Albert Road Homestay

The flat is well located on the junction of several main roads running through Southsea, so very convenient for bars and restaurants and not too far to walk to the beach and the shops in Southsea. Because of its location, there is a lot of noise from the bars across the road until the early hours on Fridays and Saturdays. This wasn't an issue for us as we were out late both those evenings, but it's not ideal if you're looking for quiet accommodation. The kitchen is well equipped. We had the bigger room which had a sofa and we appreciated the extra space. The cat's friendly and likes attention!

There is free street parking nearby. However, whichever zone you park in, there's around a two hour slot at some point in the day which requires a resident's parking permit. If you're bringing your vehicle and don't want to play musical cars, let the owners know in advance and they can supply you with a parking permit.

Basically it was a flat, one guest room+kitchen downstairs and the other guest's room+bathroom+owner room (not sure) upstairs. Our room was big enough. The owner provided us with instructions in advance to find the keys to access the house/room, and it was all quite easy. We are satisfied with our stay, the room and bathroom were clean. (We didn't use the kitchen because we only stayed one night and left the next morning at 5am so we can't tell if it was ok) There was a lovely and very friendly cat wandering around the corridor but the owner had already warned us and it was not a problem for us. Know that there will be bowls for food (in the kitchen) and smell of cat food. I repeat for us it was absolutely not a problem but maybe for others it can be. You can take a quick shower (like 10 min) otherwise the hot water runs out and you have to wait 30 minutes. But I think 10 min is enough for a shower :) Also the owner allowed us to bring our bikes into the apartment overnight.

There are pubs and clubs around there so the noise and buzz of people was a bit of a problem. But we had read other reviews and knew it could be a problem. Also we slept with the window open, so... When we woke up in the morning there was a strong smell of cigarettes in the house so it wasn't very pleasant to wake up like that

The room was clean and substantial Was very hot and window opening was only two lourves at top of window so very stuffy

The access' left a lot to be desired Had to walk through what looked like a storage area then 3 flights of stairs. Outside was very busy and had a disco across the road blasting music until early hours of the morning. Was street parking, not allocated and only available after 6pm. Not much available