Hotel Museo Cayara

El museo, los dormitorios

This property is located about 45 minutes from Potosi, down into a valley so you are a bit lower elevation than Potosi (around 11000'). I was the only one staying at the property. Rodrigo is the manager and the waiter and the museum tour guide! He is very kind and speaks English well. He was able to arrange my transfer to Uyuni with a stop in Potosi for the museum. The property itself is beautiful and very peaceful. There is no noise of cars or a city and it is pitch black at night. The room I had was quite large, with a separate sitting area. They had tea and a kettle, which was great! A container of water was left (presumably filtered). The bed was comfortable and there was a heater in the room. The bathroom was large with plenty of space for toiletries and they had shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion. Hot water took a few minutes to come, but was very good. Wifi speed was very good (over 100 mbps) so I could get some work done. Cell service was also fine. The museum tour was fascinating. I had dinner and it was tasty, the beef was tender. No wine by the glass though. Breakfast was made-to-order eggs, fruit, yogurt, cereals, breads, cheeses. Overall, I highly recommend this for a nice step into the past and a peaceful location.

I'm trying to be critical, but it was all really good. Maybe just a minor note that there weren't a lot of plugs for devices, but that is minor.

La plus belle expérience et plus bel hotel historique. La visite du musée et l'accueil de Rodrigo sont tout à fait remarquable

Rien

Very interesting atmosphere (an old hacienda preserved like a museum – Bolivia's first, where you can take a guided tour of the authentically preserved rooms: library, bedrooms, dining room, chamber with weapons and military clothing, e.g. belonging to President Sucre, chapel). Located in a very beautiful mountain landscape, approx. 30 minutes' drive from the centre of Potosí. Beautiful drive through gorges. The rooms are cosy (with authentic old furniture) and pleasantly temperature-controlled (with radiators). The beds and blankets are very good. The shower was hot and intense. All rooms are very clean. Breakfast and dinner were fine but not outstanding in terms of creativity and taste.

Due to technical issues, it was not possible to pay by credit card. A direct bank transfer had to be made instead. The entire process ultimately took approximately one hour. So please note: allow plenty of time for this if necessary.

Personal was very friendly and always ready to help. Rooms were clean and big enough, we had hot water in the shower and clean towels. The price for the rooms were acceptable. The hacienda is in very good condition, has a nice fire place, the museum itself was very interesting.

We spent two nights at the hotel, and during both days, the power was cut during the day due to maintenance, or at least that’s what we were told. We depended on the Wi-Fi to organize the rest of our trip, which made things very difficult and stressful. There is almost no phone service otherwise (no signal). The hotel is situated far from Potosí city, and it is actually not easy to find transportation to and from Potosí. I would not recommend it if your main goal is to visit Potosí. The transportation offered by the hotel can be quite expensive. Transportation to the nearest airport (Sucre) is not offered at all—you have to organize it yourself, which can also be very complicated.. The only place to eat in the area is the hotel itself. The price of meals was quite expensive compared to all the other hotels we visited in the country, including some four-star hotels. Each meal cost 170 Bs per person (about $25 USD), which did not include anything to drink. As a family of five, this was a considerable expense for two days, and we were not made aware of this in advance. It would have been more transparent for the hotel to offer meal packages, such as half or full board. We visited Cayara mainly out of curiosity and family nostalgia, but I wouldn’t stay more than one night there, there is really not much to do. There are opportunities for hiking, but the price still seems excessive.

A wonderful, memorable, unique stay. Our room (superior suite) was spacious, clean, quiet, and nicely decorated. The staff is kind, welcoming, responsive, and helpful: they organized all of our transportation in advance and even arranged for us to store our luggage in Potosí while we explored the city for a few hours. It does take ~45 minutes to arrive from the city center by taxi, but the drive is gorgeous. The hotel is at the head of a tranquil verdant valley one would not expect just outside of the bustling city of Potosí. I say this place is a luxury, not for five star amenities, but in the context of Bolivia and its history. The property has been owned by the same family for generations and it has notable history and an incredible collection of valuable art, furnishing, and objects (hence being a museum, of which they offer a ~1 hour tour). The beautiful setting alone is priceless (they even have their own spring with pure water!). With ~500 years of history, Cayara is surely one of the most unique and interesting places you can stay in Bolivia. Completely to our surprise, we were also able to tour the small dairy farm next door (also owned by the family which owns the hotel-museum) and have their delicious ice cream and popsicles—try the copoazu, maracuya, and pistachio!

This hotel could be perfect with attention to a few details. The windows in our room could be renovated so that they can be easily opened to enjoy the cooling fresh air and views (only two of our three windows opened about halfway). Transparency of prices: there were some discrepancies in what Booking told me I would pay for both the room rate and dinners, which of course can happen but it is always a little frustrating. The dinners were of pretty good quality but a little pricey relative to other meals in Bolivia and our expectations (almost $20 per dinner instead of $12, as was posted on Booking at the time). I didn’t contest the value because we had a wonderful stay, and because 13% VAT apparently must be applied to the room rate when paying by credit card. This is something I understood from another one of our hotels in Bolivia, but it was not explicit on Cayara’s Booking page at the time of our booking/stay.