La Fortaleza De Haro - Puerto Ayora

Great hosts and lovely hotel

The first thing that I want to say about this place is that it is listed as a 2.5 star HOTEL but they actually categorize themselves as a "hostel" (it is listed that way on the exterior door and even on the shampoo bottle in the bathroom). These two labels create different expectations; maybe this place is fine for a hostel but it didn't feet like a hotel. Positives: the hosts are friendly and offered to help book tours. Breakfast was tasty. They provide free water each day (which is great because tap water is not really potable). There's a good selection of TV channels. Negatives: Breakfast is from 7:30am to 9:30am and you basically go sit outside at a table and wait for someone to serve you. This is very awkward. While eating breakfast, birds swarm the table and try to take your food. They are probably rare birds and some people may like to see them, but birds are dirty and who wants them flying all around their food? They really need to move breakfast indoors or install screens or something. The rooms are small and don't get a lot of air circulation so they feel dank and musty. Additionally, there were a ton of ants in the room. Internet is awful; it barely connected. Finally, the hostel is located about as far from town as lodging gets. It is maybe a 10-20 minute walk to town (depending on where you want to go). It doesn't seem like much but at the end of a long tour day, it isn't great to have to walk so far for ANY kind of food or entertainment.

Friendly and helpful owners. Situated in a quiet part of town about 10-15 mins walk up a gentle hill. Nice areas to sit in around the property. Personally we prefer not to put the aircon on at night and opened the windows for a nice breeze but unfortunately there are no insect screens so we were bitten by mosquitoes. Pillows very hard like most we encountered in Galapagos and Ecuador. Breakfast very simple. If you're not keen on the usual over cooked eggs, it’s bread and jam, some yoghurt or cereal would have been nice.

Gianna was great! The room was great and the hotel just a quick walk from everything. Amazing breakfast compared to others we had on the island at B&Bs. Highly recommend. Also Gianna can help you get a tour!

Like no other.