Alessandro Downtown Hostel

Bad location, moody staff, no social life -- why go to Rome for this?
I was really looking forward to this hostel. The photos on this website make it look decent, fun, and an enjoyable place. Well, the photos are obviously years old and the review completely wrong (or also too old!) because this has to be one of the worst hostels I have ever stayed in. Firstly, the location. It's good when you arrive and when you leave, because of being so close to the train station. Thats about it. It's far from most things, the streets surrounded are full of homeless people/druggies and reeks of Urine. And I mean the second you walk out that door, the stench permeates everything. I saw plenty of used syringes on the streets in the few days I stayed here. The area is really filthy as well. Secondly the hostel itself. All in all the rooms are pretty large which is nice, but there are no lockers for your things. The showers are filthy -- there was lint balls and hair clogging the drains and the toilets regularly didn't flush -- creating yet another urine smell that permeated the place. The day I left they had every door open to try and flush the smell out - which didn't work since the hostel is on the second, third, and fourth floors of a building. The elevator has signs saying it doesn't work (and that it is not the responsibility of the hostel to fix it), however I did see staff using it. Whenever anyone attempted to use it themselves, they were told not to. The breakfast is stale bread, cornflakes, muesli. It's free, but this would have to be the worst example of a free breakfast I've seen in my travels. There are two lounge/meal rooms one has a TV and DVD player. I realise this is a bit of a luxury, however if they advertise they have these, they should make sure they work. The DVD player rarely played any DVDs -- it continuously said there was an error, even for DVDs purchased in Italy. The kitchen itself is ok, until you realise there is barely any equipment, no metal cutlery, no sharp knives (there are a few knives, but they would barely cut butter). They cleaned out the cupboard without telling anyone and threw out a vast amount of food that was clearly labeled. There is a free pasta meal during the week, which is ok. The woman cooking it rules with an iron fist -- don't ask for seconds, you'll feel like Oliver! Finally, the staff. Many were quite helpful and cheerful. The Australian Girl at the desk, an American guy and a few italian guys were quite fun and gave good advice. Unfortunately there was one that was permanently in a bad mood and made life a living hell. He was always telling people to leave and visit the other Palace hostel location if they wanted to have fun and whenever you asked him for anything he barely spoke to you. I came back to the hostel late one night to find him terrorising a poor girl who had gone to her room to find he (personally) had put another person in her bed and dumped all her clothes on the floor -- she was in floods of tears and he looked at me and said pay no attention to her, she is insane. I spoke to her the next morning, she clearly wasn't insane -- she just wanted to know why he dumped her things off her bed and given it to another hosteler when clearly the bed was taken -- and apparently had been for days. I heard through others that this is a regular occurrence. All in all I was really disappointed with this place. I had heard good things about it but really it's not worth the money. If you want to enjoy yourself in Rome, stay somewhere else.

Really Great
I was really happy with this hostel. Comfy bunks, clean; nice bathrooms, friendly staff, good internet. Really pleased, it made for a great home base to discover Rome, good restaurants nearby and close to Termini. Highly recommended.

Amazing hostel, fairly close to train station. me and my sister stayed here for five days in may 2006. not much room in the kitchens to keep your food, and at dinner time the power would give out from the two stoves and microwaves being used but probably the best shared bathrooms we had on our two-month backpacking trip. our eight-bed dorm was right on the street but huge and we felt safe here leaving our bags and stuff around. not far from the sights of room either. staff were helpful and nice. would stay here again.

This hostel is good for tight budget travelers. lights are weak in room, forget about reading novel. non air-conditioned room (smelly foot from other backpackers stay in same room with you. hard pillow caused neck-strain on the next morning. lousy breakfast -- hard-stone rolls, pineapple juice with non-pineapple taste, tasteless milk. mainly six persons per room. So be careful of your own stuff. About one-and-a-half-square-meter bathroom, which you need to hang your clothes beside you, and the water will accidentally pour all over your towels, undies. Not really friendly staffs, never received any smile from them when i passed by. Lift is small and dangerous, if your total weight is about eighty to one hundred kilograms with your luggage, Please do take staircase to reception desk on third floor instead of using the lift. My bed was untidy and unclean when I arrived -- and smelly. most of the blankets and pillows are smelly in this hostel, the smell are leftover by previous backpackers. Yeah, a bit dangerous for girls walking back alone in night to the dorm.

