Karamba Hostel — Hotel in Valparaíso

We picked this hostel based on its rating on here. I genuinely have no idea how it got it. ||Despite booking 2 beds in the 4 bed dorm, we were put in the 6 bed. We had to remind the guys at least twice that we'd booked for 3 nights and not 2 and it transpired that they'd assumed we were another booking. The 6 bed dorm smelled strongly of urine (hopefully from outside) and both of our duvets smelled faintly of sweat and mould. On one day a woman who possibly worked there was burning incense in the room, a smell which I personally hate and got into our clothes.  ||The beds themselves were comfy enough but we had to make them ourselves and I had no pillowcases. The 'lockers' under the beds were a nightmare and so badly built that whenever anybody used one in the morning, they inadvertently woke the whole dorm up. ||On the top floor there is a single bathroom (with toilet and shower) for around 16 people. The shower alternates between burning and freezing, which meant that waiting just to use the loo could take even longer. The toilet itself was often out of toilet paper and the bin overflowing. The floors in both the bathroom and the dorm were truly disgusting with dirt and hair and we saw the aforementioned woman half heartedly sweeping the floor for around 3 minutes just once. ||The downstairs communal area was ok- the highlight is the lovely terrace with sweeping views of Valparaíso. The kitchen, however, was absolutely tiny with no space to store food other than in a fridge with soaking wet shelves and room for just one person to cook at any given time. Breakfast was ok but probably only because of the in demand toastie maker and on one day they had run out of bread anyway. ||The location of the hostel is good, near a small corner shop and plenty of sights and the things you'll want to do when you're here. But so are a load of other hostels. I wouldn't recommend this...

This hostel was very dirty, unclean- in all the bathrooms, social areas and in the shared dorm were we stayed. On arrival our beds had no sheets and we were therefore expected to make our own bed with sheets that smelt very musty. The shower curtain was in dire need of changing due to the smell, and the shower cap was broken. In the social area, the fridge smelt absolutely horrendous, like rotting food, and the stench hung around once the fridge was opened. We could therefore not bring ourselves to cook our own food in those conditions. The kitchen sink was also filled with remains of food which added to the awful smell in the social area. The place felt like more of a teenagers bedroom than a hostel. Additionally, The place was run by one young guy, who we had to wake up whilst he was in bed in order to check out- very unprofessional. It did not appear that any other guests were here at this point (we did not see anyone else at all)- and we...

I booked for 2 days and stayed a week. The 3 young brothers who run this quirkey hostel is friendly, welcoming, informative and above all accommodating. I was recovering from a cheat infection and they were very nice not to book other guests in to my dorm, and they only put people in with me when they had to. The dorms are lovely and spacious, the communal areas are cosy with a great selection of tv chanells. The boys keep the hostel clean and apart from 1 day there was always hot water, (day after Chile won the cup and the hostel was full). breakfast was always good and there was tea and coffee at anytime. The view from the patio area is very striking, make sure to take pictures when...