Samay Wasi Youth Hostel

Amazing place to stay. Great view of Cusco and near San Blas. Great exercise every day walking up the hill in readiness for Inka Machu Pichu trail. Friendly and attentive staff too. Highly recommended and stayed here for nearly a month.

The property its high on the hill you need a taxi to reach it, you can walk but will make you tire. Good staff, good breakfasts, nice view from the terrace.

The property staff was great! They helped to set up transportation to and from the airport based on our flights. Walkable to much of the historic district and shopping and restaurants. The breakfast was good and rooms clean and as described. Great options for day trips that we didn't have enough time to take them up on.

Helpful staff who can help you organise tours etc, great free breakfast, quiet, comfortable rooms, but the best part is the unbelievable views.

Nice place

Great staff, every guest who has stayed there is super respectful of early morning schedules and the need for sleep as a lot of hikes and tours start super early. It’s not like a crazy loud party hostel. The breakfast is great, typically with eggs, bread, jam, and coffee or a great tea selection. The view on the balcony is stunning as you can see the almost the whole town.

Excellent! The location is perfect, beds are comfortable and clean. The breakfast was delicious and the laundry service was flawless! Would go back in a heartbeat.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Great view of the valley and Cusco from the balcony. San Blas neighborhood is a beautiful location if you don’t mind climbing steps. Also very clean.

Not good,not recommend.

Such a beautiful view from the hostel.

James is a jewel. I would stay again.

We had a great time here and wished we could have stayed longer. The best thing about this hostel is the shared terrace with amazing views of the city all day, especially dawn and sunset. We arrived on the evening of New Years Eve and paid a little extra for a room with a view on the 2nd floor, rather than no views on the 1st floor and we were so glad we did. The fireworks were amazing of course! Plus we didn't have to deal with the normal nightmares of NYE with everything we needed right there, including a guitarist and some other travellers having fun. Henry, James and all the staff are really friendly, and we loved our double bed room with en-suite and a wide window onto the view of Cusco to wake up to. I think good hostels fall into two groups, the quirky, relaxed ones that make you think of a classic backpacker trip, and the new, quite sterile, types. Samay Wasay is the quirky kind. It's clean, the beds are comfortable and the water is hot, and at breakfast large flasks of hot water are on the tables so you can make Coca tea. We found it to be great value. I saw some other people complaining about having to walk up stairs to get to the hostel - well it's only about 10 mins from Plaza del Armas, uphill, and we did it with a backpack each and it was fine. I think if you want a 5-star hotel, then go and book that for yourself. If I came back to Cusco, I'd definitely stay here again, and have recommended it to several people we've spoken to.

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budget hostel for sure but you get more than what you pay for

Our stay at samay wasi was beautiful but also painful. The view is from the terrace and room is beautiful and The complimentary breakfast is nice but the stairs to get up to the hostel is painful and will destroy you, Especially when you're suffering from altitude sickness!! You have to climb down the mountain whenever you want to get lunch/dinner, so making your way back to the hostal is exhausting. Regardless of the climb, I think our least favourite part was how cold the room was. The heating is only turned on during certain hours of the day, so for majority of the day the room is VERY COLD. We had some early morning days (leaving around 5am), so when we came back to the room (around 3pm) all we wanted to do was relax and unwind however this was very difficult to do in a cold room. I was also very sick on our 2nd day (was vomiting and dizzy) so my husband requested for the heating to be turned on so I can relax but they refused - this was not fun! So even though the view is nice I wouldnt stay here again. Better to stay at a hostal near the main square as its beautiful!

Kind, friendly staff, everyrhing was organized and exaxtly as promised. I was collected fron the airport, the breakfast was excellent and the views from my room were stunning. The capacity to sit outside( with the nice cat Bigotes) was another bonus. The choice of good cheap reataurants nearby was wonderful and the location perfect - really central but absolutely quiet and tranquil. I even saw hummingbirds from the roof terrace. I would return to this hostel and would recommend it to anyone fit enough to stay in San Blas.

They only turn on the heat between 8pm to 7am which was not comfortable during the cold days. The heaters are pretty old in the rooms so it takes hours.

They offered to pick us up from the airport, a tourist guide picked us up and tried selling his services on the way to the Hostal. When he realized we had everything booked he started being rude. We wanted to pay cash so they charged us using an exchange rate that was 10% higher than the market and said it was how things were done there. They didn’t give us a ticket confirming our stay. The bathroom had spiders.

Our 5 night in Samay Wasi was just great. We got really confortable there. It is a bit up the stairs to reach but it was a good exercise for us after all the eating :) Paulina who does cooking, cleaning, morning breakfast was so nice and kind. She cooked with us in the common kitchen. We had a double delux room with private bathroom which was clean and comfortable, can be cleaned upon request. Probably the best shower we’ve had so far with good pressure hot water. It’s a no fuss hostel. Highlight is the view of Cusco as we’re a bit uphill

I read many reviews of this place before booking. Most things rang true. It is a climb up the hill from the Central Plaza, but you get used to it. Make stops along the way. The heat DID work, when they turned it on at night. The showers were HOT and strong. Can't complain. The breakfast was good. I stayed for 1 week and felt at home pretty quickly. They allow you to use the kitchen if you want to cook. But one of the best features is the view. They have an open patio for common use and Cusco spreads out before you. You can watch storms come in, or the lights of the city turn on after the sound goes down. Great view and well worth the hike up the hill. There are also a lot of restaurants, small markets, bars and artisan shops in the quaint neighborhood of San Blas, if you don't fancy the walk to the main square.