Overall excellent. Very clean, very close to the train station, with true 24/7 access, and generally friendly people at the counter. I was only there for two nights, with three friends, and we had an easy, comfortable time either hanging out in the spacious rooms or wandering over to the Alessandro Palace where the bar and more hopping atmosphere was. Breakfast in the morning is free and not too bad for being just your basic cereal and rolls. They also have free pasta dinners on weeknights, a real blessing if you're cash-starved. In the end it was a little far away from the real happening areas of rome -- close to the Coliseum, true, but not to much in the way of nightlife. Still overall a really good, comfortable, social hostel.

it all depends on what you are looking for. i really liked this hostel, they have breakfast, which is really good. socializing is up to you, they have a sister hostel with a bar and that is where the party is. alessandro is a place to sleep and it is very clean, they have a good common area, the staff is friendly, they have internet access for a small reasonable fee. Very nice, i would stay there again. the only bad thing is the area it is located is somewhat scary for someone not used to a bad part of town. overall i really enjoyed my stay.

This is a very well-organized and clean hostel. The social atmosphere is great. The breakfast is very nice and plentiful. There are quite enough bathrooms so you don't need to queue to take a shower. Security is also good and you don't even need the locker. The location is quite good, being very close to the train station. It is easy to find. I recommend this hostel if you go to Rome!

The only good thing about this place is its close proximity to the Termini station. They call it a social hostel but nobody was friendly to my boyfriend and I (except for one of our roomies who was a new European traveler) -- everybody who stayed there seemed very cliquey with the friends they travelled with and their roomies. Breakfast is pretty lame with a cold roll and plain cereal. The juice made my boyfriend sick. Bathrooms were decent. Located on a noisy chinatown-type street. And on top of all this, my boyfriend's credit card was stolen by one of our dorm roommates who actually happened to work there (beware of the french guy from Nice, i forgot his name). The bar is located ten minutes walking to the sister hostel (Alessandro Palace). Overall -- not recommended at all.

One of the better hostels I have stayed at and the best one in Rome. Free pizza for dinner and two drinks for 3 euro at the sister hostel, the Palace. It is in a central location and just down the street from the train station. Stay here.

I went with a group and found the hostel to be pretty clean with a good air conditioning unit, the staff were not all that friendly and its not all that good for socialising as its a very quiet place and they keep it that way. The streets around the hostel however are disgusting with a lot of middle age and old men drinking there -- as a girl who had to walk home it was scary. The hostel itself is safe though.

Great Hostel! Friendly staff and knew a lot of information. I plan on coming back in August with 2 friends.

I stayed here for three nights in March. Staff were very friendly and helpful. They were always willing to point out a few places to eat and where all the sights were and easiest way to get there. I had a morning train and arrived well before check in time and they gave me a place to store my bags and even offered me the morning breakfast. Rooms and facilities were always clean. I would definitely stay here again.

I made reservations at this hostel and when I arrived they told me that my bed had been given away. They told me to go and see the Hostel International, which I avoid like the plague because of all their curfews and lockouts. I met several other people there that experienced the same thing. The hostel staff had several weak excuses for giving our beds away, including something to do with fire regulations.

Really good hostel...a little far from things and in a smelly neighborhood, but VERY near the train station, which is key. Very clean with nice bathrooms and great services for travelers, including a nearby pub and nightly food specials. Also there's easy access to Internet and a great kitchen.

The WORST of Rome!!! I stayed a few nights in this place on May 2005 Even when the facilities were fine the dorms were small and overcrowded. During the time I spent here the air conditioner was not working. (Imagine a small room full of travelers with no air conditioner. It was so bad, smelly and sweaty.) So we decided to open the window and there was a HUGE mountain of pigeon CRAP just outside the window (less than 30 inches away). So, just imagine the whole picture: a small and smelly room with no air conditioner and outside the window a mountain of crap. However there was something worse than the CRAP MOUNTAIN and that was the guy in the front desk, "LUCCA." he is only interested in picking up American girls, he is not interested in service or in keeping the good mood of the travelers. He is a complete jerk! Overall, I regret spending my money in this place. Maybe it was a good place before but now it's gone. It's the worst of ROME!