Another staggering bus trip this time through the Andes brought us to BA. Portal del Sur was a sound choice considering the Lonely Planet that I was reading on the bus was 5 years out of date. None the less, we gambled on my choice. It was busy even for off season at Portal del Sur, we walked in and the tiny recpetion area was packed. We waited our turn, the guy behind the desk told us there would be room for us four, but not untl after 3. There are two reception floors at this place, one at the entrance ad another on the second level. He guided us up the stairs while someone else took our bags to be held in the locker room. Nice! We semi-checked in, the lady at the second level reception desk said we could use all the common areas, even shower our dirty bus riding selves off we wanted while in wait for the room. The place is big! 5 stories. Open air, lots of sun light, clean kitchen, free wifi, vending machine filled with Quilimes, ping pong, bar on the roof top terrace, also a computer station. Some rooms are private, some shared. Nice common bathrooms also. They offer tons of activities to do also, tango lessons, spanish lessons, bbq and concert on friday nights, walking tours, the whole shabang. The staff all speak english somewhat well, and more then willing to chill out with you and drink mate and play and sing songs on the guitar. I recomened the offered trip to a football game, if Santi is your host it will be a good time. The room we had was big and clean, with en-suite bath. It was about 16 bucks a night. Not bad. Portal del Sur is in walking distance to many locations for it being in the Microcentre. One major downfall that they failed to tell us, night club right next door, and in BA the clubs don't close until 8 AM. So bring ear plugs if you plan to sleep, or you can have a dance party in your room if you want.

Great location a block from Av de Mayo in BA's "Microcentro" (close to sights and subway).
However, a few complaints:
- No curtain to keep the room dark in the morning (daylight would wake me up early every day)
- Noisy
- Tiny bathroom: could hardly move around in the shower!
- Terrible breakfast
At USD 33/person for a private double, this is not good value for money. There has to be better options in BA.

My husband and I stayed in portal del Sur for 4 days. We stayed in the private room ensuite. The building is classic old BA architecture which I loved and we took many pictures of. Clean simple rooms. The ONLY place in the three hostels we stayed in during our trip that had wifi in the room. The others I would have to go down to the lobby.
The staff was ok. Some good some bad. beds were nice and firm. Argentineans aren't into breakfast so they are all the same. coffee tea pasteries toast and fruit.
I loved the activities you could do within the hostel: walking tours spanish class and tango. Though we inquired about a different tango place and were told that they could not help because it would infringe on their tango. We are tango dancers and you do not go to buenos aires and dance Tango at only one place.
My one and only problem with this place is that they have a sent sprayer in the room. it sprays a vanilla sent on the hour and it is subtle but consistant.

The first night we turned up to the roof bar for the free weekly salsa lesson and had it to ouselves... rooftop in Buenos Aires + Free, expert and fun salsa lesson = AWESOME

The do a "free" city tour which obligates you to tip the student guide but it is facinating and well worth the few dollars tip.

The hostel and staff were ultra cool and mellow and the whole place left us feeling very chilled and comfortable... Buenos Aires truly is an enchanting city and this hostel gave us a really good base for our exploration... We were around like minded 25 and up ish years olds and some of the people there had been there for nearly a month because they just didn't want to leave... We wouldn't have but we had flights booked :(

clean, efficient and a truly grand book exchange, great kitchen and breakfast included... common areas are great and great location too.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!