Nicely Hostel

I stayed one night at Nicely hostel in Lisbon. It was okay, but nothing especially good, and you have to pay for everything. I asked if I could leave my baggage and was willing to pay, but the staff member said I had to pick it up before 5pm, which seemed a bit strange. Breakfast is included, and the location is fine, near a metro station.

This was a horrible stay. The place is far too cramped, with about 30 guests sharing just one bathroom. It was very dirty and full of all kinds of hair. The beds were cheap and uncomfortable, and they shifted whenever I moved. Staff were unpleasant and unhelpful, and didn’t even say hello in the morning. They also didn’t give me a receipt for my cash payment. You’d be living in a tiny apartment packed with people. Better avoid this hostel.

The hostel was clean, and street noise wasn’t much of a problem. We needed somewhere to park our van, and that worked very well. Parking was free since we stayed over the weekend. Breakfast was small but decent, just toast and jam. Still, I can’t recommend staying here. There was no one at reception overnight, and both nights a new guest arrived around 2am, ringing the bell loudly enough to wake us even with earplugs. Once, I opened the door myself, and the guest had to choose a bed in any room. There wasn’t even a phone number at the entrance for these situations. The beds were badly worn out, noisy with every movement, and shook a lot. I’ve stayed in plenty of hostels, and these were an imposition. If you’re on the top bunk, light from the hallway can wake you through the large window in each door. The bathroom windows have to stay open to let the steam out, but they face the breakfast room, a small winter garden. While eating, we had to put up with a terrible poop smell and hearing someone on the toilet. Showers swung between very hot and very cold. The atmosphere wasn’t welcoming. The staff didn’t seem to care much about guests, and it wasn’t a place where people felt inclined to meet each other. It was handy for parking, but about a 30-minute walk from downtown.

The hostel looked very clean at first, but staying there for five nights was stressful. There are too many people for just two bathrooms, so in the morning we usually waited at least 10 minutes. Breakfast wasn’t very good, and everyone I saw had brought extra food of their own. When guests left to visit the city, the staff cleaned, but they also moved our belongings and put them in a cupboard. Even a wet towel wasn’t allowed to hang from the bed. We had to put it on the drying rack in the smoking area, or it wouldn’t dry. The kitchen was too small for even two groups to cook at once. There weren’t enough chairs or sofas in the kitchen or common room for everyone. The place was very clean, but with so many people in a small flat and only two bathrooms, the stay felt really stressful.