This is a great place. The owner, Catalina, was welcoming, warm and efficient with great advice and help. Our room, one of only a few, was bright and clean, the kitchen available to use anytime, the breakfast was beautiful and ample and the 2 computers have good internet as well as wifi. The whole place is comfortable and welcoming.

And the location is fabulous. Overlooking the great port of Valparaiso, it's an easy place to look at the action, see this marvellous port and, after a great ride down the hill, to travel anywhere by trolebus from Aduana.

For just 40 cents, you can ride the length of the city by catching a traditional electric trolebus from Aduana to Avenue Argentina, just one block away from the bus terminal. Trolebuses turn around at the old customs house, Aduana, where you can catch this most impressive asensor up to the fantastc view of Paseo 21 de Mayo and visit the naval museum.

Just 2 blocks from Aduana along Cochrane is Los Portenos, an honest and genuine restaurant visited by Chileans - and us and tourists lucky enough to find it.

We stayed at Hostal Portobello for the 2 nights in October. The owners could not be more friendly or helpful, and we liked the location a little outside (but easy to get to) the action of the main tourist cerros. Our room on the ground floor was clean and nicely decorated and the bed was really comfortable. Breakfast was also good. Only complaint was that the room and bathroom were pretty chilly, even with the space heater they gave us. Still, we would definitely stay here again.

Tough one this as the young couple who run the hostel are probably the nicest and most helpful people we have met in our travels around South America. Continuing on the positives, breakfast is very good with fresh crusty bread, good real ham and cheese, fruit salad, carrot cake, fresh juice and tea/instant coffee. Wifi is fast and there are also two computers for use. The building is also tastefully and interestingly decorated.
Unfortunately at US$75 a night, there were a number of things which meant we couldn´t give more than a 3* rating on Tripadvisor. We paid to have a room with a sea view and the noise from the container port woke us up constantly throughout the night. There are only thin blinds on the windows so there is also a problem with light coming through very early and the doors are half frosted glass so anytime somebody turns a light on in the corridor to use the shared bathroom, the bedroom also lights up. The ensuite bathroom is very ugly and basic with nowhere to put anything and certainly not befitting of a "boutique hostel" claim. The room was also not serviced at all during our three day stay which wasn´t great considering there is nowhere to hang damp towels. The location is pretty inconvenient all round since the majority of the nice bars and restaurants are a 25min walk away and at night it is certainly not a walk back you would want to do on your own. We paid 8500pesos in a taxi from the bus station but local buses heading in the opposite direction to Vina Del Mar will get you to the bottom of the nearby (inoperational) funicular for 250pesos each. I really did want to love this place but ended up wishing we´d picked somewhere else.

My husband and I spent a few nights here during a visit to Chile and Argentina in December 2008. We really loved this place. Our host was so kind. He offered us tea as soon as we arrived and sat down with us and provided us with maps and a few suggested walking tour brochures - which we took and really enjoyed. The location was just near the top of Cerro Artilleria, which we could get to via funicular. It's a bit on the edge of the city, but a nice place to retreat to for a little siesta in the middle of the day. We had a great view of the port and bay from our room - which was clean and bright. The price was unbelievable. It was the least expensive place we stayed in South America, but by far our favorite. I would strongly recommend this B&B to anyone visiting Valparaiso in the future.