San Antonio, Chile Cruise Port - hotels

[Wayfairers]

Any hotel recommendations - preferably within walking distance to the cruise port.  We will probably only have backpacks and consider a mile or so walking distance.

[Torquer]

San Antonio is a small working-class city.  It has exactly one hotel:  the Enjoy Hotel Casino.  We stayed there pre-cruise in February 2024.  It is what you would expect from a 3-star European hotel or something like a Holiday Inn Express in the US.  It was neat, clean, has amazing views of the harbor, includes a free breakfast, and is very cheap.  You can also wake up very early and watch your ship sail into port which is pretty cool.  The hotel is about 1/2 mile from the cruise terminal.  That is the good part.  Now the bad part:  the only restaurant you would want to eat at in the whole city is either the one at the hotel or maybe get something at the food court in the attached shopping mall.  As I said, this is a working class town and there are no restaurants that we saw that would be suitable for tourists. There is also nothing to do in the town, except walk along the wharf and watch the fishermen at work.

 

All that said, we thought it was fine for one night so we intend to stay there again in March of 2025 for another cruise we have booked that starts in San Antonio.  However, we are having problems making reservations...they seem to only be accepting reservations through December 2024 at this time. 

[Wayfairers]

Thanks for the info. We were there in 2019 on Grand South America and that sounds like what I remember.  We would be fine walking a half mile or so to board the ship.  

[Sea42]

We found a few good choices for lunch and dinners on our 2019 stay in San Antonio. This one was down by the waterfront market

[Sea42]

On 8/7/2024 at 10:15 AM, Wayfairers said:

Any hotel recommendations - preferably within walking distance to the cruise port.  We will probably only have backpacks and consider a mile or so walking distance.

We have stayed at Hotel Mellati. Marcello and his sister were wonderful hosts. In the past they provided a ride to the port but I'm not sure if that is still the case. The hotel and restaurants I mentioned are not fancy by any means. They do offer good food and service at very reasonable prices.

[Wayfairers]

On 8/11/2024 at 6:52 AM, Sea42 said:

We have stayed at Hotel Mellati. Marcello and his sister were wonderful hosts. In the past they provided a ride to the port but I'm not sure if that is still the case. The hotel and restaurants I mentioned are not fancy by any means. They do offer good food and service at very reasonable prices.

Thanks - I’ll check out the hotel.   The food looks delicious 

[LetItSnow]

We are sailing on HAL Oosterdam March 19, 2025 from San Antonio.  Is a hotel stay in Santiago a reasonable option?  That is, are there decent transportation options from the city to the port?

 

[Torquer]

3 hours ago, LetItSnow said:

We are sailing on HAL Oosterdam March 19, 2025 from San Antonio.  Is a hotel stay in Santiago a reasonable option?  That is, are there decent transportation options from the city to the port?

 

Absolutely, that is what most people do.  Just be sure you have your transportation booked ahead of time from Santiago to San Antonio on embarkation day.  It is about a 70 mile drive and takes a 1-1/2 hours.  Don't expect to get a cab at your hotel willing to drive you that far, since they will unlikely be able to get a paid fare for the return trip.

[LetItSnow]

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

Absolutely, that is what most people do.  Just be sure you have your transportation booked ahead of time from Santiago to San Antonio on embarkation day.  It is about a 70 mile drive and takes a 1-1/2 hours.  Don't expect to get a cab at your hotel willing to drive you that far, since they will unlikely be able to get a paid fare for the return trip.

Thanks for the advise Torquer!  Much appreciated.