Palacio Astoreca

A lovely elegant old style hotel set in a pretty part of Valparaiso. We enjoyed our stay here, finding the front desk staff (in particular the young lady who checked us in and was there in the afternoons) friendly and helpful. We were kindly given an upgrade from a junior suite to what had to be the best room in the house - and that was a very lovely surprise! The room was super, spacious, elegantly decorated, had a wonderful comfortable bed and had beautiful views from the room and large balcony. The homemade biscuits brought to the room each evening were a nice touch. We enjoyed a few quiet drinks on our balcony watching the sun go down each evening. Very nice shower in the bathroom too. The breakfast here was the best we had in our three week trip and 8 different hotels (including some very fancy 5* places). It was a fairly simple buffet but we loved the large array of delicious fruit on offer, the delicious bakery items and the loose leaf tea made me very happy indeed! If there had been a bar in house we would have made use of the beautiful lounge / terrace area - which looked very comfortable (maybe something for the hotel owners to consider?) but the hotel is an easy stroll to nearby bars and restaurants.

This is such a beautiful boutique hotel - stylish rooms in an old red and white building that has been overlooking Valparaiso Bay for 100 years... Whereas our superior room "only" had a view of the opposite hill with its colourful houses we still had full sea view from the wonderful terrace. The room on the first floor was nicely decorated (I loved the green ornamental wall paper) and had a comfortable bed. The bathroom was not that spacious but the shower worked fine. On our first morning a rich breakfast buffet had been set up in the elegant basement room, on the second morning with fewer guests a full breakfast was served at the table in the impressive lounge. Regrettably dinner had not been available. The staff - whether reception desk, breakfast or housekeeping team - were all pleasant. I actually regret a bit not having found the time to spend a few lazy hours in the relaxing hotel atmosphere... Be prepared to have your rental car parked in a garage in the neighbourhood as on-street parking is strongly advised against. Besides driving in Valparaiso is not necessary since the hotel is only a few steps away from El Peral Ascensor. As for dinner various restaurants are at walkable distance from the hotel.

We had a two night stay in a Premium room that was spacious, clean and well furnished with a sofa, chair, desk and table. Bottles of water were provided. View from the room was nice with a part view of the bay. The public areas were pleasant with a large outdoor terrace with a view over a small plaza and some restaurants nearby. The staff would kindly serve drinks to guests on the terrace. Breakfast was served downstairs and was adequate but nothing special. Although the description of the hotel stated that a restaurant was available, at the present time the restaurant is closed. All staff were welcoming and helpful. The day we checked out we had a very early departure at 5 am and the staff had coffee available and a very generous breakfast bag for us to take with us. This was very much appreciated. The reason I have rated the hotel very good rather than excellent is that room key cards were not functioning so every time a guest needed to access their room someone from reception had to accompany them and open the door. I'm sure the problem will be fixed but it lasted the entire time we were there.