Rayuela Hostel

My stay at Rayuela Hostel was excellent. The staff treated me so well that I didn’t want to leave! I chose a single room, which offered a great quality-to-price ratio. Highly recommended.

Run down hostel with an arrogant, argumentative owner. Water did not work for our entire stay (we paid for en-suite bathroom and were unable to use it a single time) and volunteer staff openly talked about how bad the place was unprompted (owner had a real problem with us mentioning this). Bed was falling apart and the handle on our private room door repeatedly fell out (the door did not lock even when the handle stayed in). Owner seems to spend a lot of time replying to negative reviews in the tone of ‘it’s cheap what do you expect’ and not enough time improving things, which may explain the state of the hostel. Owner also ‘cancelled’ our stay on hostelworld immediately after we complained, so that we couldn’t leave a fair and accurate 1* review on there, all the while arguing with us via WhatsApp and turning up to the hostel to argue more in person. We stayed at milhouse hostel the rest of our trip which was a dollar or two more expensive per night and about 1000x better in every way.

It’s the best :) we had an amazing time there. It‘s like staying over at a friends house. Also: the owner of the hostel is so incredibly nice ! I would recommend it to anyone!

Overall 4.5 stars. This is one of the few remaining hostels that hasn't been ravaged by air bnb or hotels. The owner was very friendly and even showed my gf and I how to properly prepare and drink mate. I saw another review on here about a small shower. They must have been huge because the shower was adequate. Pros: affordable / atmospheric / great location / washer, kitchen, bathroom / felt secure / staff was friendly and helpful Cons: walls can be thin but the common room is far away enough that my sleep wasn't disturbed (plus if you don't have ear plugs anyways then you're messing up). The only A/C I felt was in the common room, but even in summer it cool inside. A cool hostel with good location and security at an affordable rate. Will stay here again on my next visit to Buenos Aires.

Such an amazing hostel, right in the centre of BA. The staff went above and beyond for us during our two stays at this accommodation and showed us a level of kindness we haven’t seen in staff in a very long time. Helpful and genuinely lovely staff seems to be harder and harder to find these days but this hostel did not disappoint! I strongly recommend staying here when visiting Argentina 😊 Just to note: there are no bed curtains in the private rooms and the shower temperatures are a little hard to master!

Hostel was good, room was big, but shower was so small we had to keep a foot in and a foot out. It wouldn’t be a big deal at all if it wasn’t for our terrible experience with the employee/volunteer on duty on the night of November 25 to 26, 2024. We had the misfortune to have intoxicated guests waking us up in the middle of the night. I’ve traveled in hostels for the last 20 years and know it can happen, but after 2 hours; at 6 AM, we decide to ask those people to lower their voices or to keep partying out of the hostel, but they unfortunately got very angry at us for it. We decided to go back to bed with them continuing their party next to us and when we had to leave, at 7 AM, we tried talking about it to the volunteer on duty that day. That’s when we realized she was with that group of friends as she looked at us smiling, sarcastically saying she was sorry, and leaving us alone while she entered the shower with another drunk girl. When they got out, still shouting, I gently asked them to lower their voice and tried talking calmly with them, but the drunk girl threaten me and the volunteer laughed at us, got sarcastic and very arrogant. We were supposed to stay there one more night, but it really didn’t feel safe, so I still stayed very calm to ask for a refund and cancellation of my reservation. The volunteer ignored me at first, faking to be working by counting money over and over again, until I told her our uber driver had arrived and we really needed to leave. She finally did, but kept acting completely inadequately, strongly smelled like alcool and couldn’t answer any of our questions. She also stated that this was part of using hostels, but as a very experienced traveled, I truly never felt so unsafe anywhere in the world.

The hostel is in a good location, near to central and close to buses and trains. The private rooms are quite nice with Aircon and are very spacious. The cleanliness of the bathroom and kitchen could be a lot better and the kitchen is a bit unorganised with little to cook with. The staff are very nice and friendly. There are no activities planned at the hostel, or maybe just not the time we were there - but it makes the atmosphere a little quiet and people keep to themselves.

First off, this place is very tiny. If you’re young and looking to socialize and meet interesting people on your trip this isn’t the hostel for you. On a positive note the staff was lovely and very accommodating. Had some great interactions with them and loved how they presented themselves. The vibe they created in the hostel was pretty depressing though… When I came back from my late lunch in the city the sunlight was starting to fade. Once I got up to the hostel it was pretty much pitch black in there except for a light beside the check in desk. Seemed very eerie and strange for that early in the night. Once I got to my room the lights were also off and other guests were getting ready for bed and sleeping (keep in mind it’s around 8pm at this point…) Now let’s get to the guests (the people you share your stay with). Judging by other reviews I guess I got unlucky. Every single other guest was very timid and unwilling to even acknowledge me when I arrived at the hostel which was unfortunate. The most interaction I got was a few glances and snares from the others. The other guests seemed forced to be there rather than be there by choice. Also like noted above the early bed times were strange. I ended up going to my friends to stay the night because I didn’t want to bother the other patrons by staying up and reading / watching television. You can’t put that on the hostel but it is the atmosphere they created at the end of the day so some responsibility lies on them. All in all the hostel is not bad and 2 stars might be harsh considering how great the staff was, the atmosphere is depressing though if you’re young and social.