Hostel Pekarna

Don’t let the word hostel put you off. This is a good economy option, with tidy private rooms, helpful staff, and parking. It’s also close to the old town and great value for the price.

The design is great and the place was clean, but that couldn’t make up for how awful our arrival was. I’d told reception we’d be late, after it closed, and they assured me the keys would be left in the safes out front and the codes sent by text. The hostel had already sent a generic message to the number I called, so I expected the codes to reach me too. They never came. I called a few minutes after closing, then kept trying for about an hour, but nobody answered. I looked for an emergency number on the door and found only the same number I’d been calling. I asked around at nearby bars and venues until I got the manager’s personal number, but couldn’t reach them for another hour. Eventually someone at another venue managed to contact the manager, who called me back with the codes. We got into our rooms around 23:00, just as we were close to giving up and finding another hostel. Other guests had let us through the front door, and sleeping in the park or hallway was not appealing. The receptionist apologized in the morning and said she’d texted the wrong country code. I asked for a discount because the evening had been so stressful, we slept much less than we wanted, and check-in and getting the invoice were very slow the next morning. They first offered 15% on top of the 10% online booking promotion I already had. After I asked for 50%, they said they couldn’t do that because the hostel is part of a public institution. In the end, we paid around €26 per person, with a slightly more generous discount than 15%. If you’re arriving after 20:00, double and triple-check that the responsible person has sent the codes, and make sure you have a number where you can reach them if something goes wrong. I’d again urge the hostel to put an emergency number on the front door or in the confirmation email, as other hostels in Slovenia and around the world do.

The room was very comfortable. It would help travelers if they provided more details about transport connections, like maps and up-to-date train and bus timetables.

The staff were kind and friendly, and the hostel looks nice, with rooms furnished well too. My only issue was finding someone else’s hair all over the toilet, and the towels smelled of cigarettes.