Where to go in the fall: 10 unusual and design hostels
To significantly save on travel, You can always stay at a hostel, but often you have to sacrifice your personal space, your own ideas about cleanliness and the ability to sleep. In the past few years, hostels have evolved markedly, and those that have opened relatively recently are an order of magnitude more comfortable than veterans of the genre. There was even a hybrid of a hostel and a hotel, for particularly impressive examples of which a special term was invented - poshtels (derived from posh and hostels).
We chose ten noteworthy new-style hostels, where you can go this fall, paying at the same time as a cheap hotel. Some of them show what a poshtel should be, others still are true to traditions in some way. In any case, the atmosphere of the student dormitory, on which everything was kept in classic hostels, is rather rare in them.
The “hotel” in the title is an exaggeration: after all, while there is a house in a hotel-type establishment, it remains a hostel. In Mojo there are dorms and separate rooms of varying degrees of spaciousness. The hostel trump card is a large roof terrace; An invaluable bonus when you have a view of the mountains and the ocean. The hostel is located on the outskirts, but in the case of Cape Town, the outskirts is not only not bad, but even good. The distance to the city center is five kilometers, there are no problems with transportation, and you can rent a bike from the hostel. And to get to the ocean, you just need to get out of the hostel and walk a hundred meters.
Prices for a place in the dorma start from 13 euros. Rooms cost from 43 euros for a single to 126 euros for a room for four people. In terms of privacy, there is one specific minus: in some double rooms the toilet is located directly in the space of the studio room and is separated from it only by a partition, but not a door. Obviously, the owners of Mojo believe that close people have nothing to hide from each other - how else to explain such an original decision is not clear. If you do not share their point of view, be careful when booking. Judging by the reviews, you need to fear first of all rooms for two, located on the roof of the hostel, but it is worth clarifying in advance if there is such an experimental layout in other rooms.
The house that occupies Rotterdam's King Kong Hostel, which received the title of the best in the Netherlands from Hostelworld, has a loud past: at various times there were an underground casino, a tattoo parlor and a brothel. The owner of the hostel is clearly not a layman in terms of promotion of establishments - his own bar De Witte Aap has about 10 thousand likes on Facebook and the status of no less than the best bar in the world in 2009 according to Lonely Planet. The point is most likely in the attention to detail. In King Kong there is a cinema room in which you can watch Netflix on the big screen, besides bicycles, skates and scooters are rented, and Wi-Fi owners say that it is not just fast, but “faster than Usain Bolt”.
Well, something quite already from the Laksheri area - aromatherapy was involved in creating the atmosphere, not without the help of a friendly hostel company flavoring hotels and shops around the world (the boudoir spirit spread by Uterqüe Moscow stores is their work). A night in a dorm costs from 22 euros, for a separate room with a double bed you will have to pay about 90 euros. True, the individual rooms in this hostel are almost never free. You need to book not just in advance, but for a couple of months - so if you plan to go on a trip for the November holidays, it's time to think about it.
Generator Copenhagen is beautiful, like all Generator hostels, and huge: six floors, a terrace of 4 thousand square meters, 176 rooms, separate and two floors, and a total of more than three hundred beds. Even with this capacity, it is usually packed to capacity. First of all, you can’t think of a better location - it is located between the Kongens Nytorv and Norreport metro stations, close to Nyhavn and Korolevskaya Square. Secondly, in this hostel is really nice to be. The hostel project was designed by Philippe Starck, and from time to time some design elements are changed here - for example, hammocks appeared recently in the lounge area.
As part of the comfort here, too, everything is in order. Each room, including the dorms, has its own shower and toilet, and in the dorms for eight people - two toilets and two showers. The lounge is very large, with a bar and table football. In addition, there is a pétanque area with another bar. Quite often, the hostel holds parties with DJs. Tourists in the reviews mostly complain only about the lack of cuisine and the fact that you can not bring food to the hostel. But, given the Copenhagen prices, let the guests save, and the restaurant at the hostel would not last long.
From 3 Ducks, you can walk to the Eiffel Tower in about twenty-five minutes and take the bike to the Louvre in about the same amount. For lovers of the subway there are three stations nearby. There is a bar on the ground floor of the hostel, but the locals like it so much that in the evening they prevail here. One of the guests of the hostel is glad that it is possible thanks to that on the very first day to get acquainted with a bunch of Parisians, someone complains that the locales are crowding out travelers. The bar here is a fly in the ointment: the category of guests who don’t really need a bar in a hostel, complains that it’s not always possible to sleep in 3 Ducks.
Breakfast is free here, not very generous, but considering Paris prices, little is better than nothing. Prices for a place in the dorma start from 30 euros, a separate double room costs 90, and for four people - 144. Features of the hostel, which are worth mentioning: a patio that best describes the word "Sharman", and a spiral staircase in one of the dorms - it is worth being careful with her.
Book and Bed could be on the list of the strangest hostels in the world. Night here, in terms of the yen to the European currency, will cost 20-30 euros. The "Book" in the title is for no reason in front of the "Bed": apparently, everything in this hostel is focused on the fact that every visitor, without being distracted by anything, can go into reading with his head for at least a few days, and sleep are provided in case someone reads out and will be late on the subway or even on the plane. You can come here just like in a paid library - the hostel has a daily booking option. This means five hours to read in the most relaxed atmosphere at half price.
