Open for a decade, the Yellow Hostel Rome is a modern hostel located near Roma Termini railway station. Housed in a large and spacious art deco building, this hostel combines the beauty of this period property with a fresh contemporary style inside. There’s a range of room types – from spacious private rooms to a 10-bed dorm room – plus a range of additional facilities, including bike hire, a restaurant, a tour concierge, a hair salon and a popular bar/club.
I stayed here for four nights in May 2018, and this is my review of my visit. I’ve included my video above, plus images below to give you a real feel for the hostel. If you find my Yellow Hostel Rome review helpful, be sure to leave me a comment below and let me know! 👇
📌 Discover more with my Rome city guide.
Location
The Yellow Hostel is an easy 10-minute walk from Roma Termini station, which apparently is the 6th busiest train station in Europe. The location was convenient when I landed late at night as all the airport buses stop here, and it meant I was at the hostel in no time without really having to navigate the public transport system after dark.
However, it’s important to note that this hostel isn’t in the centre of Rome – but it’s also not out in the suburbs either; it’s about a 30-minute walk from the Colosseum and nearly 40 minutes from the Patheon. Thankfully, there is a Metro stop (Castro Pretorio) right around the corner that can whisk you across town to the Colosseum in under 10 minutes.
The area around the hostel is pretty quiet. Whilst there are cafes and restaurants nearby, it is very much a residential part of Rome. I enjoyed this because the crowds in the centre of Rome were overwhelming, so it was a welcome respite to stay somewhere else. As I mentioned above, the hostel has done loads to grow what they call Yellow Square. Having acquired most of the buildings on their street, they have developed the facilities around the hostel, so you don’t feel like travelling too far to get what you need.
📍 Address: Yellow Square, Via Palestro 51, Rome, Italy 00185
☎️ Phone: +39 06 446 3554
Price
The Yellow Hostel Rome features a range of room types. Their private rooms are around €100/night for two people, whilst the dorm rooms are as cheap as €20/person/night!
Support my blog and book your stay with one of these affiliate links:
The room
I stayed in a Superior 4 Bed Female Dorm for four nights. This room usually is more expensive than the standard mixed dorms, but they come with the benefits of an in-room ensuite, a hairdryer and a full-length mirror. The room was clean and spacious, never feeling too packed even when all the beds were full.
Each bed has one European powerpoint plus a reading light. Underneath each set of bunks is a huge locker, lockable with your padlock. There was also an additional row of safes on the wall for each guest so you could lock away any small valuables. These felt a little unnecessary considering the other lockers, but it’s nice to have them all the same.
The pillow and bed linen was clean and of decent quality, and everything, including the mattress and pillow very comfy. The room also featured a balcony, which was a nice touch. It didn’t have a decent view (it looked out over the back of the other buildings) but still meant that airflow was never an issue. There was also air-conditioning, but I can’t remember if there was a control for this in the room.
My only issue with the room was that it was very dark, as it had one dim light that didn’t light up the room properly. This is great when you are trying to sleep, but your roommates still need the light on, but it means that the room isn’t that nice to hang out in during the day. Not a major issue but just something I noticed.
The bathroom
If you’ve read my other reviews, you’ll know that I’m very particular about bathrooms, as I’m grossed out by even a tiny amount of dirt or mould. The ensuite bathroom in my room was totally fine – clean and stylish but perhaps needed some new tiling in the shower. There was nothing wrong, but it was definitely starting to show signs of how much use it had had over the years.
Otherwise, I had no issue with it. The bathroom consisted of a toilet, a shower, a hairdryer and a sink with a mirror. The shower had strong water pressure and was always hot and featured a fantastic rainfall showerhead.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served every morning, from 7:30am till midday in the Yellow Bar and reasonably priced. The menu features options such as pancakes for €3.50 through to The Gladiator’s Breakfast (pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages, potatoes, toast) for €8.
I didn’t eat breakfast here, which was a big omission as brunch isn’t really a thing in Rome, so I didn’t usually eat till lunchtime because I wasn’t sure what gluten-free options are a part of breakfast in Italy. Anyway, having tried the tacos at the Yellow Bar, I can attest that the food here is delicious.
