36 Reviews
Hotel Rosario la Paz
La Paz|0.63km from National Art Museum
2-nights solo stay in April 2019. The hotel is located in the touristy part of old town, close to the Witches’ Market (Mercado de las Brujas). That might sound like a good thing, but it isn’t – the area reminded me of Old Delhi… dirty, busy and crowded. I was in a room overlooking the main road, and the windows just couldn’t keep the noise out. Note that despite the chaotic traffic and crowds, the area didn’t feel unsafe, even late at night. Plaza Major de San Francisco, Plaza Murillo and the Teleferico stations for cable cars to El Alto or Zona Sur aren’t very close, but walkable from the hotel (keep in mind that La Paz has steep hills). The hotel is in an old building with LOTS of staircases and open-air areas. Again, it sounds like a good idea until you have to run across an open terrace in pouring rain to get to your room. Also, access to many (most?) rooms requires climbing at least a few stairs. The walls are paper-thin and you can clearly hear conversations and other sounds from adjoining rooms. And that leads to my next gripe / observation – the room safe requires an advance science degree to operate. I read and re-read the instructions in full before being able to use it. Unfortunately, due to the paper-thin walls and the complexity of the room safe, I was woken up at 3am one night by the folks next door repeatedly failing to open their safe by entering wrong number combinations. I heard every beep of them keying in the numbers, the safe mechanism turning, and then beeping to indicate incorrect numbers. The room has an electric room heater, and extra blankets are available in the cupboard. The free WiFi had a good speed. I thought the buffet breakfast finished early for a hotel aimed at tourists. Food availability was an issue both mornings that I ate there, as popular items ran out and weren’t replaced. I was disappointed by the hotel’s service, particularly due to two incidents: • I got drenched in a sudden downpour one evening, and was told the hotel couldn’t provide an iron and ironing board when I asked, in order to dry my clothes. The person I spoke to didn’t offer any other ideas to help with the situation • I asked the receptionist while checking-out to mail postcards for me, and gave him BOB100 for stamps and his assistance. Those are the only postcards from my South America trip that didn’t arrive Free tea and hot water are available in the lobby area. I won’t stay again at the Hotel Rosario – the hotel, the service and the location just didn’t do it for me, especially for the price I paid. I plan to stay in the trendy Sopocachi area next time I’m in La Paz; or the vibrant San Miguel area in Zona Sur.
7 Reviews