There may be problems with sleep. Sleep capsules are, in fact, wooden boxes embedded inside the bookshelves that look cramped enough. In addition, in such a capsule a person is isolated from all sides - so that those who are at least a little claustrophobic are likely to be very uncomfortable. True, the capsules are ventilated and illuminated - each has a lamp and an internal air conditioner. An important detail: the cash in the hostel does not accept and even the card will not work for everyone - only Visa and MasterCard can be paid.
First of all, it is necessary to say about SoHostel that its owners also have a charity project - a hostel, or rather, a shelter for the homeless Arlington. Arlington is a residence for 95 rooms, in which, in addition, they are engaged in the socialization of the homeless and help them acquire skills that will allow them to find work in the future. At SoHostel itself, there is a Coffee Club cafe with very humane prices by London standards - its sales revenue goes to Arlington. Soon the hostel will start working another cafe on the roof.
For a bed in a dorm take 25 pounds, for a separate twin or double - 55 pounds for a room. Periodically in the hostel there are concerts that start at seven in the evening and are unlikely to interfere with someone to sleep. However, it’s impossible to say this with confidence on karaoke parties with alcohol prizes on Fridays. On the other hand, the person who, between sleep and opportunity, waving a beer glass, to sing Wonderwall, chooses the first, or at least cannot understand and forgive those who chose the second, better, perhaps, to stay in ordinary hotels.
Perhaps the most beautiful hostel in Berlin, located near the Tiergarten. Prices for a place in the Dorma start from 12 euros, double costs from 20 euros per person, but these prices are relevant, most likely, several times a year. In the summer they can be multiplied by two at once: a double, for example, will cost from 80 euros for two, and it cannot be booked on the eve of the trip - the double rooms in this hostel are dismantled as soon as they manage to be tracked in the booking systems.
Having worked for glory over the guidance of beauty, the guys from Wallyard erected a multi-level system of protection against those who are most likely able to destroy all this. Therefore, the booking will be denied to the guys who decided to roll the bachelor party, groups of schoolchildren and in general to any company of more than eight people. About the last in the rules it is said that attempts to cheat, having made several separate bookings, are doomed to failure - they will calculate all and cancel the reservation.
Last year, the Bolshaya Dmitrovka hostel opened a hostel to which not only Russian, but also, perhaps, many European hostels could be equal: everything is very beautiful, the design is refined utterly, successful naming, and the hostel staff does not forget to respond to every review. Plus in the "Sputnik" for a little money can help foreign visitors with visa support. Prices for accommodation for Moscow are also small: a bed in a six-person room costs 1,200 rubles, a double room will cost 3,700 rubles, regardless of whether one person or a couple stays in it. In the triple room there is a double bed, and the third person is given a mezzanine with a sleeping place hidden behind curtains. Children should be delighted with these mezzanines: they resemble a tree house.
There are double beds in the dormas, in the common space there is a projector, free coffee, tea and biscuits. The only thing that is mentioned in the reviews as a minus is that the hostel is too calm and there is no socialization in the classic hostel style. But this is one of the fundamental differences of what is designated by the term poshtel, from traditional hostels (and the “Satellite” for the title of poshtel is quite pulling).
The hostel is located in one of the few areas of Hong Kong, not yet overgrown with skyscrapers and not turned into one continuous business center. There are mostly low-rise buildings built in the 60s, full of small family restaurants and popular among local food markets. There are no separate rooms in Mahjong, and it may seem that prices are high, but Hong Kong is in principle not a cheap place. Ordinary places in dormas cost from 40 euros per night, double bed - from 90.
The double rooms have their own toilet and shower. Local niches for sleeping, unlike capsules in the Tokyo's Book and Bed, can cause concern only with the possibility of hitting your head against their ceiling. They are quite spacious, with ladders on the top shelf, as in a train, and you can isolate yourself from others by lowering the curtain (though slightly translucent). The hostel has its own patio with a small bar and a bunch of plants. The plants here, it seems, are generally loved - there is something ficus-like in the tubs in the corridors and in the lounge area.
Like Generator, St Cristopher's is a network of hostels throughout Europe. Barcelona is located very well, fifty meters from the Plaza de Catalunya. Breakfast is free here, in addition in the evening they will pour sangria and treat tapas, and in the neighboring restaurant the guests of the hostel make a 25% discount. At the reception you can buy tickets to local clubs, and also at a discount. Of the activities in the hostel there is table football, billiards and ping pong.
Of the entire list, St Cristopher's is the most loyal to backpacker tourists. Therefore, if you still want to know what hostel romance is, but I don’t want to plunge into it, then this is a good option. There are also separate rooms in St Cristopher's, so you can watch this romance carefully, without risking to find a stranger in your bed who has confused his dorm with yours. Prices in dormas start from 30 euros, a double room costs about 170 euros, and 6-8-seater individual - about 280 euros for the whole room. For some reason, you cannot pay with an American Express card - the rest are accepted.
Photo: store.wallpaper.com, Mojo Hotel / Facebook, King Kong Hostel, Generator Copenhagen, 3 Ducks Hostel, Tokyo Bookcase / Facebook, SoHostel, Wallyard Concept Hostel / Facebook, Sputnik hostel & personal space / Facebook, The Mahjong, St Cristopher's Hostel