Tony’s Guest House

Tony’s Guest House is a decent budget option if you can overlook its many quirks and shortcomings. The building’s painted canary yellow and surrounded by lush gardens, mango and orange trees, and has lots of outdoor seating in the garden and back courtyard. There’s even a pool of baby tilapia (one of Tony’s hobbies). The guest house is definitely set up to create a social vibe, despite the dark and dated interiors. The big living room has tired couches and three TVs including a big wall-mounted flat screen and two non-working vintage tubes. Cables are strewn about and tumbling over a stack of old magazines and phone books. The shared kitchen is stocked with appliances and cupboard space and there’s also a big kitchen table perfect for potluck dinners. With its budget price, Tony's attracts a backpacker crowd and also many Caribbean tourists -- many are drawn by the owner's generous personality and his willingness to go out of the way to make people feel at home.

Tony’s is located in Port of Spain’s Petit Valley neighborhood, a residential area that’s a 15-minute drive from downtown. It's also a 15-minute drive to Queen’s Park Savannah, the huge park surrounded by the world’s second-biggest roundabout and the center of Trinidad's Carnival celebrations. If you’re driving yourself to Tony’s, GPS apps will get you close but will lead you a block away so you might want to call ahead for specific directions. There are many restaurants within a five-minute drive of Tony’s including Chinese, pizza, Middle Eastern, and a roti shop (which is Trinidad’s delicious national sandwich). There’s also a small grocery store within a three-minute drive and a full size supermarket four minutes away by car. Chaguaramas Boardwalk, a recently developed waterfront area with lots of restaurants and activities is a 25-minute drive away. Tony’s location is great for beachgoers since it avoids Port of Spain’s traffic bottlenecks. Maracas Bay -- Trinidad's famous beach with lots of bake-and-shark stands -- is a 40-minute drive. Just a bit further is Las Cuevas beach, a long, beautiful beach that’s also a leatherback sea turtle nesting site. Piarco International Airport is an hour's drive from Tony's depending on traffic. 

Tony’s rooms aren’t for the faint of heart. The walls are grimy, furniture crumbling, and there are holes in the sheets. If you approach them with a budget-conscious mind, they do the trick, but guests looking for standard hotel comforts should look elsewhere. Guest rooms have either queen or twin beds (often a combination of both sizes), and some include bunk beds. Free Wi-Fi is standard in all rooms. Most have en-suite bathrooms with stand-up showers, but exposed wires in their electric shower heads make bathing a potentially shocking experience (we also spotted lots of cleaning that was necessary in the showers). Other rooms have flat-screen TVs with cable channels and dated kitchens with gas ranges, toasters, refrigerators, and microwaves. All rooms but Room Six have air-conditioning and Room Five has a shared bath. There’s also an iron and ironing board for guest use board next to the shared bathroom. None of the rooms come with toiletries.

Amenities here are limited, but for a budget guest house what's on offer can make up a satisfactory value. There’s a ton of outdoor space with lush gardens and fruit trees -- if you’re there during the right season, the trees are overflowing with delicious mangos and oranges. An covered courtyard has more chairs and a free washer and dryer. Indoors, Tony’s has a big kitchen with a full refrigerator, gas oven and range, microwave, and toaster. However, we didn’t see a coffeemaker. Tony takes all guests on a free tour of the nearby waterfront and he goes out of his way to lend a hand arranging rental cars, tours, and airport transportation. Wi-Fi is free throughout the guest house.