$65,000 pesos per night, double with private bathroom, 11th - 17th January 2015

vibe

The second hostel we’ve stayed at during our many visits to Cartagena over the years, Casa Eugenia attracts a good mix of backpackers looking for a central, safe and quiet hostel.

location

Excellent. Set on one of the main streets in the Getsemani, within spitting distance of good food, drinking and shops, but still sheltered from the noise. Also, only a ten minute walk to the old town and a large supermarket.

There's some dodgy characters around the street corners here, so try not to return on your own late at night.

best thing

The room we stayed in was very large and well furnished with a excellent bathroom. One of the best we've stayed in for quite some time.

They have a few members of staff working here, but one of the ladies goes above and beyond in helping guests. We were looking for somewhere reasonably priced for a few days (we were in Cartegena in high season, and most hostels had almost doubled there rates) and she offered us an excellent deal within minutes.

worst thing

Unfortunately, not all their staff are created equal, and we had a few issues with one of the guys on reception (we believe he is the son of the owner). In addition to spending more time taking thrice-daily 'spliff-breaks', he also failed to let us no that we needed to check-out as they had new guests coming into our room. We only found out when we went to pay for an extra night - at 11pm. Thankfully we found somewhere early the next morning (we were hungover and this was the last thing we wanted to do), but it could have caused a lot of problems.

We understand that hostels will take on-line bookings whilst other guests are in the room, but all it would have taken was a quick question about our plans - especially since we had already been in the room for a week.

As a side note, the kitchen was pretty poor and the huge outdoor social area at the back (although a great space) could do with some attention to utilise the space better.

value for money

Cartagena is one of the most expensive cities for hostels in Colombia, therefore we were really satsified with the deal we got here considering it was high-season and the quality of our room.