HI Geres- Pousada da Juventude - Hostel

If you’re hiking in the beautiful national park in northwestern Portugal and want a mouldy room smell with some “Eastern Bloc” vibes, this hostel has you covered. The building feels completely out of place in such a stunning setting. Payment in advance is non-refundable, so book here if you’re looking to lose your money. Backpackers, beware. Keep walking!

The rooms are pretty, but that’s the only good thing I can say. The staff were unfriendly and unhelpful, and there was no sound insulation at all. We were due to stay while a wildfire was raging in ponte de barca, quite close by. We wanted to call and check whether we needed to worry about it. We messaged the hostel’s booking.com profile the day before our reservation and got no reply. We wrote again in the morning and tried calling, with no luck. Later we called again and still got no answer, so we changed our plans and went there early to check that everything was okay. When we arrived and mentioned the calls, the receptionist said she’d seen them but didn’t answer because she thought they were scam calls. If you host international guests, it’s pretty obvious you may get calls from foreign numbers. She didn’t explain why she hadn’t replied to our booking.com messages either. She seemed thoroughly unenthusiastic and unwelcoming, which isn’t what you expect from a hostel. At check-in we were rudely told to come back later. She only offered to take our bags, frowning, and didn’t mention that we could wait in the huge common room out of the heat. During the night, we kept waking up to people walking in other rooms because the whole building echoes. There was no air circulation, and our room got so hot and stuffy that we felt sick. We came to hike in the national park, but the hostel had no trail map and the staff were no help. A restaurant told us to get a hiking map from the library. There we learned hiking in the park wasn’t allowed because of the fire. It felt wrong that a hostel so close to the park didn’t know this, especially when it would otherwise be an ideal base for those trips. The door locked itself while we were out. When we got back, we found we couldn’t get in just as the receptionist was leaving. A guy who was working there for the weekend and was off duty really tried to help us, thanks Vendir, the only friendly face among the staff. He hadn’t been there long, though, and didn’t know how to fix it. He called the receptionist who had just left, but she said we’d have to sit and wait 20 minutes while she finished eating. That’s not the service you’d expect. The breakfast buffet was sloppy too, like a school cafeteria. We’ve never had such a bad experience with a place.

The room was clean and tidy, though a little cold overnight when we stayed on a chilly day in March. We also slept poorly because people in the next room were talking at 3-4 a.m., and the sound insulation isn’t great. There’s a lot to like in the grounds: incredible views from the bedroom, lovely landscaped gardens and surroundings, and well-kept shared and resting areas with decent furnishings and fixtures. Sophia provided excellent service. We enjoyed a light evening snack with local wine while watching TV downstairs, and breakfast was okay too. It’s relatively good value and a good option for pilgrims doing the Camino de Santiago.

The service was good, and there’s plenty of parking. For the price, the rooms were very cheap and good value, with an okay bed. It’s also fairly close by car to some trailheads. The showers use a push button, which is a bit inconvenient. I had bad luck with my dorm neighbors: they came in noisily late at night, then got up early and were noisy again. Of course, that’s just the random nature of dorms and isn’t the property’s fault.