we stayed here 2 nights dec 14 and 15...nice country get away and great way to see the different facets of mendoza (city versus country) ..if you are visiting mendoza...i recommend some time out in the country - we are from the US and it was nice to spend part of our time in downtown mendoza (Villagio Hotel) and part in the country (Lares de Charcas - about 20 to 25 mins from downtown).

Can´t say enough nice about Laras de Charcas...very attentive staff, clean large rooms, nice grounds and relaxing pool area as well as main lobby, breakfast is fine, can buy a bottle of wine from their cellar AND get a nice cheese/meat plate for 50 pesos...we took a cab (15 pesos, 10 mins) to carlos pulenta for a long lunch today - fabulous (La Bourgogne).

As far as noise...friday and sat nights...big disco-music nights and you will hear music no matter where you stay...no continuous barking dogs ... but yes...you will hear dogs now and then...but nothing that kept me up at night.

Would highly recommend for an end of trip relaxing experience...hang by the pool, drink some wine and chill. I would recommend to friends and family.

My wife and I stayed at Lares de Chacra for four days in November. This is a new hotel with about a dozen rooms and is located in a residential area of a small suburb of Mendoza. Pricing is high-end, and the only reason we selected this hotel is that there was no room availability at Cavas Wine Lodge, Club Tapiz, or Carlos Pulenta.
The facility is of charming design, with Andean stone and heavy accent beams framing the doorways and lobby areas. The common rooms are well appointed, with a massive fireplace in the gathering room. The complimentary breakfast is bare-bones but adequate.
The individual rooms are quite spacious and have large baths. The baths have an integrated tub/shower. The room was connected to a square, covered deck, which unfortunately was shared with another room that was oriented perpendicularly to our room. So anyone using the deck could look into both rooms.
The room was somewhat sparsely furnished and could have used an arm chair for relaxed reading. The staff seemed to change continually, giving the impression that everyone was a part-timer working few hours. The staff members were accommodating and relatively amiable, but they were very green. The average age seemed about twenty-two, and the lack of polish was apparent.
The biggest problem at Lares is serious and quite fundamental. The hotel is in a built-up residential area, and there were dogs everywhere. For some reason, the property owners leave their dogs outside all night, and there's a constant chorus of barking from dusk to dawn. A number of the dogs are in the adjacent yard, so the volume is too loud to dampen by closing the windows.
Without the omnipresence of the dog noise Lares would be an above-average hotel, but the noise problem is so sleep depriving that we would not stay here again.

We stayed 2 days at Lares de Chacras and it was excellent. Not only was it a good place to base wine tours from, but this suburb of Mendoza is extremely nice. There are gated communites nearby, but from this hotel you can stroll to the local town square and see how the natives live. Highly recommended.

We stayed at Lares de Chacras in early April 2007 and absolutely loved it. We had just spent 7 days in Buenos Aires and met up with some friends to enjoy the wine country in Mendoza. There are over 1000 wineries in Mendoza, and the Lares de Chacras is in an excellent location, within a short drive to the wineries.

The lodge is small, with less than 15 rooms so it is quiet and intimate. Our room was incredible - clean, very spacious, comfortable bed, had a fireplace and sliding doors onto the lawn. The bathroom was very spacious and had a huge jet tub. Our friend's room was upstairs and had a huge balcany, about half the size of their room.

When we arrived, we ordered a cheese plate which was delicious, more than enough food for 4 people and only about $10 US. They have a wine cellar where you can choose your own wine, and also offer tastings in the evenings.

The staff were very welcoming and pleasant. They helped with restaurant recommendations and reservations, getting taxes, confirming our wine tour reservations. The breakfast was great - breads, fruit, yogurt, coffee, juice, and of course dulce de leche!

The only complaint I had was that we seemed to run out of hot water quickly, but other than that we loved Lares de Chacras and would definitely recommend this hotel - we had a great stay here and would stay here again if ever in Mendoza.

A few tips:
Restaurant musts if you are ever in Mendoza: Azafran - in the downtown area - this was one of our favorite restaurants of the whole trip. They recommend reservations, but we didn't have any and still were seated. They have an amazing wine celler to choose wine for your dinner, and the food was incredible. The other restaurant is 1884, also located downtown (about 25 minutes from the hotel). This restaurant is a bit more "upscale" but is known to be one of the top 10 restaurants in the world and was fantastic. Order from the brick oven.

Wine tasting:
We used Adventura Wine and they were fantastic - picked us up in a private van with a driver and english speaking tour guide. Our guide was very knowledgable about the area and the wineries. We visited 4 wineries, and had a 5 course meal at Ruca Malen which has stunning views of the Andes. Most wineries require reservations in advance to visit them, so the wine tours are a great way to go, for a very reasonable price ($85 USD/person for the entire day, driver, guide, and lunch).