Hotel Casa Texel — Hotel in Panajachel

We happened upon this hotel in Panajachel after discovering that the road was washed out to the hotel which we had previously reserved. Most of the hotels in town were sold out, so we were happy to find a room at this one. While the rooms are pretty sparse, they are clean and comfortable. The hotel staff is super friendly and very accommodating. ||||The view from the top balcony of the hotel is pretty good, although better photographs of the volcano can be taken from the bank of the lake.||||Off street parking is a major plus and hard to come by in Panajachel, although the parking lot is pretty tight and it took some maneuvering to get in and out of the hotel. Especially the next morning when the parking lot was full!||||The hotel gets pretty noisy at night. This is more or less the environment in Panajachel and not really any fault of the hotel. We ventured off the next day to a quieter side of the lake for a more restful time. People should keep in mind that they're in a hotel and not a night club when hanging out late at night. Noise really echoes through the U-shape parking lot and structure of the hotel, this is typical of Spanish style architecture which features tile floors.||||I do NOT recommend frequenting the coffee shop located immediately next door to the hotel, which is part of the hotel. Read my separate review for that establishment, the person working there during the evening, appears to be the polar opposite of the friendly and helpful...

The reason I gave location a 1 star is because of the constant noise all around, whether it’s tuk-tuk’s, motos & trucks ripping up & down the road & all the engine noise echoing up through the courtyard, or the roosters getting started at 4am, there is no quiet room in this hotel. Kids screaming in the street after 10pm, & now at 6:30am I have furniture being rearranged above my room, scraping tables & chairs along the floor as they move everything around. Even if I wasn’t already up, this would have woken me. I can’t wait to get away from this lake.

Oh, & in case you don’t sleep well in rooms that have a lot of light in them, the double blinds do nothing for the led light pointing straight at them from the stairs. Fortunately, I’m tall, so I was able to stand on a table I moved to the window & put one of the blankets from my bed over it to darken the room so I could sleep. There’s this big, odd opening between the bedroom & living space, not sure why they didn’t put a curtain rod in that so you could darken the sleeping area.

Silly to have the bedroom door lock when there is a massive opening...

I couldn't find the hotel I had reservations at, so I stumbled across Hotel Casa Texel as it had a great location and off-street parking. Not having pre-reservations through booking.com or anything, I probably paid more than I should have for my sixteen-year-old son and I, but it was worth it. Even though it was late when we got in, say around 8:00 p.m. in November, everything was still bustling so we went out walking in the town. The lady at the front desk was super nice and answered all our questions, including directing us to an ice cream parlor about a half mile away. Long story short, I found Casa Texel by accident but would to stay here whenever I am back in Lake...