Hotel Bavaria — Hotel in Asuncion

The hotel Bavaria is both shielded and discreetly hidden, behind a substantial wall, from the noise and bustle of the busy Calle Choferes del Chaco. Externally with its extensive, broad and arched colonnades enclosing a shady, tranquil and mature tropical garden it reminds the traveller of a substantial Spanish hacienda. Internally however, and as its name suggests, it is furnished throughout in the style typical of southern Germany. Handmade and decorated furniture, flowers in pastel shades of pink and green, and their complementary fixtures fill the commodious guest rooms, and bring to mind an old world atmosphere and tenor. Bedroom windows are magnificent, triple layered structures; wooden sunscreen shutters enclose a fine mesh screen, through which unwelcomed insects may not pass and, finally, panes of glass retain, if desired, the cool atmosphere generated by modern, silent and efficient air conditioning. Bathrooms are both spacious and well equipped, and supplied with copious amounts of hot water. Breakfast is substantial, the large swimming pool especially inviting at the end of a hot and tiring day, the bar contains a fine range of imported beers, the staff are without exception friendly and helpful and, perhaps not surprisingly, many speak German fluently in addition to Spanish. Most importantly, the room rates are very reasonable. In summary, an excellent hotel in every respect; much favoured by Paraguayans, which explains why it is best to reserve your accommodation some days ahead of your arrival.||The only possible drawback, from the travellers’ point of view, is the location of this hotel; which is on the southern border of the Villa Morra district. Asunción remains a horizontal city; in which the middle class continue to live in low rise housing, particularly in and around Villa Morra. Asunción has no metro system and the bus network is, whilst quaint, not for the faint of heart, or weak in limb. Consequently everyone who can takes their car, or a cab; traffic congestion within the city is phenomenal. Accordingly the 16 Km or so journey from the airport to the downtown area, which skirts Villa Mora, may during the early morning rush hour take almost 2 hours by taxi. As almost all of the most important and interesting colonial structures, monuments and plazas are located downtown guests of this hotel must plan carefully their sightseeing.||A viable option is to take pleasure in a leisurely breakfast, during which time the peak congestion will disperse, and then take a taxi to a central location, for example Plaza Uruguaya. Explore the downtown area for the whole day and return in the late afternoon, and before the inevitable homeward bound rush reaches its zenith. Rest, relax and refresh in the hotel Bavaria and then a short cab ride will take you to the heart of Villa Morra, where there are many first class restaurants in which to enjoy an evening meal. In general people dine late in Asunción, arriving at a restaurant before 8 o’clock is rather “out of the ordinary”, consequently the travellers day may start, and finish, somewhat...

We are early into our 3-week stay at the Hotel Bavaria. It is truly lovely, with a verdant garden and small-but-quite swimable pool in the center of a 2-storied expanse of room. With a wide, outdoor "hallway" running the length of all rooms, each room has its own piece of balcony, complete with a table and chairs for al fresco dining or just relaxing. The wifi is absolutely dependable and a big plus. They serve a generous breakfast as part of the price of the rooms (more than continental described in earlier Tripadvisor reviews). The rooms are well-kept and quite sufficient (with large wardrobe for clothes, sofa + 2 chairs + coffee table as well as small refrigerator, small TV (with cable), private bath with generously-sized shower (with older fixtures but dependable water), and an effective wall unit A/C. The room feels quite secure from mosquitoes, with tight-fitting doors and window screens, but can be quite dark when the large shutters are closed (which is very helpful against the semi-tropical heat). We finally figured out to open them in between the screens and windows to let morning light in. ||||The staff seems friendly and efficient, but a MAJOR problem for us as non-Spanish speakers is that it appears that not one person on staff speaks any English. Of course this is a perfectly reasonable situation in a Spanish-speaking country, but from (apparently quite older) reviews on Tripadvisor we expected at least somebody would be able to speak some English. This makes even the most basic communications challenging, while it also means that we cannot effectively use our hotel staff to offer advise and assistance for our trip. (And for us, also means that we wouldn't have stayed here had we known this in advance.)||||Taxis are readily available. (The hotel calls its own service which seems to be even less expensive than conventional taxis.) The hotel is on a busy street, but behind a large wall and placed well back from the street in its own lush gardens, there is virtually no city noise at all. We see buses frequently on our street but have been strongly advised by many to stick with taxis.||||The location is away from the downtown and from the more upscale, new commercial areas, but there are markets, farmacias, small empanada and other quick food stands, and as several have already mentioned, the delightful Taberna la Malquerida just a few blocks up the street for...

My sister and I stayed at the Bavaria Hotel for five days. My son, who is a teacher in Lambare, recommended it and we were very pleased with the facility and grounds. Though some of the plumbing needed updating, we found the cleanliness, the well-kept gardens, and the open-air balconies delightful after hectic days. Though there was a kitchenette in the room, the hotel served continental breakfast with fresh fruit and good coffee. On the weekend, the breads were not as fresh and were toasted. The hotel is conveniently located on a main bus route into downtown or into Lambare. We found a large supermarket about 10 minutes' walk away. An excellent restaurant, El Gaucho, is nearby. The owner is German, so the staff speaks Spanish, some English and Portuguese , along with German. No credit or debit cards are accepted. In all, we could have stayed much longer and enjoyed the hotel and its...