248 Finisterra

This place is the full package. The location is terrific. Plenty of restaurants nearby; easy access to public transport and museums. Our room was comfortable and quiet, although small. The public sitting and dining room are very nicely furnished and have a lovely garden view. A special highlight was the friendly staff at the desk and the lovely women serving breakfast. Highly recommended.

When I booked online for Hotel Finisterra in Buenos Aires, the website stated it had “one room left.” It didn’t say where this room was located, but I discovered it was on the second floor, directly over-looking the street. After five nights at Hotel Finisterra, I cannot state emphatically enough that - unless you are completely immune to excessively loud street noise - do not book any rooms at this hotel that face the street. Otherwise, you will be kept up until 4am every morning. Specifically, there is an Italian restaurant next door to the hotel that begins blasting dance music around 10am (I guess that’s when the kitchen starts prepping) and you’ll hear it very clearly. By mid-afternoon there’ll be a slight reprieve – just lots of shouting and laughter and truck deliveries – until around 8pm, when the real orchestral cacophony begins. This restaurant plays both recorded and live music – all of which throbs directly into your hotel bed – until 12:30am or so, when it switches to drunken shouting, cars honking, more delivery trucks parked outside your window with their engines idling, shouting again, furniture getting moved across the floor (this will really shake your bed), continued car doors slamming, then finally the kitchen staff leaving, many of whom are - as I was to hear/learn – frequently drunk themselves, and like standing outside shouting, smoking, and laughing with one-another until close to 4am. After the first night of this experience, I came down to the hotel’s dining lounge feeling very tired, but was greeted by an extremely friendly kitchen/cleaning staff who prepared a truly impressive breakfast selection: fruits, cereals, bruschetta, pastries, breads, eggs, juices, and very decent coffee. As much as I wanted to ground myself from the previous night’s noise and simply enjoy my breakfast experience, it proved challenging to do so, for the hotel plays music to “enhance” your dining enjoyment; not an uncommon practice - but what they play and how loudly they play it – is not common. To be specific again, the music was obtrusively loud, and on this first morning I was greeted with Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun, followed by Van Halen’s Jump, then some sort of British techno-pop thing lots of heavy, computerized drumbeats, to David Lee Roth “singing” California Girls. And yes – I do remember the exact order of songs – because it was so obtrusive and genuinely awful in its selection that it’s been burned into my memory and I can’t unhear it. But after having to endure David Lee Roth, I’d finally had enough and asked the gentleman from the front desk (he had come into the lounge area) if he wouldn’t mind turning down the music. The first time I asked, he looked annoyed and replied loudly with “Huh?” to which I repeated I’d like to have the music turned down, to which he then asked, “Huh? You want the music turned off?” – and so I simply nodded “yes.” This caused another annoyed look, but he did indeed turn off

A simple hotel in a convenient spot, this is one of those surprise charmers. To like: Real wood floors, vintage room décor, little touches like crystals on the overhead light in the bedroom and a hand-held magnifying mirror in the bathroom, lots of hot water in the shower (and a grab bar … thank you!), big closet space, one of those overhead AC units which cools like crazy but is nice and quiet, and a large, firm bed. Thanks to older construction and building design, solid walls keep away noise from the busy street below. The staff (a small operation) are extremely friendly and helpful. The person I checked in with not only stored my bags for me but carried them up the stairs to the room when it was ready (no elevator). The person I checked out with was very “caring”. It was the perfect price point for me but didn’t come off the least bit cheap. (Minor) concerns: Can’t get in or out of the hotel without someone at the desk. Yes, this was an issue at one point when no one was at the desk. Old-fashioned skeleton key locks on the room doors. I can never get them to work properly. Floor space is limited, which isn’t a big issue for me since I was there for sleep. I tripped over the luggage rack twice. But don’t get rid of the luggage rack … I love those!!! Reconfigure??? Had to unplug a lamp to charge my devices. Suggestion -- add in power strips. The unwrapped soap from the previous tenant was left in the dish. Eww! Get liquid hand soap. Much more economical. On another point, I stayed here because it was close to the Jorge Newbery Airport … but … had a bit of a time getting a taxi since it was ~so~ close that they didn’t want to make the trip. I was given a lot of advice on this, which worked. 1) Walk to main drag. 2) Get a Yellow and Black cab, with markings. 3) Speak Spanish. 4) Shouldn’t cost more than 1500 Argentinian pesos (it cost just under 1300 but I tipped well). Bottom line. Would I stay here again? Absolutely.