We arrived in Malargüe without booking accommodation in advance, so wandered the streets in the midday heat seeking somewhere comfortable and reasonable to lay our weary heads after another night-long bus trip, this time from Bariloche.
Having been in contact with Adrianna of Karen’s Travel, we turned up to their offices asking for assistance, as we were tired, hot, in desparate need of a shower and lost as we had no map of the town! Adrianna quickly made some calls, and as Wifi was a requirement we settled for 3 nights at Maggio Hotel on Av Manuel Ruibal 592, despite it being a little over budget at AR$170 a night.
On first impression, it is a lovely, fresh and modern hotel. Unfortunately there were no double rooms available that weekend and Adrianna had been told they would push beds together in a twin room for us.. they didn’t because they can’t! There is a piece of unmovable bed table between the twin beds so it’s not possible… so, our first disappointment.
Twin room
The room was a good size, clean and pleasant, the bathroom was fresh, clean and had the obligatory loo stuck behind the bathroom door but a large and powerful shower. The room had a balcony, but no furniture provided in order to benefit from it. We didn’t see any form of air conditioning, in the heat of summer that will be unbearable! Over time we realised that it was the little details that were missing. No mirror in the bedroom, although plenty room for it, some more furniture in the room would have been good, a hairdryer in the bathroom, a shelf or hooks for toilet bags…. With plastic doors the noise from other people in the hallway travels, although we now realise this is a common problem in Argentinian hotels and hostels – all those hard surfaces just create echos – and the walls were thin! One day we left without leaving the room key and returned to find our room had not been cleaned, not sure if they take it to mean you don’t want them to go into the room, but I found that odd!
Breakfast is downstairs by the reception area and provides orange, coffee, melba toast and round pastry biscuits with the obligatory dulche de leche.
Staff are friendly and as helpful as the language barrier allows! The hotel is ideal if you are travelling on your own steam as there is a car park. It is a good 10 minute walk from the main drag.
It is a pleasant hotel, and it’s seems to be bringing Malargüe a more contemporary accommodation option, but just needs to dot a few more i’s and cross a few more t’s before it gets it right, especially for the price.
