Yes, it is Miraflores, which is the place to stay in Lima, but there are plenty of other hostal/hotels to stay in. Avoid this place. As mentioned previously, the rooms are dingy, bathrooms are grimy, and I never felt secure. When I arrived late at night, the first they showed us had an open balcony which would not close (and it faced the street). I demanded that they figure out how to close it and if not I wanted another room. Finally, after arguing, they agreed and moved me to the bunk bed room which had 6 beds in it which seemed like they stuffed in a closet. Still, I decided to take that over the unsafe option1. The towels are like rags and are not replaced everyday, but they also don't dry properly (i.e eww). Does the staff speak english? hah, not much, luckily my friend speak spanish.

There is 1 computer with free internet, but yes it is slow and doesn't seem to always work. I used it just to send short emails. Breakfast is meager: bread, jam, coffee/tea. The hostal is about a 10min walk to the parc Kennedy area.

Overall, there's no way I would ever stay here again. Pay the extra $5-10 for a better experience.

While the price is right ($10 a night), Jose Luis is not a very nice place to stay. The reviews I read in travel books were very deceiving. First and foremost, it's not very clean at all. I would classify the towels as rags. The mismatched sheets looked like they were 30+ years old and picked up at the local Salvation Army. The bathrooms were fairly grimy. And I'm pretty sure I got bedbug or flea bites from this place.

The place is huge. I stayed in a room with enough bunk beds for 8 people in 1 room. I can't imagine staying here in the busy tourist season. It would be so noisy. And trying to sleep with all those people coming in and out of the room and sharing 1 tiny bathroom would be awful.

The location is okay. Miraflores is nicer than Lima itself, but I never felt truly safe. It's about a 15 minute walk from the downtown Miraflores area-- a walk along a congested, polluted multi-lane highway. The best thing I can say for the location is that it's a 5 minute walk from Wong's, a fantastic megamart with food, kitchen, and bath products.

They have free internet. Translation: there is 1 computer with a mouse that doesn't work well and a frustratingly creeky keyboard. Again, I can't imagine being here in high season and trying to get any internet time when it takes 10 minutes to send a short email because of the slow equipment.

They serve breakfast. Translation: 2 rolls, some butter and jam, and tea. I think you can use their kitchen (other guests seemed to be doing that), but, again, it looked pretty dirty.

I was also expecting friendly, English-speaking hosts (according to several travel books I read). Frankly, I could never really figure out who worked at this place. There was a constant flow of characters, only 2 of whom admitted to speaking English, but neither of whom seemed to work there (they just hung out there a lot).

Travel guides will warn you about scheming taxi drivers at the Lima airport and I can assure you, heed their warnings. Just be sure you know in advance who is supposed to pick you up at the airport and ask for his ID. Trust me. If you decide to stay here, Carlos will transport you to and from the airport for $10. Make sure it really is Carlos though.

Overall, my opinion is that for $5 more per night, you can find a cleaner, nicer place to stay. I did.