The Duomo is ideally placed in the old town. Staff polite, helpful and excellent English spoken. Rooms much larger than could be expected for the price and bed very comfortable. Unexpectedly upgraded to a larger room on our second trip after travelling around the south. And most unexpected - the rooms were unbelievably quiet for the central location. Great place.

This hotel is pretty much what we expected for the very low rates. We took a cab from Garibaldi station (a surprisingly expensive ride for the distance) and he pointed our where the hotel was or else we would have had a tough time finding it as others have mentioned. Look for the Albergo Duomo sign outside the building. The street looks rough, but that's just Naples. We never felt unsafe.

Inside, the two fellows who were alternately at the reception desk were plenty friendly and answered a few questions but we didn't really ask too much from them. The lobby areas was surprisingly nice after questioning the outside of the building. The room was spacious and in good enough shape. Everything was clean. The bathroom had some mold around the shower, but nothing terrifying. The shower that would barely drain was annoying. The temperature was fine in September with just the ceiling fan. And the room was surprisingly quiet.

Naples pizza can't be beat and any sit-down pizzeria will be good. Other dishes are just ok. There are plenty of restuarants around Garibaldi station, which is pretty lively in the evening. There are lots of cafes near the hotel. Despite the look of the area, safety was never a concern.

In all, it's tough to find a lot to complain about.

Finding this hotel was a problem in itself, it’s only sign is a very small plaque hidden on the side of an archway, what you need to look for is a sign saying Allegro Duomo hovering over a dark alleyway. We must have spent a good half an hour searching the streets for it, and don’t expect the locals to help out much we didn’t find a single one who’d even heard of The Hotel Duomo.

The reception is up two flights of stairs and without a lift in sight you’ll have to drag your cases up there yourself.

Having seen the rooms on the website and having read the Rough Guides reveiw I was actually quite looking forward to our stay here, unfortunately I was to be disappointed in almost every way. The rooms themselves were fine but it was obvious that a refit had been done recently, but done cheaply and not very well. From a photograph it all looks rather superb but spend anytime there and you literally start to see the cracks.

Only two of the rooms have AC and our room was one that didn’t, it was however serviced by an electric ceiling fan, but that wasn’t nearly effective enough in the heat of the summer. The rooms themselves were a good size and the beds were comfortable enough but the walls in places had mortar falling out and the plugs were obviously from before the refit and didn’t feel as safe as they should.

The Rough Guides’ statement that most rooms look out over a tranquil courtyard is hugely inaccurate, even if your room did look out over the courtyard what you would see is far from tranquil: dark, dingy and depressing would prehaps be more accurate descriptions. Our room didn’t look into the courtyard but infact into a narrow alley on the otherside of the hotel and having the window open, on account of the oppressive heat in the room, meant that we would often be disturbed by shouting, loud scooters or hit by unpleasant smells emanating from below.

The room itself was kept clean and tidy, but the bathroom on the other hand wasn’t kept to the same standard. The shower cubical didn’t appear to have been properly cleaned from one day to the next and as a consequence mould was present in unpleasant quantities. With the shower turned on it would take about two mintues for the basin to fill and start to overflow bringing with it an overwhelming smell of sewage. When we mentioned it to the person behind reception he didn’t seem particularly suprised or interested but said he would sort it out for us. He may well have done something to sort it out but it only made a small amount of difference but at least it meant we could have a shower.

There is a TV in the room but with a screen size of about 8” you would have to sit ontop of it before you could see the picture, but as I’ve said before you don’t go on holiday to watch TV.

The internet is available but it will cost you a fortune, you can either use their Wi-Fi at €10 for 24 hours or use the computer in the lobby at €5 for an hour. I needed to use it so I had to give them €10 for which I got a hand written slip of paper with a code on it (well worth the money I think you’ll agree) and an internet connection that occasionally cut off.

The lobby area has a drinks machine (which was off the whole time we were there) a large TV, some books, an XBOX 360 and a chess set. You get the impression its geared towards young backpackers as an area for them to hang out but it lacks any vibe and in all the time we were there we didn’t meet a single other traveller.

Being almost opposite the Duomo the hotel’s street is horrendous, walking down it is a health risk and to try and drive your car up it is to dice with death. I would VERY STRONGLY suggest against bringing a car to Naples, everything you have ever read about how bad the driving is doesn’t come close to the reality of it.

The staff were not particularly helpful and of all the advice we received it was almost all entirely useless, from the car parks that didn’t exist to the street full of restaurants that all turned out to be take aways. They also refused to keep the booking for 4 nights I had made 3 months before unless I pay the full amount straight away, we were €20 short so I asked if I could give them that and then the last €20 in the morning. They said we would have to pack all our things, vacate the room and go to reception each morning to see if our room was still available for us to move back in unless we paid the full amount - remember though that I had already booked these nights 3 months ago. It wasn’t a problem to get together €20 but it was the owners attitude and his ridiculous suggestion that left a lasting impression.

It is certainly not the worse hotel I have stayed in but I would not recommend this hotel to anyone staying in Naples, for the price you pay you can rightly expect much more. So long as you book early enough you should be able to find similar priced hotels in the same area without too much problem.

Given the great rate we got at this hotel, I was really surprised by the value. The rooms were large and clean with hard floors. Only drawbacks: no A/C, no breakfast served, and the surrounding streets/alley can be loud even at night, but if you close the window it isn't that bad. Definitely an all around great choice in the historical center.