Hotel Solymar Galapagos — Hotel in Parroquia Bella Vista

This is the review that reveals the true ugly side of this hotel, a bit long but worth the trouble it might save you. The Isla Sol tower across the street where we stayed might as well be a different hotel. It does not meet the expectations painted by the hotel ratings with musty smelling rooms, moldy showers and broken doors (which I will touch on later.) The problems really started on our 2nd day. To preface this, my mom and I are foreigners, with her speaking not a word of Spanish and me being and inexperienced teen, we’re easy pickings for exploitative business practices. We were told we had to move out of our room and into a smaller, darker room by tomorrow for an unspecified repair. It was only later that day in the evening that we were ever informed that the pipes were old and the water pressure may cause it to explode. Should this be the case, then we were put at risk for an entire day without knowing how to avoid the danger. However, it was a poorly disguised way to vacate our room (which had space enough for one more bed), in order to move in a family of four paying more per night (even though we had already booked the room for 2 more nights). This was the reason we were told they needed the room in the evening as well. Here the poor service comes in. When I asked the front desk, Francisco, about evidence as to the “bad thing about our room”, he initially avoided my questions all together even though I was standing right in front of him. Then, he said it was internal piping and that we could not see it. This conflicts with his earlier story of how staff had gone into our room to confirm the condition of the pipes. It was only after I questioned how the hotel could see signs of a “problem” yet couldn’t show it that he begrudgingly took me to the water tanks below our room. These showed a below average pressure of 30 psi, which the weak flow from the shower head confirms. Francisco also did not follow up my request to speak with the maintanence personnel hired or the request for any sort of proof of payment for the repair. Not only was Fransisco unhelpful, but that coy corporate smile and honeyed tone with which he delivered every lie unsettles you. My mom had not wanted to move because the musty dark new room worsened her nausea and headaches, but fearing any real danger, we eventually moved after persistent requests and incentives. The dislodged door handle on the new room 2202 was a sign of things to come. We had only ever had to open the door from the outside, shoving our luggage in before dawn then hurrying for our tour group through the still open door. However, while the handle worked from the outside, it was nonfunctional from the inside, causing any guests to be locked inside should it close. This we discovered our first night sleeping there. Adding to that, the shower gel and shampoo dispensers also don’t work and the sink is filthy upon closer inspection. When these issues were brought up with the manager assistant, she was worse than unhelpful, often sitting in silence, refusing to acknowledge us or disappearing all together. She had even tried to have us sleep in a hastily modified gym/spa whilst not mentioning a word of a refund or compensation. The manager even let slip we were being moved around so the room can be rented to another family, this is confirmed by us literally running into the new guests the very next day and SEEING them go into our old room. If they had really been trying to repair our room, why couldn’t they move us back in after? Why couldn’t we simply lock our luggage away and have the repairs done during the day? How was it that the “high water pressure” throughout the hotel only endangered one room? It was only with the help of the new front desk lady that day that we were able to arrange for a change in hotels and our luggage moved the next day, and I thank them for that. But still to this day we received no apology for the poor treatment. They even avoided refund by disguising their lie of a fake maintenance issue with the actual broken door! In summary, Solymar and Isla Sol is propped up by the seaside view, everything else is acceptable at best and disgusting at worst. Overpriced stay for the experience, if you want to sea wildlife, go snorkeling and for the sea lions, literally walk along the shore, you won’t miss them. Avoid if you don’t wish to be exploited, and avoid based on principle also.||||Much, much better lodging and breakfast at Hotel Boutique Acacia, short distance from Darwin center and the shore with friendly staff....

So glad we stayed here and it was 100% worth it to upgrade to an ocean view balcony. I rarely pay for uograded rooms because I’m typically not lounging around the hotel, but activities The Galapagos are so tiring, that we really appreciated having this beautiful ocean view and nice balcony to watch wildlife right from our room! we stayed here as a family of three, and although the rooms are typically made for two, we found it comfortable for three (they added a single bed). I loved using the screen door so that we could be lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean at night. We were able to see when the fisherman were coming in with their catch and run down to take photos of the animals trying to steal fish when they came in. We also really enjoyed the restaurant. Jordan, who works at the restaurant is a new amigo! He was so friendly and helpful! He was so kind to make up a plate of food and deliver it to our room when our son wasn’t feeling well. Every time we went to the restaurant or spent time in the outdoor lounge or pool area, we saw pelicans, Marine iguanas, sea lions, blue footed, boobies, Sally Lightfoot crabs, even a daily visit from a heron. We stayed here twice during our trip, and were able to leave a few items here that we didn’t need on Isabela, which made it easier to not be overweight for our interisland flight. It was also very easy to do laundry here. The hotel made a great homebase and we felt so comfortable and at home here! Even our quick dry clothes never got completely dry in The Galapagos, so we ended up doing laundry frequently. WiFi worked well. Such a convenient location to different restaurant options and tours. I recommend the blue footed booby cocktail at the restaurant. We had a number of meals here, were happy with the food and thoroughly entertained by all the wildlife hanging around the restaurant!...

You can't really get more central than this hotel. It is right on the main strip so you have restaurants and shops right on your doorstep. The ATM is also nearby as are a couple of mini markets. You can walk to the boat pier and the Darwin Research centre and there is a small Handicraft Market with booths almost across the road. It can get noisy with music that you can hear from your room so something to be mindful of. It is also so close to the fish market you can see it from your room window. I was able to keep an eye out and then head out when the activity started.|I just had breakfast here and it was all ok and service was fast. I was in the building opposite the main lobby. This side no longer has a manned reception desk with the area now housing tea and coffee making facilities with a kettle you can use if (like me) you bring your own soup powders and pot noodles! i also liked that every floor had huge water cooler tanks where you could refill your bottles.|The undoubted highlight though was seeing some wildlife at the hotel itself. The sea lion had snared one of the sun loungers for the afternoon and also a blue footed booby turned up on the outside wall at the dining...