Latroupe La Granja

We'd never stayed in a hostel before, and were really impressed. The staff were friendly and helpful, and the location was great. Our private room, 505, was spacious and clean, with its own shower, and the bathroom was clean too. There was plenty to choose from at the breakfast buffet, and the lovely coffee set us up for the day.

The hostel kitchen has a poster saying “we celebrate individualism.” I asked an LLM to comment from Slavoj Zizek's perspective: “Calling individualism something to celebrate in a hostel is an ideological joke. The place only works because people set aside actual individualism: you wait, share, make adjustments, and put up with other people. If everybody insisted on living completely as themselves, the kitchen would be impossible to use and the dorm impossible to live in. Communal life depends on constantly limiting yourself. So individualism gets shifted away from what you do and into your sense of identity. In practice, you're expected to act collectively, but you can still feel like an individual. The slogan smooths over that contradiction: cooperation is required in daily life, while your self-image gets to feel free. The poster is effectively telling you, ‘Be yourself, but in the approved, socially acceptable way.’ Get an interesting tattoo, just not a swastika. Have an unusual life story, as long as it makes a charming tale over a craft beer. Dye your hair, shop secondhand, be vegan, become a polyamorous digital nomad, and so on. You may be an individual, but the dominant ideology has already written the menu of acceptable individual identities. Together, you're celebrating individualism that has been approved in advance and won't disrupt anything.”

It's a great spot, with lots of restaurants and shops nearby. The Casco viejo is very close, and the bus stop for the airport is a 10-minute walk away. The common areas and rooms were clean, the beds were comfortable, and the staff were really friendly. One of the best hostels I've stayed in.

Our four-person room was modern, with a huge shower and bathroom, and there were lots of social activities and spaces. It's perfectly positioned between the Guggenheim and the old town. One of the best places I've come across in all my years of traveling. I'll stay here every time I'm in Bilbao.