Hotel Posada Los Alamos

The spa and pool were a welcome treat after long days on excursions, and breakfast was good. The service was excellent, and the hotel is in a very convenient spot near the main street. We enjoyed our stay overall. Our room had plenty of space but felt quite dated, and it got very hot in December without air conditioning. Opening the windows at the top didn't do much. We slept more comfortably after asking the front desk for a fan.

If you care about feeling safe, getting sleep, and keeping your sanity, stay somewhere else. There are lots of better and more secure options around. The Alamo is well placed in the center of town, and its pictures look good, but our stay was terrible despite mostly good service and food. We could hear a coughing fit from two or three rooms away, as well as people tap dancing upstairs. The walls and ceiling are paper thin, and the room door is loud and doesn't block sound. Any forceful close makes a bang, and every door in the hall was like that, so we knew whenever people came and went. Families also let kids and teens run around rooms and halls late at night. With an excursion at 6am, hearing someone's 15-year-old sing next door at 11pm was maddening. Groups were also holding team meetings and phone calls in the hall late at night. The hotel needs a quiet-hours policy at 10pm or 11pm and should enforce it. The bathrooms are outdated and have no ventilation at all. After one shower, the room got musty and humid, and we saw mold around the room. During morning housekeeping, staff open the windows to air things out. We were on the ground floor facing the town road, so anyone could have walked into our room while we were away on a full-day excursion and taken things without anyone knowing. On our last day, someone entered and took $40 from my wallet. It was enough for me to notice, but not enough for me to make a fuss over. That's completely unacceptable from a hotel security standpoint. Others in my party noticed money missing from their rooms too.

Posada Los Alamos is clean, comfortable, and spacious, and it's well maintained. We stayed three nights, and it was easy to walk to the main downtown street. The front desk team were welcoming, professional, and consistently helpful. Local tour operators know the hotel well, which made excursion pickups and drop-offs convenient. We would have given it five stars if the breakfast restaurant service had been better. The continental breakfast was adequate, but staff were scarce and didn't seem attentive or available to help. We didn't try the spa, gym, pool, or dinner service, so can't speak to those. For a clean, comfortable, central hotel in El Calafate, it's a very good option.

We stayed just one night, and I'm glad it wasn't longer because I would have felt ripped off. The pool was filthy, with murky water, bits floating in it, broken tiles, unfinished surfaces, and a muddy tide mark. We expected the spa and pool to be a real treat. From outside, the hotel looks impressive compared with many places in town, but inside it's dated and needs work. Although we'd booked weeks earlier, reception couldn't find our reservation when we arrived. They moved us to the bar for coffee while, I think, they found us a room. Our room was spacious, nice, and had everything, but I wouldn't rave about it. The town has plenty of good hostels with private rooms and en-suite bathrooms, more character, and better service. I'd suggest trying one of those instead. It could be cheaper and a nicer experience all around.