Hostel Frente Al Mar Tropico 20º

Clean, great location and friendly staff

The location is great (5-10 mins walk along the waterfront from the ferry port). The shower rooms and toilets were kept pretty clean and are large and comfortable - each shower room has shelving/hooks to put your clothes (although most of the time the hot water seemed non-existent). I never used the kitchen or outside area so can’t comment. The staff were friendly and polite. The sleeping situation is unfortunately pretty awful; the hostel is basically a large corridor with capsule-style beds running along the side - each large and spacious with its own blind for privacy - but the problem with this is as you are hidden from view, other guests don’t seem to think or care about noise and even with ear plugs in the noise is constant from people coming back at night, having loud conversations across the space, slamming the doors to the private rooms (which are basically just cubicles with no real walls) which run along the other side - and the place wasn’t even half full, so at capacity this would be hell. I didn’t stay for the final night I booked and paid for and moved to another place to get some peace. Air con is only turned on at night, and they blast music in the building from 9am. The extra charges here are also ridiculous - you have to pay about 10 USD just to leave bags after checkout or even use the bathroom, and when you check in there are extra taxes and charges that you aren’t clearly informed about on booking. Weird atmosphere, not social at all, and the manager/owner wasn’t too friendly. Avoid!

It’s a cozy hostel. All the sounds will be heard This is not the place to stay if you snore. All the bunks, including private rooms are in the same hall so every single conversation can be heard. If someone leaves the sliding door to the restroom/bath area open, you can hear them pee. The location is great! The conditions of their bikes are not so great. A/C is only turned on at night and there’s energetic music throughout the day so not great for mid-day napping. There’s lil brown stains on the walls from dead mosquitoes (I wondered what they were until I killed one) bed linens have stains on them but they smell clean. There’s lots of space for your belongings including private locker, light and privacy shades are nice.

No listed amenities, creepy guy thats been there 2 months and pretends to work there. Staff ignoring complaints and phone calls. 0/10, would NEVER stay there.