BootsnAll Travel Community

Howdy,

Heading to Mendoza soon and am looking for a nice, inexpensive hostel within the city. It would be sweet to find a double for around $80 pesos, but am willing to pay a bit more for a nice spot. Ideas?

Also, I have to partake in the obligatory wine tour via bicycle while in wine country. I Don´t really think we need a guide to do this, but open to suggestions. Routes? Not to be missed wineries? Easy bike rental spots?

ALSO, I'm interested in participating in Spanish lessons - any recommendations?

I've given up on my lonely planet guide book and I appreciate your input.

Kyle

Don't bother with the hostels. When you arrive at the bus station, there is a tourist office. They have a list of hotels. Get yourself a 1 star hotel. Just pick one at random. It will be just fine. I stayed at the Hotel Castillo.

We stayed two weeks ago at a great little b and b calles los variatales that was about 110 pesos. It was just right with our own small bathroom. THey changed sheets and towels everyday (which was such a luxury for us!) and the breakfast was really good! The woman who runs it does nto speak muchenglish, but it worked out ok. she can also hooik up activities, etc. It was a little walk to the center, but was not bad at all (about 12 minutes or so). We would def. recommend it more than a lot of the 1 star hotels we passed and checked out (we were going to move to one in the center, but liked los variatales so much, we stayed).

Enjoy Mendoza!

I stayed at Damajuana Hostel on Artistides Villares and had a great time. It was a little more expensive than the other hostels but had a pool which made life a lot better. But there are tons of great hostels in Mendoa at a wide range of prices.

For a listing of the best hostels in Mza check out www.minihostels.com/mendoza. They are all clean, safe, cheap, and superfriendly, plus you can get a 10% discount if you buy a minihostels card (which will also give you discounts at hostels, tours, restaurants, and language classes in Mza and other cities so if youre trvelling a while youll save a LOT).

As for the biking, I did bikes and wines, which gives you a map of wineries to explore and decent bikes. You can get a bigger map at the tourist info station right in front of the bike sand wines shop, so then you can go to any vineyards and not just the ones bikes and wines have deals with. Plus, they have a van so if you get too drunk or just too tired to make it back they will come pick you up. They cost $35 for the day, but with my minihostels discount it was just $25 (pesos).

Hope this helps!! Good luck!

Hostel Lao was one of the best hostels we stayed in on our trip - great owners (young English-Argentine couple) pretty small but with relaxed atmosphere and last I heard they were still offering free wine most nights as a chance to meet people over a bottle in the backyard. Close to town. Double rooms are particularly good. We stayed there three times and had a blast and plus met great people.
They organise bikes and wines from there also.
Have fun in Mendoza, its a beautiful spot!

Our Blog

Mendoza is one of my favorite spots on the planet. I stayed at the Andino Hostel , which I happened upon after arriving at the bus station. I paid US$8 for my bed, and for 30 pesos there was a HUGE BBQ each Friday - complete with games and all the beer and champagne you could drink. The party was huge, but otherwise it was a pretty quiet and very nice hostel.

FWIW: my Mendoza trip photos

Thanks for all your suggestions. I´ve been here for five days and have a few tidbits of advice myself.

First, I ended up staying at the HI affiliated Campo Base, which was a fine place with friendly people. On the inexpensive side with BF included. However, I could not book a room for more than a night even though I spoke with staff indicating my plans to stay for the week and was plugged into their reservation system. Very disorganized reservation system. We were told that there may or may not be a room for us the following day. This went on for 5 days. As I later learned from my spanish teacher, Campo Base will find a way to boot you if you do not participate in the exursions and activities they have planned, which we wanted nothing to do with. It ended up being a shady operation and I was completely turned off to the whole HI affilation and cannot recommend this parciular hostel.

We ended up in Damajuana in an 8 bed hostel for much more than what I wanted to pay, but the place is wonderful. Easily the nicest place I´ve been in yet.

I did end up booking a tour through bikes and wine, which was a fine expererience at 70 pesos. However, I would recommend picking up the bikes and wine brocure from any hostel or tourist info, taking the local bus out to Maipu for 1.5 peso and renting a bike for 15 pesos. Booking through bikes and wine or a hostel is overpriced and overrated. You can do the same thing on your own for a lot less money.

Also, watch your stuff in Mendoza! Lots of thieves waiting for the right moment to distract you for a moment while his partner runs off with your bag. Almost happened to us in the plaza independencia. Unfortunately, a friend lost is passport in a cafe here. Just be on alert and enjoy the city.

That is too bad you have had trouble in Mendoza. Like Capt. Steve, it is one of my favorite places.

I did stay at Campo Base (well, Campo Base II), and didn't like it at all. I didn't see this thread soon enough. I know Steve loved the Andino. In fact, Campo Base was the last straw in my hosteling thread.