Lonely Planet Review

This whitewashed seafront villa is a popular long-running hostel with ultra-basic rooms, but all the toys backpackers crave, including cable TV and a DVD collection, free Internet access, pool and ping pong tables, and a shared kitchen. The staff are only too willing to act as guides to the local nightlife.

Every stop on the South American backpacker circuit has one of those hostels you keep hearing about long before your bus pulls into town. In Lima, that hostel is The Point. You'll find it inside a secure Republican-era house on a quiet side street in the arty barrio (neighbourhood) of Barranco. With its party-hard reputation entrenched, the cliquish staff of expat backpackers don't always pay enough attention to the details, like making sure the bathrooms stay clean. All of the dormitories are mixed-sex; mini-dorms with just four beds are worth paying an extra couple of dollars. The hostel is advantageously within stumbling distance of Lima's best live music clubs. You could easily spend all evening in the hostel's own Pointless Bar. A basic breakfast is included in the rates; airport transfers can be arranged.