rosy ng

Hostels and Accomodations in Europe

Since I've been back, lots of people have asked about where we stayed and which places were good. So here's the information. I know lots of people have heard really crappy things about hostels and lots more have had bad experiences at them but we lucked out and found some pretty great places for acceptable dollars.

The thing to keep in mind is that you get what you pay for so if you're booked in some accomodation for $10CDN per night, you're better off camping.

For London, Rome and Florence we had hostels. In Cinque Terre and Venice we had apartments and finally a hotel in Paris.

With the exception of Cinque Terre and Paris, I used Lonelyplanets.com and Travelcuts.com to book all the accomodations. I also used Tripadvisor.com to get ratings. I also used Frommers.com for trip advice (in the travel talk section, you can find anything and get help with lots more)

London:
Astor Museum Inn
27 Montague Street
London, England, Bloomsbury WC1B 5BH

Good things:
it's located right next to the British Museum so if you're lost anywhere in the city, you just look for the tourist signs to get to the British Museum. There's internet onsite and a place to cook. everything is really clean including the washrooms. there's also a healty collection of DVDs so if you want to just veg a little at night after all the partying, it's there. People are really cool there.
Bad things:
it can get noisy at night so bring earpluggs if you're a light sleeper. The building's old so water pressure isn't eactly the best. The pressure gets better as you move down the floors, we stayed on the fourth floor but took our showers on the 2nd.

Rome:
Hostel Alessandro Palace
Via Vicenza 42, 00185


Good things:
it's super organized here, it's like a hotel. the pub is fantastic and no matter what kind of party they're having in it, you won't hear them once you're in bed. the staff is awesome and really efficient. there's internet and long distance phones on site. they even sell phone cards out of a vending machine. the location is great, it's right by the train station but walkable to all the sites in 15 minutes. lots of people from all over the world stay here so you get a great mix. the air-conditioner is actually so cold that we had to put on extra clothing to sleep in! the bathrooms are modern and very clean all the time.
Bad things:
there's no elevator so it's a bit of a hike up. there's no way to turn the air-conditioner down so bring a sweater.


Florence:
Luna Rossa
Via Nazionale, 7
Florence, Italy

Good Things:
Marco! he's the guy in charge and he's amazing. He'll help you out no matter what it's related to. Everything is really clean about the place. there's no bunk beds at the hotel, you actually get a very nice room and a clean bed for each person. Location is great and close to the local leather market so you can get some great deals along with fresh food. We went horseback riding and had a traditional tuscan dinner with an Italian winery family through Marco's friend Sam (Sam runs tours of different parts of Italy and it's a great experience)
Bad Things:
It's right on a main street so it can get noisy in the morning, Italians get up pretty early. The place is small hosting up to 30 people per night so it might be hard to get a bed there if you didn't book ahead.

more later.

posted by hikui @ 7:53 AM