Hey guys, how are you? 3-2 months after my trips to Arequipa. Yes, it was initially just going to be one, but they ended up being two… I’m finally writing my travel post about Arequipa. Not sure how much of a travel guide this will be, but I hope you like it and enjoy it and of course, that you visit Arequipa soon too.
So, I was initially going to make this a huge long post but I decided to make it 3 parts: where to stay, what to do and where to eat. This first one is where to stay.
I’m the kind of person that likes to enjoy a whole day when traveling and optimize my time there so, lately, I’ve been getting the earliest flights possible. So, for both trips, departure time was at 5:50 am and 6:50 am. So even if I had little sleep, I get to enjoy basically the whole day that I arrive instead of doing nothing or just arriving to sleep.
So, one travel advice from me, would be to get the earliest flights if you traveling national or maybe very late flights that land in the mornings/early morning if you’re traveling international. This might help you with jetlag too.
I have to say that even thought I was there and I did a lot of tours and visited a lot of places, I still had to work, so I must say I didn’t really did as much as I would have love to, and during the second trip I was there with my mom to get some paperwork done so not much time.
Where to stay?
During the first trip, even tho I’m very open to stay at hostels, the city had just opened up after nobody being able to leave or enter because of how bad the COVID cases had been, so I wanted to have a room for myself and a bathroom for myself. I hadn’t had my vaccines yet so I tried to take as much precautions as I could.
I stayed at Casa de Turistas de Arequipa, it was around 10 minutes or a bit more away from the Main Square and 5 or 6 soles in a cab from there. You’re wondering how I know? Well, I got a beautiful blister in one of my toes in my first day and you had no idea how much pain I got from just walking. So, I didn’t mind spending a bit of money if that saved my from a bit of pain.
It paid around S/. 330 for a week stay which was honestly very cheap. The room was quite fine, it had a little table for you to eat (I mostly used it for work) a big smart TV where you could watch Netflix and the bed was big and very comfy. Bathroom came with a towel and some toiletries.
I feel like the idea of Casa de Turistas de Arequipa is a house with rooms that “little appartments” at a hostel price, that you feel more comfortable than staying at a shared room at a hostel. You generally will usually leave very early in the morning like 3 am for your tours and come back at 5 or 6 very tired, so it’s perfect to just get back and relax. For me it was great too because it was a nice space to work.
Each floor, there were two had a shared kitchen that you could use, but I honestly didn’t use it and if I didn’t eat on my tours, I would look for a restaurant around or order something there.
So, this where to stay is just me sharing where I stayed both times. If you feel like staying at a better hotel, then do it! I mean, I was on a budget because, believe me babes, if I had had the money I would stay in more expensive hotels. The initial trip that was for my friend’s wedding back in May 2020, I was sharing a room with a friend in an expensive one but for 2 nights. So depending on your budget, just go to booking or whatever platform you use and look for the best hotels that are friendly with your budget and that have great reviews.
In my second visit to Arequipa, I went with my mom and we stayed for 3 nights, but paid for 4 (we had a late flight so we wanted to be able to stay in the room, for work and other stuff until it was time to leave, other than going everywhere with all our stuff) at La Posada de Ugarte, it was around two blocks away from the Main Square and in front of one of the sides of Santa Catalina’s Monastery, which was awesome for me. The room had two twin beds, a nice big bathroom, tv, a little table that I used for work, but I think it was meant for food by other guests and plenty of space to keep our clothes.
The breakfast was included and it was generally served in your room, but you could let them know you were going to have it in their dining area in the 3rd floor, which was way better and had a nice view of Santa Catalina Monastery. For the 4 nights we paid around 330 soles, which was a pretty decent price to be staying that near to the Main Square. A lot of amazing and good restaurants were a block away, but where to eat is going to be the topic of my next post. The last post is going to be what to do in the city.
I highly recommend both hotels, especially if you’re on a budget, but it is honestly up to you were to stay. If you have any suggestions or tips for other readers, please feel free to comment and let us know.
Image credits:
Photo by Megan Kotlus on Unsplash
The pics from the following posts will be mine.
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