Hostal Hostello - Lima Airport

I arrived in Lima at 21:00 and went over that evening after booking a dorm bed, but nobody answered the door. I called and messaged them, and got no response. Thankfully my taxi driver waited for me. It’s not a nice area to be in at night.

For an airport layover or one night before heading into Lima, it can work well. The beds are good, rooms spacious, and there’s a big common area with board games. Iban at reception was very helpful. Breakfast was simple but good, and cost only 8 soles. It’s extremely far from tourist areas, at least around 40 minutes by car on a weekend and definitely over an hour on a weekday. Lima traffic is very busy, and the airport is under maintenance/construction, so keep that in mind. When I stayed, the room had no hot water, though there were other showers available.

Possibly the worst hostel experience I’ve had. The area felt dangerous, with little public transport, busy roads, unfriendly characters around and not much nearby. There was nothing redeeming about the place. After a week in the mountains, I’d rather have been lying on a rock. I felt overcharged. The front desk tried to double the price, then used its own exchange rate instead of the official one or Hostelworld’s and charged me for two extra nights. When I challenged it, they acted like they didn’t understand, but that stopped as soon as I paid. The website said breakfast was included, but it wasn’t, and what they charged was too much for what you got. Vendors elsewhere in the city sell the same for half the price. The room was awful: exposed electrical wiring, walls with mold painted over, dirt and mess, and a shower with no working water. The bins hadn’t been emptied. Since you can’t flush toilet paper in Peru, the place smelled like an unflushed toilet. Animals wandered around the completely exposed rooftop. Traffic noise went on all hours, along with what I can only guess was some kind of warning siren. When I went out to explore, someone accessed my room, apparently not to clean it. The only visible change was a footprint on the bed, where they’d reached a light that was already working. I’m glad I locked my bags because they’d been moved. A taxi from Miraflores can get you to the airport quicker, at comparable prices and in a nicer area. I’d stay well away from this hostel. I’m currently filing reclamation forms and contacting Hostelworld to make formal complaints.

It’s a 20-minute walk from the airport and works perfectly if you’re connecting through there, since it’s very far from the center. The outside looks odd, but that’s generally done intentionally in South America to deter locals and keep the premises safe. Inside, it was clean, with complimentary coffee and tea in the morning, several sports-gaming tables and a nice rooftop spot to relax. Great value overall. The only downside was that the water in our room wasn’t hot.