Masaya Bogotá — Restaurant in Bogota, Capital District

Had a multiple night stay here in a private room on the ground floor in the bottom back courtyard. First the negatives. The hostel has been recently renovated but some of the private rooms on the lower level (where I was located) are located below dorm rooms and the noise from footsteps, doors etc are so loud it can be impossible to fall asleep and stay asleep. I'm not sure how they renovated the entire hostel but didn't take into account making the rooms soundproof or at least try to make the upstairs floors quiet so that the private rooms on the ground floor in the back are not incredibly noisy. Must have been some negligent contractors and design flaws. Second thing, the private rooms come with an included breakfast, but it only includes one type of cheap breakfast and not the other breakfasts available on the menu which are better quality. Also, the portion for the breakfast was a joke and the portion size you'd serve a 10-year-old child. The management need to be aware of this and change their included breakfast offering for private rooms because it's not a good thing and gives off the impression that Masaya are a stingy and cheap hostel-business. Three-four tiny pieces of melon, a slice of cheap white bread and 2-3 tablespoon size of scrambled eggs is pretty cheap, no juice either. Fruit and vegetables are cheap in Colombia compared to the majority of the world, so I think they could afford providing freshly made juice in that included breakfast for paying guests staying in private rooms. These may seem like small things but some of these things will turn travelers away from staying at another Masaya Hostel when they have just paid $40-60 USD/night for a private room and feel like they were cheated. On to the positives, the staff was very nice and seemed well trained except the fact that I didn't hear any English being spoken by them. I know English is a luxury in Colombia as Colombia has one of the lowest rates of English speakers in the world. The thing is English is the universal business language and language of tourism, not to mention the world's de facto lingua franca so when there is no English spoken by the staff of a major hostel chain in Colombia that is very strange. It costs more to hire fluent English speakers in a country like Colombia where so few people even have a basic grasp of the English language. Now for the positives. The bathrooms in the private rooms were some of the nicest bathrooms I have seen in any hostel in Colombia and I have been traveling within Colombia since 2009 and have dozens of trips there under my belt. Finally, the location of this hostel is the bread and butter and the main reason why it is so popular. So management, make the breakfast options better and more generous for the private rooms who are paying for that breakfast in their nightly rate (it's not free) and maybe invest in helping your staff have a basic working knowledge of English or hire some employees with English because in this day and age having a major hostel with no English is just kind...

This is the best hostel in Colombia! I only planned to stay for a day or two, but I ended up staying a week at the beginning of my trip and a week at the end of my trip.

The rooms are clean and the beds are comfy. Normally staying in a dormitory isn't great, but Masaya beds are totally enclosed and have thick privacy screens, so everyone has their own little hideaway.

The hostel itself is beautiful and has 3 amazing public areas, 2 of which are very calm and quiet; the main gathering area has a restaurant, games, TV, music and there are always people to meet there. The food is really good here too. I had friends who were staying at other hostels, but the atmosphere at Masaya is so nice that they would come hang out here during the day anyway! They all wished they had chosen Masaya instead.

The location is amazing-- right in the center of La Candelaria and within walking distance of many of Bogotá's most popular destinations, such as Monserrate, Gold Museum, Botero Museum and Chorro de Quevedo. There are also many good restaurants and cafés nearby.

Most importantly of all, the Masaya staff are AMAZING! They are always at your service and seem so genuinely happy to be working here. Not only will they help you with all of your accomodation needs-- they will also play games and attend classes (which are often offered for free at the hostel) with guests.

Oh and just to top it off, Masaya has the best prices I've seen at any hostel in Colombia, in addition to the best service. Come stay,...

I booked this place because it had pretty good reviews but unfortunately I did NOT have a good experience here. The only pros are that it’s in a good location and some of the staff are nice and helpful. Aside from that, the beds were dirty (sheets/pillowcases/blankets/literally all of it) - I had to switch my bed to a different one and that one was dirty too. Additionally, the hostel rooms were freezing cold. I actually got super sick while I was staying here and it’s in part due to the fact that there’s no heat here. Cherry on top is that I found a BUG in my BED!! And it was ALIVE!!! I nearly had a heart attack, I was so scared of it being a bedbug. In addition to all this, I found the hostel to be quite empty and not very social at all. I switched over to Viajero Bogota and I had a much better experience there, they have heat as well so you’re not freezing all the damn time like in Masaya. Id recommend the Viajero or any other place over this one...