Hosteria El Paraiso

The staff were extremely friendly, and the hotel itself looked clean and attractive, with fresh paint and a pretty garden. There's a chapel as well as a restaurant serving mostly local food, and dinner and breakfast were included in our room price. We only stayed one night. It's within walking distance of town but outside the center, so the spot is convenient and quieter. Our room was behind reception in the main two-story building. It had no real window, just one opening onto the shared hallway, where the lights stayed on at night. We could also hear people in nearby rooms very clearly. There seemed to be little or no sound insulation, which was a real downside when we wanted a quiet night's rest.

The hotel grounds were lovely, and breakfast was tasty and filling. Jardin is only a short walk away, so it felt like a good affordable place to stay. We arrived late, and the night manager greeted us warmly. He was incredibly friendly and spoke great English, which was a welcome surprise in Colombia. The rooms were clean and comfortable, too.

We'd been traveling for 10 months, and this was the first time I'd met an owner like this. We ordered food at the restaurant, left a tip of a couple thousand pesos, and asked a nice staff member if we could fill our van's 20-40L water tank from the garden hose. She said yes, as people do everywhere. A minute later the owner came over and stared at us. When I asked if there was a problem, he kept saying it was too much water and that he had to pay for it. European prices are about 100 COP or less. I stopped filling up and we left. Really a shame. The owner came across as very greedy and arrogant. Better to go elsewhere.

The garden was lovely, clearly kept in shape by a very dedicated, friendly gardener. The rooms were definitely okay, but there was only one hammock and one chair for our family of four, so we couldn't enjoy the peaceful garden as often as we'd have liked. Breakfast may have been below the standard of the other local meals we had in Colombia because we were the only guests, but it was much worse than those breakfasts. Luckily the lovely village of Jardín is close, with plenty of friendly, cosy places serving fresh, tasty food for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. One night we got back from dinner at 9pm and found the El paraiso gates locked. The bell wasn't working and nobody was there, so we had to climb over the gate to get to our rooms. It was inconvenient, and feeling a bit locked in for the night was strange. The other nights were fine: the gate was closed, but we could pull it open. For laundry, go to the 'eco lavanderia' a couple of streets farther on. El Paraiso charges per item. They did tell us that, but we should've asked the price, haha. We ended up paying 110.000 pesos for two small bags of laundry.