The hotel was booked for us by my husband's work (a school in Yemen) as a place for us to stay for a day before leaving at midnight to catch a flight back to the UK. I was pregnant and we had our 3 year old and 19 mth old children travelling with us.

On arrival we were pleased to find a quiet, clean courtyard away from the chaos of street life and the stress of the journey. There were nice plants there and inside at reception we received a friendly greeting from the staff. Unfortunately, we were given a room rather inappropriately on the third floor - lots of high, uneven steps to climb (not easy for a pregnant woman carrying a toddler and very difficult for little legs to climb) but I'm sure if we were staying longer we could have asked to change to a ground floor room. The room had a double and single bed and they brought in a small mattress for our youngest child. The linen was clean and the room was nicely decorated and had plenty of natural light coming in but I was terrified that the children were going to fall out of the windows which were low to the ground, single glazed and had no bars. At night I found it a bit noisy out in the street but my husband and kids fell asleep without any problem!
The staff were really accommodating - giving us breakfast when we arrived at 11am - bread, butter, feta cheese, triangle cheese, tea/coffee, yoghurt and what they called honey, but I am sure was actually Golden Syrup! They also agreed to chop up some mango and store it in the fridge for me to collect at midnight as kids' snacks for the flight.
Would definitely stay there again - ground floor though!

Location is superb, right in the old part of the city. Rooms are nice -- I stayed for two weeks and fit in a side excursion so I had two different rooms ,both of which were lovely. The showers in both rooms lacked shower curtains ,a minor point. The dining area is not very prepossessing an it took me a while to realize that the food is quite good, at least for hotel food. The staff of this hotel are its real strength, Ali at the front desk, Hisham guarding the front, Ramzi and Mohammed doing their jobs and available to do whatever you need.

The Arabia Felix is just an extension of the overall Yemeni hospitality. I was treated like near-family by the staff, and even though I spoke very little Arabic, had no trouble with questions and directions. The location is perfect for exploring life in the Old City. This is definitely the place to stay if you don't mind a few inconveniences and want to see the real Yemen.

Just for the record, in two weeks traveling throughout Yemen, I never felt threatened or had a hint of Anti-American attitude. The scenery and culture are truly world class, and mostly undiscovered.

Stayed there for four nights for an extended weekend holiday from Djibouti. We asked for and were given a room with an ensuite bathroom, but when we arrived there at close to midnight, the high altitude, the tilted floor of the room and its smallness were just too much for us. The staff were kind enough to show us another room the next day.

This room was large, had lots of windows since it was on a corner and the light came through the high stained glass windows. The bathroom was at the end of the hall and it didn't bother us too much, but there wasn't a lot of hot water for the shower. I took a cold one because it became so frustrating to wait for the drips of hot water. There was no cleaning of the room or bathroom during our stay, and there must have been mosquitos or bed bugs or something, since we both got bitten something awful. I'm sure though that the staff would have cleaned had we asked, and they did lend us insect repellent.

The breakfast was basic but what they served was good. The food they served for lunch and dinner was also good and not so expensive. They also had wireless connection in the restaurant with lots of electricity outlets, so you can bring your laptop if you need to stay connected. If you don't have your laptop, the management will lend you their computer, but there is no connection when there is no electricity.

I guess the best thing about this hotel is the location. A couple of minutes to the souk, and in the other direction the modern section of the city. Plenty of opportunities to get lost, but the people around you are happy to show you the way.