Ecolodge La Estancia

Estancia Ecolodge – Isla del Sol||One night only, unfortunately...||Beautifully remote — first you take a boat from Copacabana (about one hour), and depending on where you land and your fitness level, it’s roughly an hour’s uphill hike (with your own luggage!) from 3,800 m to over 4,000 m. You can rent a donkey if needed (not everywhere available, so ask before you arrive).||The lodge is attractively built into the eastern hillside, offering lovely, clean but simple rooms. There’s no heating or air conditioning. Each room has a small “heating room” on the north side (painted entirely black) that connects to the main room via a window. In the afternoon, when the sun warms up that chamber, the window is opened to let the heat into the bedroom — a clever idea that worked well at first, though it still got quite cold at night (outside temperature dropped to around 2 °C). Thick blankets are provided.||Meals were good to very good — dinner (two main courses to choose from, then a set menu - excellent) and breakfast (good selection) met and partly exceeded (dinner) expectations for such a small lodge.||The view at sunrise is absolutely stunning, and for sunset, the cafés on the western side of the island are highly recommended.||Overall, we really enjoyed our stay — a clear recommendation. Would love to come back here...

What an incredible place! A big shout-out to Suzana and the local staff for making us feel right at home. They were incredibly accommodating and a pleasure to be around. The views are absolutely breathtaking, and the rooms are simply wonderful—charming, comfortable, and impeccably clean! Take a deep breath and pace yourself as you make your way up the hill; the experience is definitely worth it! Muchísimas gracias!

Quite the hike to reach the property and all uphill. Not for the faint of heart or weak kneed!!! Do NOT bring luggage with you. You should only have a backpack, and even that, you'll wish you'd left behind. We did see a gentleman arriving with luggage strapped to a donkey but not recommended. Don't know how many donkeys are available to cart bags. |Surroundings are lovely, and the views are incredible. They have a small bar, which serves beer. Restaurant is small, and since there aren't other choices, you'll end up eating there. Rooms are chilly, but lots of blankets available. Shower at the end of the day to guarantee how water.

😊: Location is great (but so are many of the far cheaper properties on the island). Dinner and breakfast was excellent. Each lodge is perfectly designed to be eco friendly.. 😢: Communication with there property was terrible. They ignored three separate messages requesting information on how to get to the place, which resulted in us hiking (with all our luggage) 8.6km from there north of the island. Not fun. Also, given the serene, natural environment, they really ought to have words with the neighbouring hotel which pumps out hideously loud reggae music during the day..

Charming accommodations with spectacular views. They take the ecolodge aspect quite seriously with some impressive and effective sustainable features. The food, both dinner and breakfast was great. It’s a bit of a trek to get up to it from the port. Don’t be fooled by google maps! Highly recommend it if you’re visiting Isla del Sol.

The hotel is gorgeous with flowers and tremendous views of the sunrise over the lake. However, the rooms are very basic and you can’t control the temperature. ||The restaurant food was very good. Staff were friendly. The WiFi worked well in the restaurant area, but there wasn’t comfortable seating if you needed to spend some time using the Internet. ||There is a booklet in the room which describes hikes in the area. We were given a tour of the greenhouse which the restaurant uses. A group of local musicians played one evening. ||There are many steps between the rooms and the dining area. The steps were not lit at night. ||It would have been really nice if there was a yoga studio on-site. I couldn’t even stay up and read because my room was too cold. Thankfully heavy blankets are provided.

beautiful place. a short walk from town. they upgraded us to the 3room suite. wonderful clean rooms and amazing views of sunset in the am. dinner was very good and very quiet property. we had great weather in june so the views of the lake are awesome.

We stayed three nights at the Ecolodge La Estancia. The views are unparalleled! Our room was very comfortable and clean. We so appreciated all of the efforts of sustainability that are in place here. The food, especially breakfast, was outstanding and vegetarianism seemed to be easily accommodated. Be prepared with layers of clothing--at times we were in shirtsleeves and other times with multiple jackets on.||||We were greeted at the port and our bags carried up the mountain for us. This was invaluable as we were still very much acclimating to the altitude and one of us has a significant health issue. We were escorted to the Ecolodge by a charming young boy (shout out to Diego!!) who consistently assured us it was "Falta mas..." The trip down was also made easier by a burro carrying our bags--take advantage of this service! ||||We spent our days relaxing, not so much hiking around, as that is what we needed. Every vista was incredible! The nearby pueblito of Yumani provided excellent options for lunch with even more beautiful scenery. ||||If I was to give a suggestion to the Ecolodge, it would be for more comfortable seating options outside to enjoy the views--maybe hammocks or rocking chairs? ||||All in all, a fantastic destination!