Italy - Florence - Albergo Paola

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Initial Arrival

The Albergo Paola is located on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator. Once you walk in, you'll see Clara's desk and the sole computer available.

The street-level entrance to Albergo Paola

I met Clara and checked in. She gave me a map and highlighted the points of interest in the town. She then proceeded to go over the rules. Breakfast is at 9am. If you don't want breakfast you have to tell her the day before. You get 4 keys. One for the outer door, one for your door, two for lockers and a code to the hostel's main door.

Beyond that there wasn't much. My room was quite red and I was on the lower bunk of a very comfortable bed.

Everything was clean, there was free wi-fi, a computer to use that had skype on it. There was fruit available in the kitchen. Basically my first impressions were good enough to make me forget that it was raining and cold outside. Shoot, this place is so good that I would pay just to see the view from the bathroom (literally).

- Go back to Day 4 summary -

click here to see pictures of the Albergo Paola Hostel

Read below to see my overall feelings about the place.

Overall Thoughts/Review

If you stay in Florence, you almost have to stay here, especially if you are traveling alone. For 20 Euro a night this place is a steal. I felt secure, welcomed and compfortable the whole time I was here.

I guess now is the best time to mention the breakfasts. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE. Scrambled eggs, bacon, cereal, yogurt, toast, fresh bread, juice...everything to make for a good meal. While having to be at the hostel at 9am can be a burden, the home-cooked breakfast makes it a good sacrifice. And in addition to the quality of the food, the fact that she brings it to the room almost forces everyone to sit and talk with one another. It was very easy to get to know the others in my room because of this.

Find out more at the website http://www.albergopaola.com/

THE GOOD -
Just about everything about this place was good. I don't even know where to begin. The bathing facilities are great, very well kept. The food is great. The staff (Clara) is great, she is truly a sweetheart who is willing to help and wants you to feel at home. The lockers are a big plus. It helps going out knowing that your things are secure, especially if you are going to do any shopping in town. It was nice not taking my laptop around every day. The location to the train station is excellent, less than 5 minutes.

THE BAD -
There aren't really any bad items, but, in all fairness, here are my thoughts. There could be more power outlets. They exist, but they are either hard to get to or they are sparsely located. I could also see that the 2 showers are not enough when the place is full in the summer. There are showers in the room, but I don't know who would use those.

So out of a possible ««««« (5 stars):