Kilometro 39 Via, Troncal del Caribe, Santa Marta, Riohacha, Magdalena, Colombia, Colombia | (888) 399-9863
Two-minute walk to Sosua’s most beautiful beach, Playa Alicia
Small courtyard with pool, tables, and lounge chairs
Most room rates include breakfast and dinner at the hotel’s on-site restaurant
Within walking distance to most of the bars, restaurants, and nightclubs in downtown Sosua
Reasonable rates for airport transfers
Free parking and Wi-Fi
Desktop computer for guest use
Hotel is primarily used for sex tourism
Rooms reek of cigarette smoke and bug sightings are common
Dated decor throughout
Mediocre food
Hotel Casa Cayena is a budget hotel located in Downtown Sosua. Potential travelers should be aware that Sosua is known for sex tourism, and Casa Cayena is one of many hotels that keeps the local business alive. It’s not a place for solo female travelers, families, or even couples. Located on Calle Dr. Rosen, a major thoroughfare in Sosua, Casa Cayena is within a few minutes' walk of Playa Alicia, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. The 25 rooms reek of cigarette smoke, and it’s not uncommon to find large bugs running amok in the bathrooms. However, most rooms have large balconies overlooking the pool, and the already reasonable rates usually include breakfast and dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. The hotel offers free Wi-Fi and parking and doesn’t charge extra fees for temporary guests. The nearby New Garden Hotel has the same sort of clientele and slightly nicer rooms. Tropix Hotel is a budget option for families, with a strict registered guests only policy.
Scene
Sex hotel for foreign male travelers
Let’s face it, there are some pretty fantastic hotel euphemisms out there -- “verdant green lawns,” “crystalline waters,” “home away from home” -- but calling a hotel used for sex tourism “The Place for Friends to make Friends” might be a new all-time low. No matter the fancy wording used on the website, make no mistake, Hotel Casa Cayena is visited solely by foreign, single, male travelers who have come to Sosua to take part in the town’s rampant sex tourism.
The three-story hotel is painted peach and white. A stone floor and armless beige couches make up the lobby, which is also decorated with abstract art prints. The hotel's restaurant has worn wooden chairs and a hanging flat-screen TV near a Presidente beer cooler.
Location
In downtown Sosua, a town known for sex tourism
Located on Calle Dr. Rosen, a main thoroughfare in downtown Sosua, Hotel Casa Cayena is a two-minute walk from the gorgeous Playa Alicia and is within a few minutes' walking distance of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs in town. Downtown Sosua is known for its sex tourism, so there will be prostitutes roaming the streets at all hours. The hotel is about a 15-minute drive from Gregorio Luperon International Airport, and about a 30-minute drive from Puerto Plata.
Rooms
Horrendously dated, reeking of old cigarettes, and crawling with bugs
In the 25 rooms at Casa Cayena, the heavy drapery probably predates the Reagan administration, the gold floral bedding is too old to even belong in your grandmother’s house, and the well-worn furniture is something you’d probably pass up at a garage sale. Bathrooms are just as bleak, with deteriorating tile, cracked mirrors, and rusty showerheads. All rooms have air-conditioning, flat-screen TVs, mini-fridges, large closets with safes, and spacious patios or balconies that overlook the pool. Rooms are supposed to be non-smoking but curiously reek of old cigarettes. Bugs, large and small, also seem to have made themselves at home throughout the hotel. And, to top it all off, instead of the usual “please hang your towel on the rack,” or, “your sheets will be replaced every other day” type signs, Casa Cayena outfits its rooms with “all unregistered guests must leave their ID with reception” notices.
Features
Pool, on-site restaurant, free parking, and Wi-Fi
For those who’d rather hang out at the hotel than the nearby beach, there is a small, rarely crowded L-shape pool and a few lounge chairs inside the property’s interior courtyard. There is an on-site restaurant and bar, and most room rates include breakfast and dinner, but the food barely passes for mediocre. The hotel offers airport transfers for a fairly reasonable rate; but for those who’d prefer to drive themselves, free parking is available in the hotel’s small front lot. Wi-Fi is also free for hotel guests.