Happy Buddha Hostel

Watch out!! The hostel was a total disaster, and even if you were paid to stay here, you wouldn’t want to. It’s cheap, but the risk isn’t worth it when there are plenty of better places. There’s only one way out, and they lock it and take the key between 12 and 6. In a fire, you’d be screwed. Twenty-four people share one shower and toilet. One room has a balcony that everyone uses for smoking, so people walk through it at any time of day. The woman working there terrorises the hostel and creates an unhappy, Buddha-like atmosphere. And the whole place smells bad as soon as you walk in.

The staff were very friendly, and I had no trouble checking in early. They stored my documents in their safe for free, and after checkout they offered to hold my luggage at no charge too, so I could spend longer exploring the city. I’d definitely recommend this hostel.

There’s just one bathroom and no hot water. When I asked the receptionist, she told me to let the water run, but it never got warm, so I ended up taking a cold shower. Then she knocked to say people were waiting, even though it was 4am and nobody else was awake. I had a plane to catch, and she took her time checking me out. The personnel were awful and made me feel unwelcome as a foreigner. I’ve lived in Ukraine for nearly two years and can manage the language, but she treated me like dirt compared with the other customers. This place was absolutely terrible.

The design was interesting and the kitchen was okay. I took a bed without any trouble, and the cold shower was something I decided I could live with. But the upper bunk kept moving, and the women in the room talked loudly without stopping. There should be some quiet rules.