Amenities
This is where the Yellow Hostel really stands head and shoulders above pretty much any other hostel I’ve ever stayed at. As I mentioned above, the hostel has grown so much over the last decade that they now own so many additional businesses as part of their Yellow Square, so everything you need is on your doorstep. I found this hugely impressive as the hostel owners have really thought about your experience here, ensuring that everything is tailored to the needs of the traveller.
The Yellow Bar Rome
Everything I had read in advance of visiting here had prepped me for the fact that The Yellow is a mega party hostel in Rome. From this, I imagined it would have a tacky bar, with sugary €1 drinks, shot girls and terrible music that kept everyone in the hostel awake until the wee hours. How surprised I was when I discovered that the bar is across the road (clever) and housed in a beautiful art deco building.
I decided to have a couple of drinks here on a Thursday night, figuring I could have a good gossip with my new roommate pal and get an early night. Oh dear, how mistaken I was. Turns out, the bar makes a mean margarita, among many other cocktails, making it hugely popular with locals and travellers alike.
Thursday nights also features its most popular party night, Tonika, with DJs and dancers, and see this place get packed with people looking for a good time – from both the Yellow Hostel and other hostels in Rome. Yes, people come from other hostels to party here too.
What this all meant was that I found myself dancing on tables after one too many drinks at 11pm and then being ushered downstairs into the hostel’s hidden basement club (again, very clever) where I didn’t emerge till about 3am, having made a bounty of new friends. Suffice to say, this place actually turns out a proper party with a really nice hostel bar and dangerously good drinks, as my epic hangover the next day will attest to.
CRB HUB hair salon
One of the most surprising things about this hostel is that it has an awesome hair salon. Yes, that’s right – you can get your hair done right here, which is amazing if you’ve been travelling for weeks and your locks need a little trim or some serious TLC.
They also open early and don’t close until 10pm, which means you can fit them around your schedule or even get a blow-dry before you go out for the night.
I popped in for a blow-dry before I made my video above, which was actually so nice because too often when I make my review videos I am visibly hungover and nowhere near as glam as they made me look.
It was so nice to just pop downstairs and have my hair washed and styled. Plus, my hairdresser was more than happy to give me some local tips on what I should do around Monti and Trastevere.
Kitchen
The Yellow Hostel has one of the best hostel kitchens I’ve ever seen. My photos don’t do it justice. It’s a hugely popular social space and every morning when I went down to fill up my water bottle, I was greeted by about 20 South Americans sitting around it sipping their maté and chatting. This was such a nice, friendly vibe to kick start the day. It also has clean and useful facilities, including a large fridge, a stove, toaster, kettle etc. But the large table is by far the best feature and it was an easy place to get chatting to other guests.
Other facilities
Ok, so where do I start? There’s a concierge’s desk in reception where you can book all manner of tours and activities. Then there’s a brand new bicycle and scooter hire shop right across the road from the hostel too.
Underneath the hostel, there’s the restaurant Mamma Anglea that serves up some great looking food and wine. Plus, there’s a large room of lockers, two large snack vending machines, a chill-out zone, a co-working space and an Escape Room.
Basically, everything you could ever want in a hostel and then some.
Bottom line
Simply put, the Yellow Hostel must be the best hostel in Rome because it is one of the most amazing hostels I have ever visited anywhere. Don’t be put off by its reputation for being a party hostel because there is so much more going on here. I loved all the facilities, the friendly staff and my lovely roommates. Plus, I really appreciated how quiet and chilled both my room and the area The Yellow is in.
This hostel may not be in the thick of Rome’s centre but once you’re in Rome you’ll really appreciate why this is a good thing. Plus, I have never had such a genuinely fun night out at a hostel bar. The Yellow Rome definitely know how to put on a proper party.
📌 Plan your trip with my Rome city guide.
Subscribe for more fabulous hostels!
Pin this blog for later!
📌 Disclaimer: This hostel kindly offered me four nights for free in exchange for featuring their property in an Insta-Story for Hostelworld. They also kindly threw in a complimentary blow-dry and some free drinks. They made no other editorial demands on me and this is a completely honest account of how I felt about my stay. As a general rule, I don’t write negative reviews: if I don’t like a hotel or hostel, I won’t feature it. So I obviously really liked this one.
