Auberge de Jeunesse HI Strasbourg

The rooms were the best part: spacious, open, inexpensive, and with their own shower and toilet. You need to bring soap and a towel. Not providing soap did make me wonder about the place's overall hygiene, though it smelled fine and mostly looked clean. There's a cheap laundry room, but it's a bit confusing to use. It charged us twice by mistake; staff said they'd refund the extra charge when we contacted them. That was frustrating, but it also showed they cared about guests' interests. The staff spoke English really well. Getting to the city center is the main drawback. There are lots of low-cost public transport options, but they're a bit slow and you still have to walk about a kilometer to reach them. For the price, I thought it was a really good hostel, and I don't get why it has so many bad reviews. Maybe some things have been fixed, or those guests just had bad luck.

It felt like a halfway house, and it was the worst hostel I've stayed in across more than 49 countries. Drunk people were collapsing in the corridor, and people coming in late, around 11:30 pm, were rude, turning on lights and making noise without any thought for others. Staff weren't friendly either. The restaurant was closed for a group event, there was rubbish on the room floor, and the showers were dirty.

The only good part was checking out. Our room hadn't been cleaned before we arrived: there was pubic hair in the shower, hair all over the sink, and urine and stains on the toilet. The shower also drains badly, so water spreads across the middle of the bathroom. They leave you a plastic mop to push it toward the drain. It took three days to get sheets for our beds. The so-called buffet breakfast was a joke. The croissants were the only decent thing, and they limit you to one per person. Find somewhere else to stay.

There's a large shared area here, with a bar, restaurant and coworking space, plus a tiny kitchen corner. Wi-Fi is really fast, staff are friendly, and for the price the value is good. It could work for a short stay if you have a car or bike. Downtown Strasbourg is about an hour's walk away, and the nearest Lidl is basically in Germany, a 30-minute walk. The bedroom and showers were extremely dirty, and hygiene needs much more attention. The kitchen corner was filthy, almost like animals had been eating there. Management should also set strict rules for guest behavior, since most of the guests are young people.