Safestay Edinburgh Cowgate

The showers had the best water pressure I’ve ever had, the staff were friendly, beds were affordable, and the rooms were VERY clean. Breakfast from 7-11 was flexible, too. But the heat in the rooms kept me awake, even more than the awful noise from across the road. They swelter at night. You don’t get your money back for hiring a towel, which defeats the point of charging for it so people return it. And it wasn’t even a proper towel, somewhere between microfibre and fleece. My back was wrecked after one night, though I can’t tell if that was the mattress or all my tossing and turning. It’s an alright place, so I wouldn’t say to avoid it, but be ready for those issues. Bring your own towel, unless you want to feel robbed!

I’m a Scotsman from Edinburgh, back from travelling and now living as a backpacker. I’ve stayed in a LOT of hostels, including quite a few in my own city, and Safestay is good value. It’s clean throughout the rooms, showers, and toilets, feels safe, has a 24/7 laundry room, and the staff are friendly. Special mention to reception staff member “SUBO”, who’s now my new contact for when I visit India 🇮🇳. Some rooms can be noisy when you’re trying to sleep because of the outside sounds. That comes with the location. If you want the Edinburgh atmosphere and vibe, stay here. Definitely worth it, and I’ll stay again.

It’s a great location for walking to tourist spots, and you can hear very loud music at night from The Tree Sisters pub across the road. That didn’t bother me. What did was the hygiene. I don’t think the staff know what cleaning is. I planned to stay three nights but checked out after the first. On the second floor, the toilets were a mess and smelled so bad it was hard to go in. Sometimes the flush didn’t work, and the locks were broken. I’m not sure the toilets were properly cleaned, since someone’s leftover “masterpiece” was still there the next day. The dorm lockers were broken too. Mine wouldn’t close, and another wouldn’t turn. The curtains were dirty, the window area was covered with dirt and bird droppings, and there was rubbish on top of the lockers. There are no plugs in the bathroom or rooms, only one by your bed. If you need to dry your hair, you have to use the dining area so you don’t wake your roommates.

I’ve stayed in a lot of hostels while travelling and don’t expect them to be spotless, but this was one of the worst I’ve experienced for cleanliness. I was relieved whenever I could be out of the place, or use a bathroom somewhere else. The breakfast was fine, nothing special. The tables weren’t wiped down often enough. Most of the time, I saw staff putting chairs back without cleaning the tables. I stayed in a four-bed female dorm. The room was fairly clean, but the mattress felt like sleeping directly on springs and should be replaced soon. My locker took a lot of force to open, and I worried I might eventually be unable to get it open. The room door also needed a hard push to close quietly, and its handle was almost falling off. The bathrooms were the worst. I could smell old urine from the downstairs toilet as soon as I entered the hostel. The bathroom by my room smelled too. Cleaning seemed to stop at the toilet seat: the base had a ring of old urine and dirt, and a large brownish-yellow urine stain behind one seat was still there from Sunday through Monday evening and Tuesday morning. These were shared mixed-gender bathrooms, and there was usually urine on the seats, so I kept disinfectant with me. Some door locks were loose; others were so stubborn that on my first night I spent several minutes trying to get out of a stall and worried I’d have to climb out. There was dirt around the sinks, although the sinks themselves looked fairly clean. The showers were mostly clean and okay, but there was a lot of mould above them.