La Palma Hostel Leiria

The breakfast spread was beautiful, and there’s a small pool, though I’m not sure guests could use it. The staff were kind enough to move me to another room after someone got upset with me for making noise, but there was no Wi-Fi in that room. I slept okay at least. Getting back from dinner was chaotic: there was no staff around at 10, someone had been locked out, and my card didn’t work, so I had to use a random key to open the door. They also didn’t say much about checkout time or other rules. One of the worst hostels of the trip, and I’m not sure all that chaos was worth it.

The shared room didn’t offer much privacy, but that’s fine for a hostel. It was impeccably clean, and they provided fresh towels and sheets, plus a free locker. The place is beautiful and has all the amenities you’d want. There’s a small pool for summer, too.

We didn’t stay and moved to a proper hotel because we wanted a good night’s sleep. Our room looked nice, but smelled of something like rancid sweetness mixed with ammonia. You could hear everything in the hallway and other rooms, so other guests would know about the smell straight away. The shared toilet and shower seemed to be coming apart, and the cleaning looked questionable. We didn’t try the pool. At reception there was just a laptop on a table, and the staff looked confused. They didn’t answer the phone, so you really have to keep trying, and they hadn’t sent us the entry code for our Airbnb reservation. It wasn’t the experience I wanted for us as a couple.

The first night set the tone. Some families had arrived, and a group of Brazilians who were already there stayed loud and obnoxious until around 1 a.m., treating other guests badly, especially the family next door. I asked the father why they were acting that way, but he had no idea either. I eventually stepped in because the man had kids. I think I finally slept around 3 a.m. The next night there was a pump-like noise droning nonstop in my ground-floor room, and at 1 a.m. people raided the kitchen before some of them left through the front door. The place has a lovely building, big rooms, Wi-Fi, a kitchen, and outdoor spaces, so it could have been nice. But the management and residents made it a miserable few days. The day after that first incident, the door code had changed, and I only learned when I messaged the owner because I couldn’t get in. There had been no warning. A resident let me in and asked if I’d booked, even though I’d checked in already. He said he didn’t work there. Guests seem to end up handling things for the hostel because nobody is at the front desk. Someone had also clearly gone through my food in the fridge. One person from the earlier incident was still there, despite the owner saying it had been dealt with. Maybe some people live there long term, who knows. Cleaning wasn’t great either. There were two water bottles under my bed. The bathroom was okay, but towels got left lying around, as if people thought they owned the place. I’ve travelled a lot, and this was the least friendly and least fun hostel I’ve stayed in. It didn’t have much for international travellers. If you stay, I’d keep it to one night, eat out, and not count on the pool. I suspect some of the people eating other guests’ food are longer-term residents who treat the place as their own. I don’t know why they’re there.