Everyone at Hotel Puerta de Alcala went out of their way to make my two-stay stay in Valaparaiso go smoothly.

The hotel is small, with rooms built around an interior central core. The rooms themselves didn't have much personality, but they were very comfortable and modern, with televisions, hair dryers, and a mini bar.

The staff made my stay particularly nice. It was my last day in town, and they very agreeably stored my humongous suitcase while I spent the entire day traipsing around the city. When I returned, they did not seem at all offended when I used the lobby to partially repack and load up my carry-on for the long flight back to the U.S.

The location is perfect, in the heart of the city, within walking distance to most sites of interest. Cabs and buses to all points are right outside the door, as are shops, cafes, bars, pastery stores, and just about any other vendors you might need.

My stay was midweek, but the city's hottest nightspots are just a couple of blocks away. The rooms facing the street are therefore likely a bit noisy on weekends. The rooms facing the wall next door are very quiet, but have no view and are dark due to lack of sunlight. I opted for the quiet, since I didn't spend any daylight hours in the room anyway.

The food in the hotel restaurant was good, particularly the razor clams parmesan.

The worker at the front desk spoke fairly good English, but the restaurant staff did not. Since I speak fair Spanish, I had no problems communicating.