Las Balsas Relais & Chateaux

My husband and our four children visited Las Balsas over Christmas. I can't recall a more special hotel. The decor, the views, the service - it was all 5 stars! Our rooms were fantastic and immaculate. The food was extraordinary. Marcus is an exceptional mixologist. Esteban attended to all of our needs. Ailin, Lorencia, Daniela, Vicky, Liuisiana, and Noela all went above and beyond. We are so lucky to have experienced this incredible paradise in the heart of Patagonia!

A gorgeous hotel in a fabulous setting right on the lake. The staff were wonderful and we had delicious food. It is worth upgrading your room to a suite for the extra room, it was a real treat.

This château hotel is so quaint and beautiful you walk in you feel at home very friendly staff catered to your every need beautiful lake views in the rooms outdoor sitting area overlooking the lake pool area sauna hot tub was absolutely wonderful. You can go to their spa and have a massage. The Hotel has a workout area piano TV room everything you can imagine stunning views huge fireplace in the lounge to sit and have a whiskey great bar. The restaurant was absolutely fabulous. Fabulous service food was spectacular. I enjoyed this hotel tremendously.

Beautiful location on the lake with great views. The hotel is quite Victorian in some ways decorated well but slightly as your grandmother might have decorated. The bedrooms are comfortable and well equipped. We had a corner suite with stunning views of the lake. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The restaurant is good and they have an interesting wine list. We went on 2 hikes recommended by the hotel: the 12km peninsula walk. You get the catamaran out and walk back. Beautiful forest and a nice hike but plenty of others. The second hike which was difficult to find but spectacular: the Belvedere hike. An amazing view from the top across many lakes and then a walk to a waterfall for a picnic. I would have liked to stay longer as it is a truly beautiful area.

An incredibly beautiful spot with probably the most beautiful rooms we have ever stayed in. We upgraded to the villas which are more expensive, but well worth the expense. The food is outstanding, both breakfast and dinner although the menu is rather small and does not change from day to day. I would like to give this place the highest marks, and certainly from the standpoint of beauty those marks would be well deserved. However there were several drawbacks. First, when we checked in, the sommelier introduced herself and told us that because she would not be there during dinner, she would be happy to take us to the wine cellar and allow us to pick some wines for the two nights we would be dining there with out friends. We like wine so we jumped at the opportunity. Down in the cellar, she showed us several bottles and we chose 5 bottles to drink over several days. Because we had already been traveling in country for 10 days and had not seen anything too obscene in terms of price on the wine lists, we didn't ask for prices. The first night we had the restaurant open a Sauvignon Blanc, a Rose and a Malbec. We were shocked when the check came to find that the Sauvignon Blanc was $550 per bottle, which is about 8 times what I expected and about 8 times the price of the other Sauvignon Blancs on the list. While I will say again that we never asked the prices, I was shocked that the sommelier had not given any indication that she was suggesting wines that were prices way above normal levels. My other criticism would be that everything, and I mean everything, is a la carte. Water bottles which we requested to take on hikes and which most luxury hotels provide in your room for free, were given out at $5 per bottle. Things like boat rides or sailing on the lake were also marked up very significantly. We were with a group that doesn't mind spending money, but everyone was raising their eyebrows. Still, if you go for the incredible beauty, the excellent food and the massages, you will not be disappointed!

We stayed 4 nights at Las Balsas and there’s no denying it’s in an amazing location with wonderful views! Other positives are the lovely spa, the delicious food, the charming communal areas, and the friendly staff. Although, on the whole, we had a great stay, unfortunately it didn't quite live up to the high expectations we had, given the cost and the Relais & Chateaux label. For example, our room was tiny, with very little storage space for clothes and nowhere to store our bags. The walls were completely bare so it felt a little sparse (especially compared to the rest of the property, which had a cosy decor). The bathroom felt a little worn, particularly around all its wooden features. We also found it a little uncomfortable that the bed was directly against the wall without any kind of headboard. Also, we were woken up during the night by a kind of scratching noise (it sounded like there was a mouse trapped in the roof area) - which was an intermittent issue for the rest of our stay. The reception staff arranged for a maintenance person to look into it but apparently nothing was found so nothing was done to fix it. After dinner one night it was mentioned that we could move to a different room but we weren't minded to pack and move at 10pm so we declined on the basis we'd see how we got on that night. Although we reminded the staff a few times about the ongoing problem, there continued to be no resolution and no further offer to move room and generally, frankly, they didn't seem bothered. We would have expected a bit more of a sense of urgency in trying to resolve the issue and more proactivity to make our stay more comfortable. It's really not ideal when you can't get a good night's sleep. The food at the restaurant was generally excellent although it would have been nice if there could have been specials on offer or different menus for some of the evenings. It seemed a little unusual in a restaurant of this quality for the menu to be the same every day during the 4 days we were there. It would also be nice to see a wider variety of wines available by the glass. Additionally, although we were on a full board rate and there was no problem to arrange a lunchbox for one of the days, we were rather underwhelmed by what we were given: we didn't think a wrap, a banana and a small bag of granola each was really on point for this kind of property (especially compared to the 3 course lunch you could have on site). It was nice to have soft drinks available in the mini bar in the room but it was odd there were no glasses to drink them from (until they were delivered during the turndown each evening) and they were all in plastic bottles, which seemed incongruous with the approach other properties are taking to single-use plastic (and actually our picnic basket included 2 refillable water bottles so it's odd they are inconsistent with this). Equally, it was nice to have an espresso machine in the room but only offering 2 capsules per day seem