Reviews of Mandala’s Hostal

The place is great and the staff is super friendly. I didn't want a party hostel, so it seemed to be the perfect choice.

I had problems with the shower. However, it seemed it was an exception, and they really tried to understand and give me support, and this is the most important.

Showers are a disaster

Definitely recommend! This place is amazing! Location is great, it’s safe and cozy and really clean! The staff is super friendly as well, always here to help!

Super comfy beds and 3 bed female dorm was spacious with lockers. Bathroom was basic but clean and had hot shower. Good kitchen and nice rooftop area. But of an alleyway to get there but was fine and a 2 minute walk to the Main Street. Would stay again.

Not the most social as no events held

The general area of the hostel is nice and seems clean, the people working there were very friendly and helpful.

Our private room had a weird smell that we couldn‘t get rid of with opening the windows for a while. In the middle of the night, the water in our bathroom stopped working and even after telling it to the staff, it didn‘t get fixed. Also the door didn‘t close unless it was locked with the key. I know that I can‘t have high expectations for a hostel in Guatemala but this was just too overpriced for what we got.

the best equippwd kitchen ive ever seen. VEEEERY comfortable beds and community spaces

Beware the private room has a broken toilet, that the owner knows about but has never fixed. We paid for a private and extra for the ensuite room but then couldn't use toilet and the shower was so low pressure we used the communal ones for the dorms, so absolute waste of money. Staff promised to partially refund via PayPal while we were there for the inconvenience, then after we departed just left our whatsapp messages on read and never gave anything back. Better options elsewhere in town, would avoid. Not social at all

Nice hostel with great roof terrace. Kitchen is very nice. Staff was helpful and they offer many services. The hostel cat is also insanely cute. I was a bit afraid because many reviews talked about the sketchy alley to get to the hostel, but I found it no problem. It is a bit tricky to find the first time, but after that no issues and the alley was also not scary to me.

Clothes came back with some odd stains after using the hostel laundry service. You can also really hear the noise from Mr Mullets partyhostel. Not a problem to me personally, but maybe not great for light sleepers.

Friendly staff. Close to everything.

Towels

The outdoor chill area was nice to sit in the afternoon. Good lake views. Good kitchen space. Wifi was good.

The bathroom had a bad smell coming from the drains i think, it was pretty bad.

Yes this property is a bit difficult when you arrive to San Pedro, but this is one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at. Staff are so kind, happy to advise on anything, the whole place was extremely clean during my 4 day stay. Kitchen is very well equipped, they even have a free food section with oats, tea, coffee, honey, pasta, rice, salt and sugar. Wi-Fi works very well and rooftop hangout area is so lovely. The music from Mr Mullets goes on to 11pm but this wasn’t a problem for me, and I couldn’t really hear it from my room anyway.

It was difficult to find when I first got here. I had to go into another hostel and ask them for directions.

The terrace at the top is a lovely place to sit and enjoy the views over the lake, and the wifi seemed strong everywhere in the hostel. It's nice to have separate beds in a dorm room rather than bunks.

Even though Mandala's itself is quiet, there are super loud places all around it and you can hear them even in the bedrooms when you try to sleep before 11pm. One bed in my dorm was occupied by a hostel volunteer, who had left mess all over the bed and the floor nearby, and she was occupying half of the shelf space in the room, leaving little for the other 2 guests... My biggest concern was the fact that you can only access the hostel by going down a narrow alleyway, which made me reluctant to be out too much at night alone - even though San Pedro feels safe, I wouldn't want to take risks in a location set away from the actual street.

Nice view from the terrace. Helpful staff. Had little problems finding place. Comfortable 1 flor beds

Smoking in the hostel and in terrace is allowed or not recognised by staff. Had to sleep next to the doors that cannot be properly closed without making lots of noise.

The beds were super comfortable, loved the rooftop the view was very nice! Shower had hot water and the WiFi worked well :)

The property is very hard to find! Took us a while to find it. It’s right next to mr mullets so very noisy until around 11pm ish. As soon as we checked in the toilet in our room wouldn’t flush at all. Went down to tell reception at 2.30pm who said someone was going to come and fix it. Didn’t get sorted until the next evening meaning we couldn’t use it and had to use the shared one. Just no urgency to help guests and get this fixed which was frustrating after paying all that money

The hostel has a cute flair with a cat living there, a nice roof terrace overlooking the lake and a hammock to relax in. The people working here are friendly and the owner can give u all kinds of information. My room was super small and had 5 people in it. There's no room to store things, just some small lockers so all of it is on the ground and as I checked in it just looked like a mess (super messy people is not their fault but bigger lockers could prevent it). Beds have no privacy curtains and are super wobbly so you'll definitely wake the other person. There's just one bathroom each floor and sometimes I had to wait bout 45 minutes to brush my teeth and ended up brushing them at the sink in kitchen. More outside sinks would help. Water in the shower is only warm when you literally shower with the least pressure you can get- jumping from one drop to the next then. Location is alright - walkable to the lake and loads of bars and restaurants. It is super close to Mr Mullets Party Hostel but you get noise just until 11pm, so not too bad. Kitchen is spacious but it's one if the first kitchens I had in hostels which literally has no common products. Not even pepper or other spices! Let alone oil... What quite annoyed me is that they clean the kitchen directly at lunch time and I had to wait a few times bout half an hour for them to finish ... Why not do it bout 10 or around 3 when people usually don't cook? All in all it's relatively cheap but you'll get definitely better options around.

Location is good, although the little alleyway is easily missed. Beds ok, quite comfy. Nice to have a modicum of privacy around bed - partial/ small curtain. Showers are iffy, weak flow if hot, otherwise more flow then cold. Well equipped kitchen, although not enough mugs, and wished there was hot water to wash-up. Lovely view of lake from top lounge area.

You have to rent a towel

Matrasses were super comfy and the rooms nice and spacious. Location is good right in San Pedros town centre. Good wifi

- very close to the clubs, meaning you will be awake till at least midnight, because the music is so loud. (good place if you like parties) - bathrooms were super small and not enough for the amount of people in the hostel. Very outdated bathrooms, with electric heating in showerhead which can be very dangerous. also very dark inside the showers, no hooks to put on your clothes or any places to put your stuff. - our room was right next to the kitchen. people came home after party at 3am and decided to cook a full meal. -

The atmosphere and social area was good. It was good value and the location was good although a little hard to find.

The hostel was quite hard to find initially, there is only a small sign high up on the alleyway you need to take. You can hear the music from Mr Mullets hostel but it didn't affect us and it is turned by 11ish.