El Pedregal

Location: the hotel is near the eastern edge of Getsemani, but the whole area is so small that it's still a short walk from everything. The hotel is located in an old cozy building typical for the area. Room: I stayed in a private room with attached bathroom. I had specifically requested a quiet room, but if my room was the most quiet one, I can hardly imagine what the other guests went through, because there was quite a bit of noise coming from the reception side, and even more from the street side. The aircon worked adequately but was also pretty loud. The bed was reasonably comfortable though the pillows had lost their shape a long time ago. Being the tropics, the bed cover consisted of a simple bedlinen, and the shower had cold water only. Both the room itself and the bathroom were spacious for a budget hotel. Breakfast consisted of a plate of scrambled eggs, a few slices of toast, and fresh diced fruit, with tea and coffee to drink for which there were hot milk provided. Internet: I had also requested a room with good WiFi connection, which upon my arrival they confirmed they had arranged for me (along with being a quiet room). The speed was good at over 20Mb/s, but the connection was quite spotty and I had to log in frequently. Staff: The staff does not speak English. The room will be cleaned if and only if you request it in the morning. It should be noted for solo travelers that if you have booked a room as a single person in this hotel, and you invite a guest for the night, you have to pay 25,000 pesos extra for that night. This compared to the fact that a double room is only 9,000 pesos more expensive than a single room.

I'm a big fan of Cartagena after traveling there for 20 years and now of the vibrant Getsemani. Photos and reality of hotel, rooms, and outside are NOT the same (about 7 years apart on various booking sites). CHECK-IN poor... with 1st room having TVs on bed... and staff not returning my change of COP$10,000 after asking 2x (including as I was checking out). Great LOCATION... and from a price standpoint... you're paying for location.

Really lovely hostel in a great location. The staff are very helpful and the breakfast is quite nice. The room we stayed in was very clean and there was great water pressure. I would definitely reccomend this place- the wifi and A/C worked great and there was a fridge in our room which locked. No lockers though!