Mountain House, Manizales, Colombia.

chris2037 says on Aug 22, 2008, 17:39:

I checked this place out but it is just an ordinary house in a nondescript neighbourhood miles form town, converted into a hostel. No character whatsoever.
I don't know why anyone would want to stay in this place way out of town when you can get a comfortable room for 15,000 in the centre?
Call yourself a hostel, get yourself listed in the guidebooks, and you too can charge extortionate rates.

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nueva york bombero says on Jan 12, 2009, 12:14:

It's a true backpacker's hostel with no charm, but great people.
It wasn't very comfortable, but fun and friendly guests made my experience traveling through Manizales a good one.

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allthewaytothestars (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jan 22, 2009, 13:41:

apwhite says on Aug 24, 2009, 16:54:

Couldn't agree less with chris2037. The mountain house is in a PERFECT location. Close enough to the bus station (4k COP) and a 5 minute walk from the Zona Rosa and the nearest shops. Downtown Manizales has nothing to offer but the cathedral.
Free eggs and bread for breakfast (but you have to make it yourself!). Lots of organised tours. One to Nevado del Ruiz seems overpriced at 115k COP. Agree that the character of the place needs some working on.

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mccormil (☼Travelguide writer) says on Aug 28, 2009, 09:30:

With no exaggeration this is by far the worst and most overpriced hostel I've ever stayed at after 12 years of travelling (on and off). It was so depressing I almost considered cutting my travels short and bought an expensive plane ticket to Cartagena to try to get out of the slump as quickly as possible (it worked).

First of all, they have apparently just moved to a new location but rather than renovate and then open for business they've cheaped out (like they have with everything) and instead are renovating while you stay there (ie. they ripped up the lounge-room floor one morning without warning with deafening noise from 7am so everyone had to crowd in the cramped dining area from then on). In addition the place stank and had absolutely no character whatsoever.

The beds looked and smelt like they'd been bought from a thrift shop (we were in the private room by the way) and the sag was so bad (even compared to normal hostels) that you really couldn't get any sleep. The toilet had no seat on it and the hot water was extremely temperamental.

Yes, they give you 2 eggs and toast to cook for yourself in the morning. Unfortunately only 2 of the burners on the stove work and the pans are so disgustingly old and bent that it was barely hygienic to cook with them, especially since there was no oil or butter to use, when you finally get your turn. In addition the toaster is broken so you have to hold it down the whole time while you're frying the eggs.

The guy who ran the place in the evening was nice enough but the woman who owned it had a really nasty edge to her and made a huge deal out of anything she did to help us.

The only redeeming feature of the whole place is a list they give you with things to do around town. We did the butterfly farm which was bizarre and pretty underwhelming. We spoke to others who had done most of the others and said they weren’t worth it. The one good recommendation on there was to the coffee plantation at Hacienda Guayabal: http://www.haciendaguayabal.com

Had we known, we would have stayed in Manizales (somewhere else) for one night maximum and then headed straight out to the coffee plantation for a couple of days to chill out and enjoy the great atmosphere. Then we would have left Manizales behind as the town doesn’t offer much anyway.

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provinciavalledupar (☼Travelguide writer) says on Aug 30, 2009, 08:00: