Hostal Boutique Portobello — Hotel in Valparaíso

GENERAL COMMENT- I suggest that you arrive while it is still light outside. My friend and I (2 women in our late 50's) arrived by taxi around 10 pm. The taxi driver stopped at the top of the hill and requested that we walk to the hostal because he couldn't drive down the one way street. The hostal road narrows to a walking path and is therefore a non-thoroughfare. After seeing a car come up the hill we convinced him to drive us down. We had to stop twice within minutes for directions to the hostal. The next day we discovered that the walk down the hill was not long (maybe 5 minutes) but the lighting at night was very poor and the road fairly steep if you are dragging luggage.||||DESCRIPTION OF ROOM- We stayed in a twin room with a private bath outside the room (Azul room). The upstairs hallway was in the shape of a "U". The private bath was at the top of the stairs at the first point on the "U". Our room was at the last point on the "U". The hall lights were on a timer and therefore off at night. The hall light-switch was not outside of our room. The info we received regarding the location of the bathroom not incorrect, just misleading. At a minimum we should have been provided a flashlight.||The room did not have an outside window that could be opened. The only ventilation we had was from the transom window into the hallway. No fan. ||The door knob spindle was several inches too long. The door knob did not keep the door closed but served to push the door open or pull closed (I wish I had taken a picture of this). The door had one of those little hooks to keep closed. From a security perspective, this room was UNSAFE. ||||The owner offered to move us to another facility but it was after 11 pm and we were only staying the night. We declined his offer to move (before we realized the problem with the door knob). He offered us a discount. The next morning we received a $2 US discount.||||We read the Tripadvisor reviews before booking and after our stay. Our experience was totally different. I can...

I visited Valparaiso for the clean air and to see La Sebastiana, the Neruda Foundation. The hostel is the closest to Neruda, and came with good recommendations. Sadly, this was not my experience. The breakfast did not include filter coffee (only instant), yogurt nor cereal. Instead, it was two soda buns, three cheese slices, and two pieces of salami. I enjoyed cereal, yogurt and filter coffee at other hostels in Chile, so I asked Claudio. His response was they provided Continental Chilean breakfast only, that was that. Then came the cat. Claudio does not have one, but the neighbor does. The cat came in the residence, jumped on the furniture with a dead mouse and made a high pitch screech. It that was not bad enough, the cat made the same screeching noise in the hallway at 4 am. I have a cat but mine does not waked up everyone at 4 am. Claudio said someone else let the cat in, so he is not responsible. The problem really is that Claudio does not live in the house. He lives elsewhere, so he does not have to put up with the cat! I was very disappointed with how the owner responded and for this reason I cannot recommend...

This place is truly charming, and Claudio gives excellent advice on a walking tour. I stayed here alone at the end of a highly unpredictable solo trip to Chile that included losing my wallet before leaving the states, landing during a flood that brought Santiago's running water to a halt, and waiting there for several days to meet a contact, long story. There was no better, warmer place to spend the last night of a somewhat crazy week than this warm, welcoming B&B, with the most kind and genuine hosts. ||||My only regret about Hostal Portobello was that I let another review steer me away from arriving after dark. It's not bad advice to avoid Valparaiso's port after dark, but I wished I hadn't put so much stock in the negative review I read, and spent 2 nights as planned at...