Hostel Open Tours

I stayed from December 21 to 30, 2025, while travelling in Poland with my partner, who is from Ełk. She stayed with her mother, and I spent a couple of nights at her mum’s place as well. I mainly needed this hostel as somewhere to sleep and shower. It has a one-star rating and is very cheap, so my expectations were low. Given the price, I think a good rating is fair. The location is central, right by the train station, which made it easy to explore Ełk and the surrounding area. Staff were friendly. They knew basic English, I know very basic Polish, and Google Translate filled in the gaps without any language trouble. The place was generally warm, clean, tidy, and looked after. There’s a shared kitchen with cutlery, plates, a kettle, microwave, refrigerator, and free coffee, tea, and sugar. My room, 14, was on the first floor facing the street. I could hear some traffic, but it wasn’t unbearable, and in winter the windows stayed shut. It had three single beds that were comfortable, though a bit short for someone 193cm tall. The pillows and sheets were thin, so I doubled them up using spare beds. That was fine on my own, but could be an issue with three people sharing. There was a TV with the usual Polish channels; I only watched the news briefly one day. A few things could be better. I spotted dirt under the beds after lifting them to check. The shower head in the private bathroom was clogged with limescale, leaving just two very thin streams of water. I cleaned it myself and it then worked normally. My room wasn’t cleaned during my nine nights, and I would have expected a clean once or twice. There’s only one roll of toilet paper to start with, so you need to ask reception for another. The towels are comically small for my height and build, more like tea towels for drying dishes. There’s room for only three clothes hangers, so I mostly lived out of my suitcase. For one or two nights, I’d recommend it: it’s well priced and handy for Ełk and the station. You might want to bring your own towel, an extra pillow, and toilet paper. I wouldn’t suggest a longer stay unless, like me, you have family in Ełk to visit and will spend most of your time with them. The hostel has a good setup for the price. Bigger towels, easier access to extra toilet rolls, and a regular schedule for cleaning shower heads and under the beds would help.

I could hear buses coming and going at the station since my room faced the street, though there wasn’t much noise overall. Check-in was easy, the room felt cozy, and having a private bathroom was nice. I’d stay again if I had the chance.

The location was good, but our room had no WiFi at all. We had to find an extender and set it up ourselves. Some rooms also smelled bad.

The room was clean and had a private bathroom, TV, and free WiFi. It’s a nice hostel if you don’t mind trains passing nearby, and the location makes it easy to hop on one.