't the most comfortable I have seen, but it wasn't bad for a room with office space in a hostel. ||Bathrooms: Each floor had bathrooms and there were plenty of availability. I never ones had to wait. However, on the third floor where we were staying, only 1 of 3 shower per gender was actually usable (one in the ladies and one in the men's). This was because 1 didn't have a shower curtain and the space was so small you would absolutely soak your belongings, and 1 was just behind a glass door in the corner with no private space to get undressed what so ever. ||Kitchen: The kitchen was pretty small and mostly taken up by people cooking for 40-50 workers that were staying there. They had their own fridge and the general travelers had to share 1 fridge. There were no space to put food that didn't need refrigeration and there were limited pots and pans to cook with. ||Safety: The area is generally safe, just don't run around on the streets with flashy phones or expensive headphones. ||Groceries: The closest grocery store is Tottus (the expensive one) but there are several Santa Isabel shops around...

It's not for western female tourists, it's for Latino male workers who set alarms for 3am that wake you up but they themselves snore through their own alarms and then react violently when you shake them awake to shut their alarms off. Thankfully they let me move to the sister hostel Casa Roja (where the events they advertise are) in a female-only dorm at 3am, but it sucks that I had to deal with being scared of being attacked to begin with. Please if you're a solo female, do not stay here! You'll get creepy looks from the guys in the kitchen and out on the patio, and especially if you're in a dorm, it's too unpredictable. Posting a video of the guy who reacted violently, throwing his clothes around and swinging his arms fast that I was huddled in the corner of my bed scared I would get in his line of fire if I moved.

Only USB ports in the dorms, so you can't charge laptops or use hairdryers or anything that uses a regular plug. Hot showers but small cubicles so your stuff gets wet and the floor gets soaked also. Location is an easy walk to centro and metro.

Big kitchen, but if you want to cook during certain times, there might be workers cooking with 2 giant pots that leave no space for you to make anything in a small pot. Apparently they work there, but also pay to live there so I'm not sure who they cook for.

Be careful of your food in the kitchen cuz when they make food, they take up the entire fridge spaces and even have to put some at reception that's how much food they cook at one time. So they'll move your stuff into a small area of another fridge and you have to play hide and seek to find it (if they hadn't decided...