Hostel Reviews

Based on a snow-biased 5 star system

Madrid: Hostal Metropol

-5 stars

Location: Located in a convenient, yet we will admit, slightly sketchy part of town because of the prostitutes which line the side street of the hostel. Right off Gran Via and 2 minute walk to the Plaza del Sol. Right by a Metro stop.

Security: No outside guests are allowed into the building. They have a security guard at all times, especially after midnight. Keys had to be returned to the desk any time you left the building. We felt very, very safe.

Staff: They were the sweetest, most helpful people we encountered. They all spoke English, but Spanish was the language they preferred.

Room: (Stayed in a 4-person dorm room) Suite-style, individual beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet and pillow provided. Cheap towel rental (1 euro). Only one outlet located in bathroom.

Wifi: Fair-have to resign-in every 30 minutes. Connection only in lobby area. Public computers are available for free from 10am-10pm.

Community: Most of the guests were not English speakers. Their bar area has great potential for meeting new people.

Granada: Oasis Backpacker's Hostel

-5 stars

Location: Located in the heart of the Islamic district off the main street Calle Gran Via. Surrounded by tapas restaurants, kebab shops, and bars. 2 minutes away from Granada 10 night club. 15 minute walk to the center of the city.

Security: Card key access to front door and rooms. Large locker compartments for each person within the rooms.

Staff: Hilarious and young. Able to speak English, Spanish, French, Swedish, etc....

Room: (Stayed in a 12-person dorm room) Suite-style, bunk beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet, pillow, and blanket provided. Outlets were scarcely located throughout the room.

Wifi: Soooo slow! Public computers are available, but even these had a very slow connection.

Community: Most of the guests were English speakers. The hostel hosted different events, like walking tours and tapas crawls, to allow for intra-hostel bonding. The terrace is amazing!!! It overlooks the entire Islamic district. Have their own bar with a happy hour, and they give a free drink to every guest.

Sevilla: Garden Backpacker's Hostel

-3 stars (pretty neutral)

Location: Located within 10 minutes of the Cathedral and Alcazar. Near supermarkets and La Carboneria—a well-known Flamenco place.

Security: Have to ring a bell to gain entrance. Security guard throughout the night. Lockers provided within the rooms.

Staff: They were good. Not mean nor super nice. Helped when needed.

Room: (Stayed in a 8-person dorm room) Bunk beds. Bathrooms located nearby the room. Cleaned everyday, sheet and pillow provided. 2 outlets per bed.

Wifi: Not sure—unable to connect with Linux OS.

Community: They have free sangrias in the garden at 9pm everyday. Host dinner parties, pub crawls and walking tours.

Valencia: Center Valencia

- 2 stars

Location: Location was the best thing about this hostel. 2 minute walk to the tram for the beach. Right next to the Plaza de la Virgen.

Security: Rooms are card key, but security for the front door was not great.

Staff: Day staff was helpful, but night staff was rude.

Room: (Stayed in a 8-person dorm room) Suite-style, bunk beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet, pillow and blanket provided. Each bed had their own reading light and outlet.

Wifi: Not sure—again, Linux OS could not connect. Public computers are available and shut down at 1am.

Community: Most of the guests were not English speakers. Their terrace provided nice view points but was not used by guests and closed by 9pm. The lobby and common area are off limits at 1am. If you need to make a phone call after 1am, the lobby is not available because you will be kicked out.

Barcelona: Equity Point-Gothic Point Hostel

-4 ½ stars

Location: Amazing! Right off Placa Sant Jaume and 5 minute walk to La Rambla. 2 minutes from Museu Picasso, the Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar and the Cathedral. Right by a Metro stop.

Security: No outside guests are allowed into the building. Card key access to rooms. Outside door is locked after dark, so you must ring bell and show card to gain access.

Staff: Young crowd; some staff members were backpackers who were staying at the hostel for free by working for the hostel.

Room: (Stayed in a 14-person dorm room) Suite-style, really high, awesome bunk beds. Each bed had its own wooden locker and drape which provided privacy. Cleaned everyday, sheet and pillow provided. Reading lights and outlets for every bed. *No air-condition!!! (this is what caused the loss of a ½ star) Air is gained through open windows which doesn't really help in 90/95 degree weather.

Wifi: Fast connection in lobby area. First 20 minutes on public computers are free, after that, you can buy more time. (2 euro per hour)

Community: Great!!! Their focus is on the night-life of Barcelona. Offer party buses, club crawls, walking tours during the day. Most people are English speakers, and enjoy each other's company in the lobby. Have a great terrace, but it closes at 9:30pm :( Allowed to purchase and bring in outside alcohol to pre-game.

