Puerto Mercado Hotel — Hotel in Montevideo

I stayed here for 3 nights and this is a small, fairly pleasant hotel in the Ciudad Vieja/Old Town part of Montevideo. The port and the Buquebus terminal are right on the doorstep, so it is very convenient for these locations. I wasn’t terribly sure about the area itself which, while having a rustic port-like charm, did seem a little sketchy especially in the evenings and at night. It is also a bit of a walk into what you would term the “central” part of Montevideo around the Plaza Independencia - 20 minutes or so. It is also quite far from the very nice parts of the city such as Pocitos and Punta Carretas but the start of the seafront Rambla is quite close to the hotel. Alternatively the regular and frequent buses that pass in front of the hotel will take you these further parts of the city and the buses bring me to my first point.||||I was initially assigned a single room (which I had booked) on the first floor but it seems all of the single rooms are at the front of the hotel facing the street. This a street where a procession of loud, diesel-powered buses thunder down at least every 2 to 3 minutes stopping at the traffic lights at the junction next to the hotel and starting up their engines. I understand from other reviews this happens during the night too. With single glazed windows it felt like the buses were driving through the room. Being an easily disturbed sleeper there was no way I was getting to sleep. If you are a light sleeper bear this in mind and ask for a room well away from the street as it is some of the worst traffic related noise I’ve ever encountered in years of staying in hotels. I asked the receptionist if there were some rooms away from the street and luckily there was. He therefore kindly accommodated my request to room swap to a location at the back of the hotel and this, from a noise point of view, was much better. I was very grateful.||||The room itself was not much to write home about, small, but perfectly adequate. It was a double with a fridge and safe and a window onto a courtyard with a view of other parts of the hotel and some adjacent apartments. The room was clean and cleaned daily to a good standard.||||Breakfast is served from 7.30pm to 10.30pm in the small bar area on the ground floor. There’s a limited selection of items mostly pastries (which are the breakfast item of choice in Argentina and Uruguay) but there was scrambled eggs and quiche as well as breads, ham and cheeses and a small choice of fresh fruit. Jelly also made an appearance as well! Be warned though seating is very limited and if you arrive by 8am getting a place might be difficult. Also don’t arrive too early or you may encounter some frosty remarks from the lady serving breakfast as I did when I had the temerity to pour myself an orange juice at 7.30am before the lights in the breakfast room were fully...

I stayed here for 3 nights and this is a small, fairly pleasant hotel in the Ciudad Vieja/Old Town part of Montevideo. The port and the Buquebus terminal are right on the doorstep, so it is very convenient for these locations. I wasn’t terribly sure about the area itself which, while having a rustic port-like charm, did seem a little sketchy especially in the evenings and at night. It is also a bit of a walk into what you would term the “central” part of Montevideo around the Plaza Independencia - 20 minutes or so. It is also quite far from the very nice parts of the city such as Pocitos and Punta Carretas but the start of the seafront Rambla is quite close to the hotel. Alternatively the regular and frequent buses that pass in front of the hotel will take you these further parts of the city and the buses bring me to my first point.||||I was initially assigned a single room (which I had booked) on the first floor but it seems all of the single rooms are at the front of the hotel facing the street. This a street where a procession of loud, diesel-powered buses thunder down at least every 2 to 3 minutes stopping at the traffic lights at the junction next to the hotel and starting up their engines. I understand from other reviews this happens during the night too. With single glazed windows it felt like the buses were driving through the room. Being an easily disturbed sleeper there was no way I was getting to sleep. If you are a light sleeper bear this in mind and ask for a room well away from the street as it is some of the worst traffic related noise I’ve ever encountered in years of staying in hotels. I asked the receptionist if there were some rooms away from the street and luckily there was. He therefore kindly accommodated my request to room swap to a location at the back of the hotel and this, from a noise point of view, was much better. I was very grateful.||||The room itself was not much to write home about, small, but perfectly adequate. It was a double with a fridge and safe and a window onto a courtyard with a view of other parts of the hotel and some adjacent apartments. The room was clean and cleaned daily to a good standard.||||Breakfast is served from 7.30pm to 10.30pm in the small bar area on the ground floor. There’s a limited selection of items mostly pastries (which are the breakfast item of choice in Argentina and Uruguay) but there was scrambled eggs and quiche as well as breads, ham and cheeses and a small choice of fresh fruit. Jelly also made an appearance as well! Be warned though seating is very limited and if you arrive by 8am getting a place might be difficult. Also don’t arrive too early or you may encounter some frosty remarks from the lady serving breakfast as I did when I had the temerity to pour myself an orange juice at 7.30am before the lights in the breakfast room were fully...

Oh wow, we absolutely loved this hotel! We chose it because of its prime location - just a short walk from the port where we arrived by ferry, and the icing on the cake was the super fast internet. And let me tell you, the internet was lightning fast with no interruptions at all! We were able to join webinars and video conferences with ease, thanks to the amazing upload speed of over 40 mbps and download speed of over 30 mbps. The WiFi worked great not just in our room, but also in the lobby.

The room itself was super comfy and cozy, and the view was simply amazing! We could see the rooftops and some ferries in the distance, which made for some really cool shipspotting. And the cherry on top was the lovely fountain in the garden - it helped us drift off to sleep and just made us feel so calm and relaxed.

The TV had a wide selection of channels, including some in English, which was really great.

But the best part of our stay had to be the breakfasts - they were absolutely fantastic! Every day, there was a new surprise element, and the variety of food was just incredible. We want to give a special shoutout to the hardworking team who made it all happen! They served up so many fresh and delicious treats that kept us full until dinner. There was even a supermarket called "Frog" just 10 meters away from the hotel that accepted both dollars and pesos, where we found some tasty food.

Last but not least, the hotel staff were all super friendly and welcoming. The guys at reception were a big help, and the ladies who ran the cafeteria and kept the hotel sparkling clean were just so hospitable. We would love to stay here again and would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a great experience in this...