Hostal Solar

We had good experiences with this hotel. We arrived early morning from an overnight bus, and were allowed to check in then plus have a hot shower. They get plenty of points for that. Not sure of the age of the building but it is older style, built around a central courtyard in the traditional manner. Our room was clean, nicely decorated, and carpeted with queen bed. Wifi was good. The only problem with the room was that it was on the 3rd floor and there is no lift. That at least put us close to the rooftop bar which enjoyed fab views of the three volcanoes overlooking Arequipa and where we enjoyed an excellent breakfast. Location was about two-three blocks from the city's historic (and beautiful) main square.

Unfortunately, we had a negative experience at this hotel while staying for three nights. First of all, there was a posted sign in the room that explicitly stated there was a washer and dryer on the fourth floor to use yourself. We were thrilled and did a load of laundry only for the woman at the desk to tell us the sign is a “mistake” and we now need to pay her money directly for the use… after we already used it. If we had known, we might not have used it but it was too late. She prioritized tricking people over good customer service. Secondly, the door to the room never locked, even with our keycard, so every time we wanted to leave the hotel, we would need to ask and trust someone to lock it. It was never explained why it didn’t work and no one seemed to try to fix it but it didn’t make us feel comfortable. Lastly, every minute or so in the shower, we would be blasted with freezing cold water. For the price, I was underwhelmed with the experience.

The staff was friendly and provided lots of assistance. They are very back-packers friendly. I had my bus arriving in Arequipa very early in the morning due to my night bus from Cusco, and they allowed me to early check in without extra charge - super nice especially after a long ride on the night bus! It is a quite hostel suitable for a good rest thought, not for making friends if that's your goal.

A nice hotel in Arequipa that is reasonably priced. Pros - centrally located to the historic centre and all key restaurants - the showers have very hot water - the hotel staff were able to organise taxis to the airport for me which always arrived on time - you can leave your luggage in storage whilst doing an overnight trip to the Colca canyon - the staff are friendly but don’t all speak English - the balcony is good for watching the sunset Cons - the curtains in the room don’t pull across so you have to use a pole to pull them which is quite annoying - the breakfast is pretty basic (I ended up eating out every day instead) - the WiFi is very bad and I had numerous calls cut out

Very good service. Employees very helpful. Clean rooms

Whole place was spotlessly clean, and decorated nicely. Room was a reasonable size. Breakfast patio has wonderful views of the volcanoes. Breakfast is simple, but can have cooked breakfast for extra money. No lift, but this is pretty normal. Staff were super helpful (thoroughly recommend the tour they sell to Colca Canyon).

We arrived very early with Peruhop. Even with check-in time in the afternoon they were able to arrange our room. We also could have the breakfast on the arriving day instead of next day. They were so kind! The breakfast was also great (fresh fruits, juice, coca tea, excellent jam and so on. You had to pay extra for egg). We can definitely recommend this place!

Great hotel in Arequipa. Well located, great stuff. A lot of privacy. Good breakfast. We arrived from Cusco early morning and were able to check in around 6:30 am. We planned to stay 2 nights an ended up staying 4 nights The hotel is well designed and very clean. It has filtered water what helped us to keep the environment clean without buying plasitc bottles. I highly recommend this place!