Hostal Casa Del Rio in Cuenca, Ecuador
A Review of Hostal Casa Del Rio in Cuenca, Ecuador
As you might expect with the name Hostal Casa Del Rio (House of/by the river), the hostal sits next to one of Cuenca’s main rivers. This means that from many of the rooms at Hostal Casa Del Rio, you actually do have a view of the river. You also get the sounds of the river at night.
The Casa Del Rio has hot showers, quiet spaces, cable TV (which we never turned on) and is very clean. Most of the rooms are $25/night… ours was a little bigger and had two windows looking at the river, so we paid $30/night.
We stayed for three nights here in Cuenca.
We stayed in Room 201, and liked our room. It was very comfortable. The owner of the hotel, Eugenio, was very nice and almost always on-hand to offer advice or helpful tips.
Those are the things we liked about the Hostal Casa Del Rio.
What we didn’t like:
The water pressure for the hot water is basically a trickle. You can get super-hot water, but if you want to take a shower with any kind of water pressure, you’ll have to turn on the cold faucet and take a warm shower.
The Internet worked in the lobby area, but wasn’t strong enough to reach to our room.
The Internet wasn’t fast enough to make calls via Skype. (Admittedly, I only tried this once, but I’m pretty sure it’s just not fast enough to make Skype calls.)
The sheets weren’t big enough for the bed. There was plenty of comforter, but we fought over the sheet all night.
All of these things are not a big deal. The hotel is pretty quiet and a good place to stay. They cleaned our room and made the bed every day, and gave us a new bar of soap and a new shampoo daily.
If you want a good, quiet, clean, and relatively inexpensive, (absent of luxuries, but still nice enough) place to stay in Cuenca, Hostal Casa Del Rio is likely a great option for you.
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Is this where the volcano blew up last week.
(maybe good you went when you did)
This isn’t where the volcano erupted in Ecuador. However, we stood on the volcano that erupted in Guatemala…
http://carrieandjonathan.com/volcan-pacaya-near-antigua-guatemala-lava-roasted-marshmallows-anyone/
http://news.suite101.com/article.cfm/thousands-of-people-flee-from-volcanoes-in-ecuador-and-guatemala-a242743
Kinda’ crazy stuff.
Jonathan
I have been reading your blog, very interesting.
My husband and I will be in Cuenca for 5 nights in June and I notice you stayed at Casa Del Rio. We will be out of our room most of the time as we like to see the area not the inside of a room, Would you reccomend this hostal?
Thanks, Nancy
Hey Nancy!
The room we stayed in at Casa Del Rio was very nice and not expensive.
We had our pick of rooms because we were one of just two guests (being there in the off-season).
Access to all the churches and beauty of Cuenca is really just 5-10 minutes walking from there, and we definitely found that the ability to get around and to anything was simple.
If you speak Spanish, you’ll find it much easier to stay here as the owner Eugenio speaks only a little English. You can get by without knowing Spanish, but you’ll find it better if you do.
If you’re wanting to spend a little more money ($45-$50/night), the other place we stayed in Cuenca was the Kookaburra Cafe (http://www.carrieandjonathan.com/kookaburra-cafe-and-accommodation-in-cuenca-ecuador-a-review/). Regardless of whether or not you stay there, DEFINITELY go there for breakfast. It’s delicious, and Chris and Jenny (the owners) are absolutely lovely people.
Thank you so much for the information. My husband speaks Spanish so we should be fine at Casa del Rio. And thank you for info on Kookaburra Cafe, we will definitly eat there. Hope your adventures ar continuing.
Your and your wife are fairly young, Simon and I are in our 60′s but I hope life will stay an adventure for us always also.
Nancy
It seems like you’re creating an amazing adventure… that’s all it takes for it to always stay that way.
Please let us know if we can help further… oh, and be sure to go inside the cathedral in Cuenca. It’s closed a lot of the time, but absolutely beautiful inside.
We enjoy Casa del Rio. It is in a great location, overlooking the river and in the colonial area of Cuenca. The owner is very polite & accomodating. It is simple and relaxing. It has a small kitchen, so if you want coffee in the morning you can arrange it with the staff.
We are out early and in late exploring the town when we are in Cuenca, so it works well for us. Who wants to hang out inside your room when there is so much to see!
Yes, we enjoyed Casa Del Rio as well. The owner was fantastic and we still have regular correspondence via email. The price for the great location is hard to beat.