Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Hotel- less nights in Guam

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Guam

My friend and I are going to guam next week and due to some nasty flight times have decided to forgo the expense of 2 nights (arrival and departure nights) at our hotel. We were wondering if there were any sort of internet cafe's or karaoke booth type things where we could crash for a few hours? Also how safe is it at night? Been living in Japan too long and not worrying about it...
Also if anyone knows a definite place to head to for at least 1 good party night.
thanks
trix

Aj- the delight joys of flying around Micronesia. Those 2am and 5 am flights are nasty. You can check in and get rid of your luggage the night before- much easier than doing it in the middle of the night. Have no idea about your questions tho. Sorry.

1

Well, when I went to Guam I arrived 2 am and then went to Tamuning Plaza Hotel. There I rented a room for the following night but it was not possible to check in before noon or so (unless you pay for another night). But I hang and had a nap on the couch in the hotel lobby until sunrise and I could drop my luggage there until afternoon/evening for free.
The second time in Guam I had to wait from 10pm to 5am for a connection flight, and there's nothing going on at the airport at all. I walked to Tumon and found it really difficult to reach the beach because there were all these huge hotels with their private property in the way. Further, there wasn't anything going on in Tumon itself - and it was supposed to be high season due to Japanese Golden week. So I cannot recommend.
Maybe the best thing is to go to the beach in Agana or somewhere away from the tourist spots. Very often, there are ocals having a beach barbecue, and they I so nice and happy to welcome other people. I spent a great night with some Micronesians I just met by accident in the morning.
I don't know if it is safe to sleep on the beach, but I did not feel afraid anywhere on Guam, people are so nice there. And it surely is warm enough outside.

2

But it is really hard to find real budget accomodations. The cheapest I found were 45-55 USD/night, but difficult to catch on the phone:
Tamuning Plaza Hotel, Tamuning
Harmon Lop Hotel Guam, near the Airport

3

Darth- the folks you met were most likely Chammorros, not Micronesians. But never mind- you had a good time. And Guam is generally fairly safe, but the amount of alcohol consumed can be quite excessive- something to be careful of. Around the islands in general, a bottle opened is a bottle drunk- or a case opened is a case drunk. And drunk is drunk.

4