Flamingo Hostel

I spent a full week here and came away very disappointed. The listing said my room had a private shower and bathroom, but it was shared, and that wasn’t made clear when I booked. The photos didn’t match what I found either. My room was tiny, with almost no room to move, and had neither a closet nor a TV. The walls were so thin I could hear everything next door, and footsteps in the corridor made my bed shake. Guests are asked to keep quiet from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., but there’s a nightclub directly underneath the hostel, which wasn’t mentioned. I asked if I could upgrade rooms, but the staff refused and didn’t seem willing to help.

My sleep was badly affected by how loud the street gets at night. The room was messy, and there was mould all over the bathroom. They advertise a 24-hour desk, but it definitely isn’t open around the clock, and I couldn’t find its hours anywhere. Terrible.

At least one of the bathrooms was spacious enough, and the bed was okay, though not as clean as I would have liked. The towel they gave us was dirty. They said it wasn’t their fault and suggested the mark might be wine, though it looked brown, not like wine. They did replace it, which was kind of them. The room itself was very small. We could hear everything from the room next door, and noise from the corridor too. The floor was squeaky, but otherwise there wasn’t much noise apart from very quiet music in the evening.

The Old Town location is right in the heart of everything, which was great. I booked two nights, but rooms 1 and 2 are directly on the party street, so it was extremely noisy overnight even with the windows shut. The rooms smelled bad and were very basic.