Hostal Los Uros — Hotel in Puno

I stayed in Hostal Los Uros twice overnight while visiting Puno with my partner in November 2015. We failed to do our tripadvisor research in advance and took a gamble with a lonely planet recommendation. Our first stay was actually really decent, but our second was not - mainly due to the location of the rooms.||||PROS|| - CHEAP - It cost us 50 sol for a double room with private bathroom. This did not include breakfast.|| - CLEAN - Although the hostal had a very run down and depressing feeling, the rooms were clean.|| - FRIENDLY STAFF - Spoke English, although a bit pushy with the tours|| - LOCATION - This was within walking distance to the touristic heart of the city. However, it was quite a distance from the bus station and I would recommend getting a taxi (we walked it but I wouldn't recommend it). It is within walking distance to the port if you intend on doing a boat tour of Lake Titicaca.|| - HOT WATER - Worked and was plentiful.|| - WIFI - The wifi worked surprisingly well for Peru and I was actually able to use it to upload most of my photos onto my online cloud overnight. I believe the internet is ADSL 2+||||CONS|| - SMELL - The entire hostel smelt very strongly of paint|| - NOISE - On the first night we were located in a room in the back of the property. This was fairly quiet although people chatting in the open courtyard in the morning woke us up. On the second visit we were placed in a room on the street and this was VERY noisy and we had a awful sleep as a result.|| - NOT A FIXED PRICE - We didn't book this in advance on either occasion. The first night we were charged 50 Sol for a private room with bathroom. On return we were quoted 60 sol for the same room, which was a little confusing. We were able to 'negotiate' it down to 50 sol however after this I noted in his book that the prices that each room have been booked for have actually been recorded. Our original room was 30 Sol! Some were listed as low as 20 sol! I noted our price of 50 Sol was by far the highest out of the 25 or so rooms listed and I think you get 'tourist rates'. For this reason I would barter hard (attempt 30 Sol for double with private bathroom).||||Overall this isn't the best place to stay, although your experience will depend on your location of your room (make sure you don't get it on the street) and your bartering skills. If you are a budget traveller you will find this place...

I stayed in Hostal Los Uros twice overnight while visiting Puno with my partner in November 2015. We failed to do our tripadvisor research in advance and took a gamble with a lonely planet recommendation. Our first stay was actually really decent, but our second was not - mainly due to the location of the rooms.||||PROS|| - CHEAP - It cost us 50 sol for a double room with private bathroom. This did not include breakfast.|| - CLEAN - Although the hostal had a very run down and depressing feeling, the rooms were clean.|| - FRIENDLY STAFF - Spoke English, although a bit pushy with the tours|| - LOCATION - This was within walking distance to the touristic heart of the city. However, it was quite a distance from the bus station and I would recommend getting a taxi (we walked it but I wouldn't recommend it). It is within walking distance to the port if you intend on doing a boat tour of Lake Titicaca.|| - HOT WATER - Worked and was plentiful.|| - WIFI - The wifi worked surprisingly well for Peru and I was actually able to use it to upload most of my photos onto my online cloud overnight. I believe the internet is ADSL 2+||||CONS|| - SMELL - The entire hostel smelt very strongly of paint|| - NOISE - On the first night we were located in a room in the back of the property. This was fairly quiet although people chatting in the open courtyard in the morning woke us up. On the second visit we were placed in a room on the street and this was VERY noisy and we had a awful sleep as a result.|| - NOT A FIXED PRICE - We didn't book this in advance on either occasion. The first night we were charged 50 Sol for a private room with bathroom. On return we were quoted 60 sol for the same room, which was a little confusing. We were able to 'negotiate' it down to 50 sol however after this I noted in his book that the prices that each room have been booked for have actually been recorded. Our original room was 30 Sol! Some were listed as low as 20 sol! I noted our price of 50 Sol was by far the highest out of the 25 or so rooms listed and I think you get 'tourist rates'. For this reason I would barter hard (attempt 30 Sol for double with private bathroom).||||Overall this isn't the best place to stay, although your experience will depend on your location of your room (make sure you don't get it on the street) and your bartering skills. If you are a budget traveller you will find this place...

After not going too far wrong following recommendations in the Lonely Plant guide book we again followed this tried and tested method after arriving in Puno only to be well and truly let down.The guy in reception (Celestino) was quite friendly and apart from the location he was the only redeeming feature the hostal had to offer. The room we were put in was the worst we stayed in during our three weeks in south america. ||||Immediately upon walking into our room we were hit by the fresh smell of paint but once this subsided a curious smell of pickled onions emerged. The room had been hastily made and appeared to have been cleaned by Stevie Wonder as dirt was present in all those oh so difficult to clean corners of the room. One of the beds was missing a pillow and no towels were available, to be fair after speaking to Celestino this situation was soon rectified. He needn't have bothered though as the shower was clock cold and went unused. In common with the shower the room was also freezing although heaters were available for hire although being the tight Yorkshire men we are we refused to purchase one and instead opted to drink enough alcohol until the cold was no longer an issue. ||||When we checked into the hotel we made it clear there was a possibility of us staying a second night so god knows why they didn't bother putting us in one of the better rooms (which had been cleaned and...