La Cascada Hotel in Bariloche Feels Like Home
It is rare to stay at a hotel where you really feel at home. Sure, there are places with good concierges and nice amenities, but home implies a sense of comfort, familiarity, and ease that most hotels can’t pinpoint. Not true for La Cascada. My friend and I stayed for five nights and fell in love with the hotel. Our first night, having arrived extra late from a delayed flight, the man who checked us in made us a sandwich. He texted us on WhatsApp when it was ready, and I ambled out into the hallway in my PJs to procure the late-night snack.
The next morning, we woke up to a spectacular view of Lago Nahuel Huapi.
The view is enjoyable from nearly every common area of the hotel, from the dining room to the wine bar to the pool to the patio. The hotel’s interior contributes not just to the natural beauty but also to the sense of home. There were comfortable armchairs and couches everywhere, and the interior design was neutral, unassuming, yet elevated. Even the front desk — a literal desk with two chairs for guests to be at ease in friendly conversation with the staff — felt homey.
We got to know some staff members, too, which made our stay more intimate. Bruno, our waiter, told us about the best food. Eugenia and Abel told us about the best hikes - and then commiserated with us when we returned in a state of disarray and exhaustion. And so many other wonderful staff members made us feel welcomed and taken care of, as if by a group of friends hosting is for a long weekend.
On several occasions we dined on premises - once for dinner, once for wine and dessert only, twice for afternoon tea, and daily for breakfast.
Luxuriating over a slow and delicious meal (replete with cereals, yoghurt, fruit, eggs, baked goods, and annoyingly delicious croissants) was the perfect way to start our day and adjust to the Argentinian time zone. The time zone adjustment was so much about proximity to the prime meridian as it was to understanding the culture. In Argentina, most restaurants don’t even open until 8 PM for dinner and don’t get full until after 10 PM. Everything is just shifted forward a few hours - wake up late, have a late breakfast, go out around noon, have tea around 5 PM, and then go to dinner at 10 PM. Repeat. This is less of a mental shift for me as an American because this lifestyle followed the sun, which didn’t set until 9:30 PM. When we didn’t eat in town or at the hotel, we dragged our bodies—sore and sunburned from all the hikes—across the street to the local cervesaría for salad, pizza, French fries, and empanadas.
With La Cascada being so far from town, there weren’t many dining options nearby, but the restaurants were cheaper and more frequented by locals than what you light find downtown, and we could always count on the hotel to have good food when we didn’t want to leave our special enclave.
If you ever find yourself in Argentina, I highly recommend a visit to Bariloche, and if you’re there, do yourself a favor and stay at La Cascada. Get a room with a lake view, and say hi to everyone for me.
