Hostel Don Nino, Oaxaca, Mexico

You can visit the hotel's website at: Hostal Don Nino or check out Hotels.com for the deals on other accommodations in the Oaxaca, Mexico area.

Comments:

In all honesty, although there wasn't much wrong with this place, our stay wasn't memorable either. We booked a private room with private bathroom and although it had all the amenities and more that we expected for the price we paid, the room was lacking character. At 600 pesos per night, we would have liked to see more charm or at least be left with more of a lasting impression of staying at this family owned place in a town that's full of charm and character. Unfortunately, for some reason, it just wasn't to be.

The hostel does provide a ton of free items and has a nice shared space with a flat screen TV, computer and leather couches to complement the shared accommodations, but the private rooms aren't worth the price. 

Location:

The old town of Oaxaca is fairly small and easy to get around by foot, so any location in or near the old town would probably be decent. We preferred this location because it was a 5-minute walk from the First Class Bus Terminal and only about a 10-minute walk from Zocalo. For independent travelers like us who want to avoid tours as much as possible, this place was also within short walking distance to the Baseball stadium where you can get a shared taxi to Mitla and Hierve el Agua (see "Other" section below for details).

Room Comfort:

Despite containing all the comforts, amenities and features of a higher class hotel, such as flat screen television, wireless internet, hot water, great water pressure, phone, iron, hair dryer, shampoo, soap, hair conditioner, body wash, A/C, free filtered water, free breakfast and so on, we didn't find any comfort in staying here. We had room #103 which was the furthest from the restaurant and consequently the quietest; but unfortunately, as a result, we couldn't get the wireless internet signal because it wasn't strong enough to reach our room. Instead, we took our laptop to other areas of the hotel where it worked great.

The bed was uncomfortable and felt like it would fall apart every time we moved on it. The mattress was too soft, while the unattached headboard banged against the wall every time we moved. We actually wedged a hand towel between the wall and the headboard to prevent the banging but even that had temporary effectiveness as at some point of each night the towel would fall and the banging would start again. The comforters were also permanently stained.

On the positive side, the room was big enough and had enough space to unpack for a few days. The same cannot be said for the tiny bathroom. The bathroom came with a slew of minor annoying problems, such as the shower drain not draining properly, the soap dispenser not working properly and so on.

Cleanliness:

Except for the cockroach we saw in the bathroom on our last night, there weren't that many other "animals" roaming around. The place wasn't dirty by any means, but after seeing an "animal" we really can't describe it as sparkling clean either. The shared bathrooms and restaurant appeared to be clean.

Service:

Service at the restaurant was a little slow and started a bit late at 8:30AM to 11:30AM each morning. Despite many people waiting for breakfast before 8:30AM, no one would get served until 8:30AM (not a minute before, literally) or later. It also seemed that they were understaffed at breakfast and the service was slow as a result. Another annoying thing was that the waiter automatically brought coffee to every table despite people wanting tea. Why not ask what people want first?

The staff at the hotel was nice and friendly though.

Food:

Breakfast consisted of coffee (or tea if you asked for it), juice, beans, eggs and tortillas. It was pretty much the same everyday, except on our last day for some strange reason when they tossed the eggs inside the tortilla wrap. Breakfast wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. The other negative was that they automatically put ham in the eggs. There are many people, including us, that don't eat ham. Again, why not ask people if they want it before serving it?

Other than breakfast, we didn't eat at their restaurant so won't comment further on the food.

Other Notes:

You can get to Hierve el Agua or Monte Alban independently and spend as much time as you desire at either place.

To get to Monte Alban, there is a shuttle van service that leaves every few minutes depending on the time of year and time of day. Ask around and you'll be sure to find a schedule. Seeing Monte Alban independently gives you more flexibility to see this ruin. We required about 2 hours to see Monte Alban at our pace.

To get to Hierve el Agua independently take a shared taxi to Mitla from Avenida Ninos Heroes de Chapultepec, beside the baseball stadium in Oaxaca. It's about a 5-minute walk from the First class bus station. Tell the taxi driver that you want to go to Hierve el Agua so that they'll drop you off where the pick-up trucks depart to Hierve el Agua. The taxi ride costs 20 pesos and takes about 20 minutes. The pick-up trucks are easy to identify for Hierve El Agua as they will come to you, but won't leave until they have a minimum of 8 people. The 1-hour ride costs 25 Pesos each way to Hierve el Agua. The road is pretty bumpy and dusty so even though distance isn't significant the drive will take an hour. When you arrive at Hierve El Agua, you will have to pay the park fees. There is a beautiful hiking trail that passes below and around the calcium formations and eventually back up. The hike takes about an hour at a moderate pace. Since most people don't know about it, or don't do it, you'll have it to yourselves, especially after a certain point. This hike is definitely worth it as the views are phenomenal from the bottom. It's amazing how many people miss this when they are there. This is why we don't do these things on packaged tours. You won't see this with a packaged tour to Hierve el Agua.

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