Hotel El Encanto — Hotel in Providence Island

This place is not on the beach. That means you do not go to sleep to the sound of the sea. It also means you do not go to sleep to the sounds of a restaurant or people chatting and drinking or having a bonfire on the beach at night either. It is on a hill across the street, which means you go to sleep and wake up to a gorgeous view of the sea, and total peace and quiet. ||||So it is a trade off. If going to sleep to the gentle sound of waves is primary to you, then this is not the place for you. But if a gorgeous view and total peace and quiet is your thing, with wonderful owners who help you with anything you need, I can't imagine a better place in the world to stay. And, there are fridges in the rooms so you can keep yogurt or cheese and the like cold.||||Just down the street from the supermarket, restaurants; it could not be more conveniently located. And the beach it is across the street from is lovely. Southwest beach gets all the kudos, but it is completely different, with on the beach restaurants and lots of drinking. This beach is quiet and lovely. Twice while on my run in the early morning on the beach, I saw a neighbor bathing his horse in the sea. What a memory!||||This is a family owned place, and the family that owns it is completely fabulous. So kind, so helpful, and just very interesting people. Breakfast is great. And, when I dive, I prefer to eat hard boiled eggs, because I tend toward seasickness, so I can just eat the white and some bread and help myself out. They had no problem doing this for me, and also, making me extra for the next day, when I was going birdwatching before breakfast even opened.||||Anything I hoped for, they helped arrange, Who is the most knowledgeable bird guide on the island? They made calls and found out, and arranged a day and price for me. What is the name of this tree? They knew. They even pointed out blue lizards to me when I was having trouble finding them. And one day when the divemaster kindly gave me a filleted lionfish he caught on one of our dives, the brother-in-law of the owner prepared it for me!! Once, some baby chickens got stuck in the storm drain, and I asked them if it was ok for me to go on the neighbor's property to rescue them. They went and got them out themselves!||||It is also located next to a lovely piece of forest and scrub, which held many of the birds on the island as well as all the lizards. I never had to go far to watch wildlife! I sincerely hope no one ever destroys this habitat, because it was amazing in the wildlife it held. And they not only have a lovely garden in the center of the hotel, with a hammock and tables for enjoying the garden, but they have their own garden behind the hotel, with lemon trees and papaya, and they often make their morning juice out of produce from their garden when it is in season.||||I have to take issue with the reviewer who said the place was run by elderly folks. I guess if you are 22, someone 63 seems old. But the owner is not old, he is a young middle age, and the rest of the family, such as sons and brothers-in law, are not either. Everyone is on top of their game, helpful, loving and kind. I would not stay anywhere else, and I checked out several other places. And their prices are very reasonable; about 1/3 of the price of some of the beachfront places.||||I wish I were there now. I can not recommend El Encanto...

I don't think we could have asked to stay at a better place in Providencia! It was an adventure just getting to the island but once we checked in with Barry we felt like we had finally arrived. Our room was a perfect size and had great sea views. The breakfast each morning was prepared by Fermin which was eggs with toast and juice and coffee. He was even kind enough to be our moto-taxi to and from old-town as well. His daughter Natalie was great as well as she seemed to be a wealth of knowledge about the island and where to go.

The super mercado was only a few minutes walk and a small beach was just across the street which also housed Felipe's Dive shop which is the best on the island. A few minutes walk in the other direction gets you to Southwest Bay that has some of the best spots for lunch and drinks.

The only drawbacks for us were the shower which came out more like a hose than a spray, but its definitely an easy fix and could have just been ours. There also no hot water yet but there did seem to be wiring already in place. The only other drawback was the lighting inside the courtyard. It was really bright and it lit up our room at night. Enough so that if we woke in the middle of the night, we weren't sure if it was 2 am or 6am.

Again, our stay here was certainly a highlight of our trip to Colombia and between Benjamin, Fermin, Barry, and Natalie, I don't think that there's anything they can't help with to make your stay...

The place is run by an elder couple. They are really nice and helpfull. They even prepared us a breakfast earlier in the morning as we had a morning flight. The rooms are comfy and clean, with big bed and A/C. Every morning you get a breakfast with fresh juice. The beach is just on the other side of the road, you can watch sunset there. The hotel is quiet, no noise from the road gets there. On the road you can easilly catch a mototaxi to the town or...