Hotel Villa de Leyva Plaza

The location was excellent, the facilities were good, the staff were gentle, and breakfast was great. Still, there were a few issues. It was noisy at night, with no control over late-arriving guests making a lot of noise. After three days, the room hadn’t been cleaned deeply: the shower wasn’t checked, soap and shampoo weren’t replenished, and the floor wasn’t cleaned. The towels felt like sandpaper. Horrible.

The housekeeping staff were nice, at least. We couldn’t get a refund, so we moved to a third room, which was okay. Its door to the public balcony only had a hook and wouldn’t lock, making it awkward to leave my bag inside when basically anyone could get in. The first room smelled like a mouldy basement. In the second, the fridge caught fire, the shower wouldn’t hold its temperature, and the bed was terrible. The Wi-Fi was bad but manageable, and the stay wasn’t exactly cheap for something this awful.

Frutipico restaurant was excellent, and breakfast was great. They offer three choices from outside restaurants rather than serving it in the hotel. The location was really convenient too, right across from the church of Plaza Mayor. My favorite part was the shower.

The room was already overpriced, and then there was another charge to hire a seat on the balcony for the festival fireworks. Tables were limited, so after paying $120+ AUD per night, we ended up eating takeaway pizza with plastic chairs as our table. There’s no food or drink at the hotel, and the room had no iron, ironing board, minibar, or hairdryer. The location is prime, right in front of the main square, and breakfast is excellent, with a choice of four local venues.