Dingo Backpackers Hostel

Dingo’s is my favorite hostel from all my travels. The sunset garden was magical, and the bar was really cool. Everything was spotlessly clean, plus there are cute cats living there. I loved chatting with the friendly volunteers over an authentic home-cooked meal, cards, and local beers. Riccardo was helpful and had great suggestions for things to see. If you’re after a chilled place to meet interesting, like-minded people, I can’t recommend dingo’s enough.

The hostel had a great atmosphere, and the rooms were warm and clean. We spent a couple of amazing days there, joined Riccardo for one of his beautiful tours, and loved the dinner cooked with care by the staff. I really recommend it!

I didn’t feel safe at this place, and I left at 3AM. On my first evening, during what was called a “traditional dinner,” the host was forceful about getting guests to drink and made personal toasts that felt intrusive. He asked outright if we’d lost family or friends, apparently because we were “toasting to the dead.” I couldn’t quite put my finger on it then, but the whole thing made me uncomfortable. Later that night, the host told his much younger partner, who seemed visibly submissive, to follow him into a room. Soon after, we heard slapping and banging from inside. We didn’t see what happened, but it sounded like someone was being beaten. Several guests, myself included, felt very uneasy and unsafe. I was afraid the owner might refuse to let me check out, so I took my things outside and made an excuse to leave. We didn’t dare ask for our room deposit back. EDIT in response to hostel's reply: My stay was around 9 months ago. I posted later because the experience kept troubling me, especially after I saw similar reviews. Whatever may have happened with theft doesn’t explain the incident later that night, which frightened several guests and led us to leave at 3AM. We were too afraid to confront the host in that state about the deposit. This review honestly describes my experience at the time.

The staff were really nice and accommodating, even though I was the only guest in low season. I’d definitely recommend the hostel during high season or if you’re with a group. For solo travel in low season, it wasn’t ideal.