Planeta Cadiz Hostel

I was there for two nights in October with a few friends. The 10-person dorm beds were comfortable and had curtains for privacy, with lockable lockers underneath. The kitchen was fully functional. The bathroom is right beside the room in a locker-room style, and after lots of post-beach showers the humidity had nowhere to escape. Our towels and tugs didn't dry fully, though there's a rack on the roof near the kitchen. The hostel is lovely, very central, and within walking distance of the beach. It also has an amazing rooftop. Maybe it was the season, but most of the guests were families or older people. It wasn't a typical party hostel, so keep that in mind if that's what you're after.

The building is gorgeous, the location is amazing, and the staff are very friendly. Sadly, that's about all I can praise. I stayed two nights, and the hostel is falling short in a lot of ways. The biggest problem was the noise. I don't expect perfect sleep in a dorm, and loud snoring from other guests isn't something the hostel can control. But the building and layout create a lot of avoidable noise. My ground-floor dorm was beside reception and opposite the street entrance, which is usually open. Sounds from reception, people passing through the entry hall, and the street came straight in and echoed through the building. There's an extra door between reception and the central hall and the dorm. It only leads to the dorm, but is usually left open and can't properly close. A cheap hydraulic closer, around €25 at a DIY store, could keep it shut without locking it and would cut down the noise a lot. The actual dorm door is also extremely loud and impossible to open or close quietly. We were given three identical-looking keys for the building and dorm, so it took a lot of fumbling around with the already noisy lock to find the right one. There were security problems too. If the door was locked from the outside, sometimes it couldn't be opened from inside, so people had to get out through a side or terrace door, via the laundry area. And much of the time the door wasn't locked at all. That's not ideal for a 10-bed dorm at street level right by the entrance and reception. The hostel should replace it with a door that works for both noise and security. Another possibility would be to remove its lock and use it only as a noise barrier, then put a lock on the entrance hall door that currently doesn't close. Noise and light from the shared bathroom also carried into the dorm. A huge window between them barely blocks the bathroom sounds and lets light fill the dorm in the middle of the night. Only part of the window has privacy film, so people can be seen coming out of the shower or doing their hygiene routines. There are more signs of neglect: broken toilet seats in the shared, rather run-down bathroom, bunk beds arranged without much thought, and a deteriorating roof terrace that's clearly seen better days. The bunks are set up so the usual head-at-the-closed-end arrangement doesn't work, because the sockets and shelf are installed the other way around. The place needs more attention and care. It has a lot of potential, but right now it's performing incredibly poorly. It's sad. As things are, I won't return or recommend it.

The volunteers were really fun to spend time with, and everyone working there was very kind. The building is beautiful and full of light, with a nice rooftop.

We had a separate room with our own bathroom and enough space for our things. The hostel's interior was lovely, with huge wooden windows, shutters, and fretwork balconies. It had been renovated recently, and we enjoyed delicious breakfasts on the terrace in the mornings. The location is great, and the staff were nice too.