abby hostel Valencia

Really good.

The only real letdown was the old TV, the picture quality was terrible. Otherwise, it's a huge triple room with a very large bathroom, and they clean every day. Breakfast is basic but enough. It's about a 40-minute walk to the beach, with a Mercadona nearby.

The rooms had everything we needed, and the staff and service were excellent. I was very happy with the stay and would recommend it to anyone visiting Valencia. It's very good value, and I'll be back with a group for the Bestcycling event in 2017. Hope you'll join us! A couple of little things could make it even better: I missed having internet in the room, and the vending machines only had snacks. A wider food selection, maybe some ready-made or frozen meals, would mean guests didn't have to rely on shop hours. That's a minor point, though.

The two hassles were the dishware and the luggage room. Guests were meant to wash the hostel's cutlery, plates and glasses after using them, and though there were two dishwashers, there was no detergent or tablets. One evening I couldn't find a clean knife. There were only four, all dirty in the dishwasher, and when I asked, I was told to use whatever was there. The waiter saw they were all dirty and started washing them himself, but I told him not to bother because I don't like being served. There hadn't been any signs explaining how to use the dishes. Everything was clean the next day and a sign had appeared, but I still think there should be a proper dishwasher system. Having customers wash dishes by hand when there are two machines makes little sense and seems less hygienic. On checkout day, we left our bags in the luggage room. When we came back, staff couldn't find the key to open it. They tried several keys and went back and forth for quite a while before finding the right one. We weren't in a great hurry, but labelling the keys and keeping them on a tidy rack would make it easier to know which opens what. The rest was a very good stay, especially for the price and for a hostel. The facilities were fairly modern and adequate, everything was very clean, quiet and peaceful, and the rooms were well insulated for sound and temperature. Breakfast was included in the room price, though not the bed price. The air conditioning was central and quiet, with a switch and thermostat. There was either an individual shower in the room or a shared one in the hallway, depending on the bed. The old CRT television had no digital terrestrial television, and the central DTT system had a terrible picture, but that didn't bother me much, though it's worth knowing. It felt like we were close to everything. There are nearby bus stops for the city centre and beach, but we could walk to both in about 30 minutes at most. The City of Arts and Sciences was an easy walk too. Grocery shops, Mercadona and Lidl were close by, with small shops and Mercadona less than a 3-minute walk away. I'm glad I chose this place over pricier options that were worse located and had inferior facilities. I was very satisfied and would definitely return.