Hostel Donde Germán

Not recommended
it is really a lovely place, but there are way too many rules! the worst: on the day of my checkout my bus was leaving at 9 p.m. i was sick and stayed in the hostel. i was reading in the common room when the lady came up to me and told me if i want to stay longer in the hostel, i have to pay 4000pesos extra. thats ridiculous!

Ths hostel is a very nice, well maintained place, However, it is run with an iron fist. There are so many rules and regulations it makes for a very off putting stay. No shoes, no kitchen after 10 p.m., only use these pans (as owner keeps theirs there too), no food anywhere apart from kitchen, no talking -- it's endless.

About 3 weeks ago they opened a new 'guest house' there's a huge kitchen - with no closing time and a really cool living area. It was also cheaper than the hostel. It's about 10 minutes to the main street. I highly recommend Vulcan Villarica and rafting through Volcan Activo. Joaquin and the team were professional, very freindly with cool little touches like a beer or a pisco sour at the end.

This hostel looks really lovely, and it is, but if you're backpacking and want somewhere you can relax maybe this isn't the place, contrary to its excellent write up in the current Lonely Planet. We found the little things, like the rules, really detracted from our stay. For instance, the kitchen closes at 10 p.m. (That's no good if you want to relax with a beer at the end of the day.) There's nowhere to dry wet stuff other than the laundry, which in winter is freezing cold so there's no hope of success there. You're not allowed to eat or drink anywhere except in the kitchen, which as I said, closes at 10 p.m. All little stuff but it unfortunately makes staying at this gorgeous place feel more like staying in your auntie's house or at your mum's than having a holiday. But if you don't want to do stuff that involves getting wet, and you don't want to sit around drinking beers with your mates after a hard days climbing, rafting, or whatever, then its a nice enough place, I guess.