Hostel Guy's Paradise

This hostel is near the main train station and metro, Via Termini. Walk along the street Conte Cavour looking for the Via Golliti sign on the right. Turning right, the entrance is before the first traffic light, at the corner of the building. It is only about 25 metres from Conte Cavour (their website says 50). There is no house number and the sign is just a piece of paper so it is fairly easy to miss it. After entering (ring the bell for the staff), Guy's Paradise is on the second floor.

This hostel is fairly small and has been expanded recently to include another 24 beds in an apartment unit on the top floor of the opposite building (there is a classic Italian-style lift). The new expansion is called Tiberius/Tokyo. The beds and rooms referred to here are in Tiberius and the kitchen and common areas are in the actual Guy's Paradise hostel.

The staff consists entirely of young backpackers on temporary contracts. Obviously, this means service standards will vary depending on your luck. During our review stay they were excellent, being friendly and helpful and especially generous with providing food and drink.

Most of the occupants seem to be young backpackers. The atmosphere is noisy and chaotic and there is almost a permanent party in the crowded common area. Everyone seems relaxed and friendly (probably from the free booze).

There are three 8 bed rooms in Tiberius, mostly double-deckers. The rooms are quite messy with unused bits of dusty furniture placed all over the area. There is a single relatively clean toilet/bathroom for 24 beds. It is usually faster to walk over and use the two toilets/bathrooms over at Guy's Paradise instead. There is a second toilet in what appears to be the attic which was not working. Linen (a bit dirty) is provided, but storage of luggage is not allowed and there are no lockers provided.

An interesting side note, during our stay the main door at Tiberius had to be forced open by firemen when the key got stuck from inside and the neighbours downstairs called in the police once because of the noise at night.

On the Guy's Paradise side, the common area serves as the dining/party area. The kitchen is unbelievably small. There is a free flow of alcohol from a fridge in the common area (juice, beer, red/white wine, gin, vodka… depending on the staff). There is satellite TV and free internet access from 3-4 laptops in the common area, but expect to wait for it. Guided city tours and pub crawling tours are available.

Breakfast consists of an abundant selection of lovely pastries, ham and cheese, and the usual cereal/toast/juice. Dinner is provided free, but this seems to be at the discretion of the staff. It is made up of either pasta which was invariably undercooked or lasagna which was excellent. Expect a long wait for small portions due to overwhelming demand or go for the leftover pastries from breakfast.

Overall, this is a conveniently located hostel that's quite fun to stay in except for the poor state of cleanliness and lack of toilets.

— Avis exclusif de Hostelz.com
July 2005