Hostería Cinco Sentidos Meliquina

On Route 63 toward Paso Córdoba, a few hundred meters past the lake that names the village, stands Hostería Cinco Sentidos. It didn’t emerge as a traditional hotel project but as the natural outcome of a way of life: in 2013, a Buenos Aires couple arrived in Villa Lago Meliquina, was immediately drawn in by the mirror-flat lake and the mountains closing in on the horizon, and decided not to leave. They settled permanently in December of that year.

The first thing they built was a tea house, opened toward the end of 2014 with tables and crockery salvaged from family homes, run by the owners themselves. Over time they expanded: they enlarged the dining room, installed a rocket stove that heats the entire space for a full day on just three hours of burning even in the depths of the Patagonian winter, and put up a greenhouse. The inn came in 2019, designed for guests looking for something more than a stopover in Meliquina: a real place to stay.

There are two room types, both 28 m². The double has a 200×200 cm bed; the twin double has two 200×100 cm beds. Both have radiator heating, a private bathroom, WiFi, and the option of a TV with Netflix—or no TV at all, for those arriving to unplug. Electricity and hot water run around the clock, which in a village off the conventional grid represents genuine infrastructure work: Meliquina runs on alternative energy—solar panels and wind turbines—and Cinco Sentidos aligns with that low-impact philosophy. Guests also have access to a shared common room with a fully equipped kitchen, refrigerator, and outdoor grill.

Breakfast is homemade and filling, made from inherited family recipes with local ingredients, and served in the adjacent Tea House. The organic garden is a structural part of the property’s identity: cultivated from the early years using a biointensive method—no agrochemicals, composting what the soil gives—it now includes apple, pear, plum, cherry, almond, quince, raspberry, currant, and mulberry plants. This isn’t decoration; it’s the foundation for much of what reaches the table and the Tea House counter.

Villa Lago Meliquina sits 37 km from San Martín de los Andes: 23 km of paved road on Route 40 (ex-234), then 14 km of firm gravel on Route 63 to the village, and 1,100 m further along that same road past the lake. The gravel stretch is the price of admission; in return, the lake appears like a mirror and the road winds through lenga beech and mountain scenery. The village offers fly fishing on the lake and river, kitesurfing and windsurfing, cycling along interior roads, and trekking. In winter, Cerro Chapelco’s ski slopes are 30 km away. Route 63 is also one of the approaches to Paso Córdoba, a more rugged Andean crossing than the better-known passes along the Seven Lakes corridor.

For a couple or small group looking to step away from the more crowded circuits of San Martín without giving up a proper bed and a breakfast made with real care, Hostería Cinco Sentidos is one of the few genuine options in a lightly explored stretch of Andean Patagonia.