Hostel Reviews or ‘Where To Sleep Around The World’

As we head round the world and find places to lay our heads, we thought we’d tell you what they were like. If they were good, we’ll let you know, and if they should be condemned, we’ll mention that too. So if you need a place to stay, check here and see what we’ve experienced!

If you’ve stayed at a hostel you’ve loved or hated, please email us and we’ll be sure to add your review on to our list! Just let us know the following info. Country: City: Hostel name: Address or URL (the more specific the better): Price Rating: Budget, Midrange, Pricey (with price if you know it) I Stayed : (when you were there) Comments :

Peru Hostel Reviews

City: Cusco
Hostel Name: Adventure Brew Hostel Cusco
Location: Av Ejercito
URL: http://www.theadventurebrewcusco.com/?q=adventure-brew-cusco
Price Rating: Budget (8 Bed Dorm PEN20)
We stayed: Late March 2012
Comments:This place only opened in 2011, so it is all fairly new and clean. On the map, it looks to be a fair distance from the centre of town, but in reality is only a ten minute walk.
The dorm rooms are all fairly spacious and clean. They all have lockers for small valuables only. Rooms on the ground floor tend to be a bit quieter, as they are further away from the bar.
The dorms all have en suite bathrooms, with warm showers. They are cleaned daily. The only downside is that there is a frosted window, so your silhouette can be seen by everyone else in the room.
The common areas of this hostel are fantastic. On the top floor is a bar and kitchen – the bar is supposed to be open every night from 6-10, though these hours are a little irregular. Every guest is given a free mojito on their first night (depending on what ingredients they have left!). The kitchen is very well stocked, and there is plenty of room for more than one person to cook.
There is a TV room on the middle floor, with four large sofas and a very wide selection of movies. The staff will even bring you popcorn and a blanket if you are watching the TV.
Wifi is reliable, and fairly fast, but is limited to the bigger common areas – the kitchen and the TV room. It is possible to get a signal in some of the rooms, but this is intermittent. There are four computers in the kitchen area for public use.
A lot of people tend to start and finish their Machu Piccu tours from Cusco, so there do tend to be a lot of people leaving for tours at 4am, or returning from tours at midnight (though this is true of any hostel in the area)
The hostel bookstours with no commission and they seemed to have a wide variety of tours with reputable agencies. We found them to be very informative. They do not accept credit cards for tours, so you may need to withdraw large amounts of cash.
The staff are friendly, but they do seem to be quite overrun a lot of the time. They weren’t quite sure how much to charge us for the room, and we did have mysterious bar items cropping up on the bill, though these were corrected as soon as we pointed them out. A good place for the future, and definitely a fun place to hang out.

City: Huacachina
Hostel Name: Bananas Adventure Hostel
Location:On the Lagoon, Huacachina
Price Rating: Budget (Dorm PEN25)
We stayed: Early April 2012
Comments: This place is pretty chilled. All of the rooms are little beach huts, clustered around a central pool area. The view outside is pretty amazing – the massive dunes make you forget that you are in Peru and are in Saharan Africa.
Dotted around the place are hammocks, tables and chairs. The bar serves reasonably priced food and beer.
The hostel only accepts cash, but is only a five minute walk from the cashpoint (though this will only dispense a maximum of 400 soles per day).
Dorms sleep four and have two bunk beds with ceiling mounted fans. The private rooms look nice and new as well.No security lockers are provided, and it is not possible to lock the rooms (though there is a latch to padlock it if you wish). The rooms are cleaned daily.
There are lots of toilets and showers around the pool area.
The hostel also offers dune buggy and sandboarding tours. You can sometimes get a discount on your room if you book one of these tours when you check in.
There are no public computers, but there is free wifi, which is fairly fast and reliable. There are two plug sockets in each room for charging cameras etc..

City: Lima
Hostel Name: Family Backpackers Hostel
Location:Juan Moore 306, Miraflores
Price Rating: Budget (Dorm PEN25)
We stayed: Early April 2012
Comments: Family backpackers is only a 5 minute walk from the cliffs in Miraflores.
The dorm rooms are fairly spacious. We stayed in the downstairs 7 bed ensuite, which was fine, but got a little loud in the morning when everyone started having breakfast. The bathroom for the dorm was huge as well. There are metal security lockers, which are able to fit a medium sized rucksack.
There is a private room on the top floor which we looked at, but it looked as though someone had just put a shed on the roof. The dorms look to be a much better bet. This hostel has the plenty of toilets/bathrooms.
Downstairs, there are a few large sofas, big TV and a huge selection of DVDs. There are also smaller security lockers for people who have checked out etc. The kitchen is very well equipped, with lots of communal ingredients and plenty of fridge space. It’s only a ten minute walk to the supermarket, so it’s worth stocking up.
Wifi is fairly reliable and fast, and is available throughout the building. There is one computer for use, though they request that you only use for 20 minutes and leave a one sole contribution.
The whole place feels very secure, with a buzz in entry system, that is operational all the time.
The staff here are really friendly and really do go out of their way to help.

City: Mancora
Hostel Name: The Point Mancora
Location:Far end of Mancora Beach
Price Rating: Budget (Dorm PEN22)
We stayed: Early April 2012
Comments: We were quite impressed with the Point. It’s further from town than the rest of the hostels, but this is a small price to pay for an almost exclusive bit of beach.
The dorms are all in the main building and sleep 8 people. These can get a little warm at night, so it’s worth trying to get one of the dorms on the end of the building, as these have better airflow.
There are small security lockers for each bed, but these are only able to hold small rucksacks. It’s worth buying a mosquito net if you are going to be here for any length of time, as there are a lot of mosquitos in the area.
There are bathrooms on both floors, and these are very clean. Showers are warm all of the time.
The bar and restaurant are both very good and reasonably priced (both much cheaper than the bars in town). The bar also has two happy hours, and various promotions, games etc.
There are quite a few long term backpackers who seem to stay here and work behind the bar. Some of the other reviews of this place seem to count this as a negative, but it really gives the bar a bit of atmosphere. All the staff are really friendly and well placed to give out advice on your next destination.
The pool is very nice and cleaned every few days. There is usually a game of beach volleyball going on in the late afternoon, that anyone is free to join in.
Wifi is reliable and available throughout the complex.

City: Puno
Hostel Name: Quorikanchas
Location:Av Busch, Copacabana
Price Rating: Budget (Private Double En Suite PEN40)
We stayed: Late March 2012
Comments: The location of this hostel is pretty good – only around a five minute walk from the main square and all of the restuarants.
The room itself was fairly small, though a large mirror on one of the walls made it seem a lot bigger. It was all really clean, and towels were provided. The room also had cable TV with a very large selection of channels in both English and Spanish.
The en suite bathroom was functional, but very small. It was a bit of a squeeze to get into the room and shut the door. Nonetheless, it was clean, and the water was hot.
There are no cooking facilities in the hostel, but the staff will bring breakfast to your room for PEN5 per person.
The staff are friendly and able to book tours and buses etc, but this is much more expensive than purchasing from the bus station (we paid about 50% more – not recommende).
The wifi is available throughout the building. It is reliable, but fairly slow. There is one computer available for public use. One thing to note, the hostel has resident kittens.