York Vintage

The building has an interesting feel inside and seems safe, and the staff are nice. The morning guy in particular was super friendly and spoke excellent English. Our bed was comfortable, and the electric heater in the room was just about enough to keep us warm at night. Food options right nearby are limited, even though the location is fairly central. We also couldn't try breakfast: our Death Road tour pickup was before 7 one day, and the Bolivia Hop bus came before 7 the next, while breakfast didn't start until 7:30. The woman working in the evening said they couldn't arrange an early breakfast. That's frustrating, especially since both kinds of early departure must be common. This was the first place we'd stayed in South America that couldn't sort something out for breakfast when we had to leave early. It's still a nice place to stay, but without breakfast we could have found somewhere cheaper.

The location and WiFi were good, but the hotel and rooms didn't look as nice as the pictures. We booked a deluxe private double room for four nights and ran into three problems. There were body fluid stains on the bedsheets; I asked for clean ones, but they were never replaced (see pic). The free breakfast at York Vintage was the worst we've had at any hostel in South America, almost worth seeing just to understand how poor it was. And their laundry damaged our clothes: they sewed all our socks, underwear, and T-shirts together with thick purple thread. The nightclub next door also blasted music until 4 a.m. every night.

The buffet breakfast was delicious, with fresh fruit, natural juices, and great coffee. There's also a kitchen guests can use, and reception is staffed 24 hours by friendly people. The vintage decor is beautiful, the rooms are clean and comfortable, and the WiFi is fast. It's a quiet spot to get away from the busy city, close to both Witches market and San Francisco Church. Excellent hostel!

The vintage decor is nice, the staff are friendly, and there's a kitchen if you want to cook. But our room had no heat and we were freezing. We had also paid extra for a room with a private bathroom, only to find it outside the room. We were on the first floor in the patio, so at night we had to get dressed to go out and pee, and got even colder. It felt just like having a shared bathroom. Really not cool. You can't treat your clients like that.