Hotel Bélgica — Hotel in Ponce

Our stay here started off so nice, we were greeted with such a lovely welcome and a map with a description of places to eat and what was open. No elevator, so they carried our bags up. The lobby is beautiful and historic, the room was spacious with a large, shared balcony and exquisite old door leading to the balcony. The bed had a thick foam pad but was comfortable, the ceilings were maybe 20’ high. When we first entered our room, I commented that I felt how a famous actress might feel in the 1950s at a fancy hotel. Note: We usually stay at inexpensive hostels. The bathroom was perfectly adequate with plenty of hot water in the shower, though the walls reached maybe 10-12’ up — leaving an exposed gap to the rest of the room, which did minimize bathroom privacy when sharing the room with my partner, but our custom is to leave the room or hang out on the balcony when one of us is in the restroom. Anyway, the location is amazing! 30-seconds from the main square, excellent coffee and acacia bowl around the corner, and access to some of the most beautiful architecture I’ve ever seen (all over Ponce). I felt like we were staying in an old, historic, maintained but not modernized hotel that perfectly accented the feeling of Ponce. If the hotel was updated, we couldn’t have afforded it. If you like top notch, modern hotels…. Then this might not be for you, but I’d 100% stay here again and recommend to others. With Covid, we didn’t expect our room to be cleaned… but it was and included many thoughtful touches. I did read in the reviews that earthquake damage had not been repaired and the building was unsafe, I looked all over for evidence of this and did not observe any. I did notice that the neighboring building sustained serious damage and wonder if that reviewer was confused. Anyway, lovely hotel that wasn’t just a place to sleep in a Ponce, but added charm to our...

We stayed only two nights and wish we had been able to stay longer. All of the staff are incredibly friendly. When we first arrived, we parked around the corner, and they told us they have spots reserved on the street right in front of the hotel (for free! at other hotels you pay easily $20 or more a night just for parking), and the man at reception immediately asked if we wanted any advice for where to get the best coffee, have a good meal, etc.

The hotel itself is beautiful. The tilework is amazing and the lobby, hallway and rooms are beautifully decorated, with tiles, furniture, lamps, vases, etc that all looks (to me) very sort of 1920s jazz. (They even play jazz in the hall/lobby).

Anyway. The a/c in the rooms is great, the beds are very comfortable, and the showers are great. Despite being ideally located steps from the main square, our room was not noisy in the slightest.

I saw that one reviewer called this a "no-frills" place. I think that is kind of unfair: this isn't a US chain with lots of space, it's a beautiful, small, boutique, independent, family-run hotel in the middle of town in an older and beautifully restored building (and, there is a fridge!), walking distance to a ton of restaurants and bars and cafés and a sweet bookstore called El Candil just 2 blocks away (that also serves great coffee and has readings and stuff).

Ponce was our favorite place in PR. (lo demás es tráfico, as the saying goes), walking around the city is lovely, and it's full of cafés, bars, etc. Sadly, a whole bunch of the historical and cultural sites are still closed and/or have very limited opening days since Maria and the earthquake. But if you have a car, there's lots to explore on the coast and in the hills and highly recommend a visit to the coffee farm.

5/5 -...

Hotel Belgica occupies a wonderful old colonial building with a grand tiled entrance, high ceilings and an atmospheric spanish-era ambience. Balustraded staircases take the place of elevators but help was on hand to assist with our rum-laden suitcases. ||Our room was simply but adequately furnished, very spacious and served with good wi-fi. I would have preferred the bed linen to include a quilt encapsulated within a washable cover for hygiene purposes but my main irritation was the hot water was barely tepid. Desk staff attributed this to the use of solar panels but as the issue was the same both evening and morning and just an hour after mentioning it, the water temperature was suddenly much improved, I suspect the matter is somewhat more complex. Either way, I have deducted a TA blob from my rating as this aspect of our stay was quite irritating and not being properly managed.||Location-wise, Belgica is just off the main square which is great for restaurants, the evening buzz and a nearby great spot for breakfast. Parking wasn't a problem as we took advantage of one of the reserved spots just outside. Even without these being available, it seemed that on-street parking wouldn't be much...