This was our second trip to S America, but the first to Chile.

Having researched a little in this site, (and others), I chose the Hotel San Martin.

I'm either brilliant, or very lucky...because what an absolute delight it turned out to be!

We were there during the music festival, (the last week of February every year). Having never even heard about it before, it was a huge surprise to us. Thousands come to VDM for the Festival every year, from all around S America...it's the biggest music festival there is in this part of the world

Why am I telling you this? Simply to try and put the circumstances that surrounded our stay in the Hotel San Martin into perspective. The hotel was full, VDM was full, everywhere was full. A busy, bustling, happening place

This year, (in no particular order), Tom Jones, Bryan Adams and Ricky Martin were the headliners famous in the english speaking world. La Oreja de Van Gogh, Anna Torroja, Los Tres and many others were more familiar to the "locals" (and the younger crowd), than to us.
Suffice it to say, the whole town rocks during that week

The Hotel San Martin is located as close to the beach as you can get, closer than any other hotel except the Sheraton. However, when I researched prices, the HSM was WAAAAAY less expensive than the Sheraton.
It's rated 4 stars. OK... I wouldn't argue with that, but what an absolutely fantastic 4 star hotel it is!

Other posts and reviews on this site here have properly described the breakfast buffet, size of rooms etc..I don't need to repeat that detail. I would however point out that the only rooms with balconies are the ones with Ocean View. They also tend to be the bigger rooms also.

It's time to address the the noise issue that some people have commented on. Yes, as you might imagine, you can hear noise at night from the steeet below, but you soon get used to it. And let's face it, the crashing of the waves thundering against the rocks less than 100 yards away is noise too!

Noise from the street below? Yes, of course, let's just think about this for a second. This is S America, and the culture is that people get up late, and stay up late. It's the exact opposite of N America. If you're there on vacation, just chill out and go with the flow. A change is as good as a rest they say!

And yes, surprisingly, I do have one thing to say that isn't 100% positive. The breakfast buffet is very good, with excellent quality. But they do need to change it up a little though. After 10 days it got just a tad monotonous

The staff are wonderful, extremely professional, courteous, yet very friendly at the same time. You just have to talk to them!
You don't speak Spanish? Don't worry. Andrea at the Concierge desk is completely bi-lingual, as are many of the front desk staff
And you don't need transportation from the HSM to the center of town either. It's just a pleasant 10-15 minute stroll, past a lot of restaurants for every taste and budget.

Don't feel like going out to eat? The hotel restaurant is great value too, offering a superb three course prix fixe for about U$16 at most, which includes a drink. Friday and Saturday nights feature a dinner dance with live band..about U$25

If you're the type of person that wants the comfort and convenience of your typical N American hotel room, but with a generous helping of Latin American flavor, look no further.

I could go on for hours, about the perfect little canape plates served in the cocktail bar, about how the Chileans adore their Pisco Sour, and about Chilean seafood. Ahh, Chilean seafood...muy rico!

But by now, you should have got the message that we loved the Hotel San Martin...clever you!!!
Now, just make your reservations there and enjoy

And if you have specific questions....just e-mail me

Thoroughly enjoyed my stay at this nice, friendly yet professional hotel. Yes it is on a busy street near the beach so one must expect some noise, etc. And yes you are in Chile where people do not start their night living before late. I needed to contact Santiago and the concierge made it all very easy. Don't hesitate. this is a great place

My wife and I stayed at the San Martin for 10 days over the Christmas and New Year's holiday while visiting friends in the area.

It was our first trip to Chile and our first outside the US. Our experiance was wonderful! The staff at the hotel was very helpful with our stay and made us feel we were honored guests. The bar and resturant are very nice. We even hosted a party of 10 at their saturdaynight dinner dance. The hotel arranged for a private tour of nearby Valparaiso which was originally 3 hours but extended to 6 because the guide and tour were so good. We liked our stay very much and would recommend this hotel to anyone traveling to Vina.

my husband and i stayed at this hotel for three nights while visiting our son who is spending a semester at one of the universities in vina del mar.

booked at an amazingly low off-season rate through [----]
you may also call them in miami, which i did, because they can give you a lot of info on various hotels/locations throughtout chile.
we dealt with maria davies, who provides excellent personalized service.

we paid a lower rate ($15 a night less) for a city view, but were given a partial ocean view with a balcony. the room size was fine for us (maybe a little tight for some people). nice marble tiled bathroom with lots of thick towels. maid service was excellent. there is some street noise because the hotel's location, but we had no problem getting used to it. actually, the crashing waves were louder than pedestrians/traffic/horse-drawn carriages, etc.!!


there is a business center on the second floor with three pc's and free internet access.

free breakfast buffet every morning with fresh fruits, cereals, eggs, meats, fresh squeezed juices, etc. they have a very reasonably priced dinner menu and an attractive bar, neither of which did we try.

great concierge (andrea) who speaks excellent english and was very helpful arranging tours and making recommendations. front desk staff was friendly as well, and always had at least one person on who spoke some english. (a big help in a country where practically no one speaks anything but fast/slangy spanish)

overall, a lovely stay in a clean, modern hotel. in a very safe spot with a view of the beach and great people-watching.

we had dinner with our son at a couple of nice little restaurants nearby:

Armandita, 6 norte 119 (only a block or two south from hotel toward ocean) - excellent argentine steak house with friendly service and interesting artwork around. our waiter, fernando, was charming...website: www.armandita.cl

Torito Parrilla, 7 norte 151 - great typical chilean fare, family owned and operated. treated us very well. our waiter at this restaurant was very nice and good at suggesting the house specialties to us. website: [---]