Garra Charrua

Lukas was especially helpful, giving me tips on restaurants, places to visit, bus stations, and whatever else I needed to know about Mérida. Everyone here was kind and supportive, and I really enjoyed spending time in the city thanks to the team. They even carried my heavy backpack to the bus station, which I truly appreciated. I’d definitely recommend staying here.

The place looks appealing at first because of the location and pool, but a lot of things didn’t work and the staff didn’t seem very concerned about guests’ experience. The Wi-Fi worked maybe 20% of the time, so I gave up on it. The gas stove stopped working and no one seemed to care, most of the pool deck chairs were broken, and the hostel had a blackout that lasted a good 12 hours once. The cleaner switched on every light while people were asleep and left them on. The shelf by the bed slanted so much it was useless. Breakfast was a mostly broken waffle machine and not enough batter for even half the guests. With all the doors left open, there was nowhere to get away from mosquitoes except inside the dorm.

The hostel is close to the bus station, and worked fine for my two nights exploring the city. The free breakfast was nice, though one day the bread had mold. It’s a bit of a walk to the city center, and the small shared dorms have no windows. It also wasn’t a very social hostel.

It’s a low-key, cheap place, and I liked the comfortable bed and morning coffee. The dorm was really cramped, though, the Wi-Fi worked only about half the time, and the pool was dirty. Bathrooms often ran out of toilet paper, and hot water was hit or miss. The coffee was good, but the free breakfast was pretty poor: low-quality bread, a little chopped fruit, and cereal. Bring your own extras to make it better.