San Sebastian: Roger's House

-2 ½ stars

Location: Located in the center of Old Town, 2 minutes from the closest beach, and 10minute walk to el Centre San Martin and La Playa de la Concha

Security: Must have key to enter the apartment, and an additional key to enter hostel. Within hostel, all rooms were accessible by anyone staying there. Lockers were available, but must inquire and pay for them.

Staff: Very nice, but not around very much.

Room: (Stayed in a 6-person dorm room) Bathroom down the hall, bunk beds. Cleaned everyday, sheet, comforter, and pillow provided. We fortunately had a power strip in our room because the public computer was attached to our room.

Wifi: Available everywhere in the hostel, and had great connection. There is one public computer available in a little cubby-hole between two of the dorm rooms.

Community: Most of the guests were from Australia, and pretty much people did their own thing. Not a lot of intra-Hostel interaction since they only had a tiny kitchen and no other communal space. It is not a “party hostel” and seems like everyone was fast asleep by 1am. It looked like a place that attracted a population of surfers who were all out on the surf beach during the day, exhausted by night.

Madrid: Guess who's back?...Back again

DAY 14 CONT. - Wednesday 30 June

Our love for Madrid was not reciprocated by the city, for when we arrived at 10pm, we were not able to take the Metro because of a strike! Instead, we had to take a taxi to our hostel, and his driving was one for the books. We stayed at Metropol again, and after checking in, decided it was time for dinner.

Bodega Melibea was stop Numero 1. Their tortilla espanola and tostada de jamon y queso with a tasty cup of draught cider welcomed us back to the wonderful food of Madrid! However, one miscalculation on the snow's part was that it was a Wednesday night which meant restaurants closed their kitchens at midnight, and by the time we were out of the bodega, it was a quarter to midnight. Our failed attempts at eating at other restaurants led us to the best 24-hour food source in Madrid: Chocolateria de San Gines :D

After a warm, fuzzy cup of cafe con leche and churros con chocolate, the snows called it a night.

DAY 15 - Thursday 1 July

Who knew that 1 July marked the beginning of summer sales in Spain? (All of Europe I guess, but not us). Our day started early (about 10:30am), for we hoped to head out to the Thyssen museum located near the Prado. The moment we turned the corner, however, we were allured into 'Bershka'-a Spanish brand clothing store-through their “up to 50% discount” signs. We eventually made it out of the store and over to 'La Catedral' for lunch. We had their 'Menu del Dia' which left our tummies full and ready for our escapade to the museum to practice our connoisseur abilities. The Thyssen is an amazing museum which, in our eyes, gives the Prado competition in size and variety of collection. At this museum, we were able to sample the collection which begins with the Early Renaissance and ends with modern art like Surrealism and Pop Art. 4 thumbs up from the snows!

We decided exercise was needed after such a big meal and wandering about the museum, so we took a detour onto Calle Atocha and walked it back up to Sol. Shopping pretty much took up the rest of our afternoon. Because of our hostel's location, we were able to frequently drop off recent purchases and take a break from the heat and people traffic surrounding us.

9pm came around, and it was time to begin our final tapas crawl in Spain – that is, until we come back!

TAPAS CRAWL #5 FINAL!

Las Bravas-Patatas bravas, croquettas de jamon y pollo, sangrias

Cervezeria 100 Montaditos-Jarras (jugs) of tinto verano, olive oil potato chips, and 2 montaditos

Lamiak-Basque cider (*it is salty and tangy, definitely different from regular cider—one snow equates it to a less sugary salty dog cocktail), and 2 tapas: brie with caramalized onion and tomato and pork tenderloin with carmelized onions

Midway through our crawl, we met an Englishman who ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the night. On our way to Lamiak, we made sure to show him Plaza Mayor and the area around La Latina. After the crawl, we took a short break and decided we wanted to end the night, and essentially our trip, at “Joy”-the 'hot' nightclub of Madrid. Honestly, it wasn't too great. It was student night, so students got in for free with discounted drinks. The floor was packed but dancing seemed to be the only thing missing from this dance club. Will we go there next time? Probs not, but it was worth a try.

About 3:45am, it was time for us to bid farewell to our favorite place in Spain [almost]...Chocolateria de San Gines, which is conveniently located right next to Joy. We had our usual, but we are unsure if our Englishman friend enjoyed the churros as much as we did [something about fried batter and fish and chips].

DAY 16 - Friday 2 July

Spain is so sad to see us go that she decided to cry and rain all morning/afternoon. We packed up our things and wondered what happened to our bathroom door during the night because when we woke up it was literally hanging by a hinge. The people at the hostel were the best by far and told us they would miss us [tear]. We headed out to lunch at a nearby Cervezeria 100 Montaditos and indulged in a cafe con leche with their 6 motadito platter and a side of papas fritas (we decided to be tubby since we knew plane food would not be substantive :D). The rest of the time before our flight, we took our final walk around Sol and searched, but did not find, a place to buy paella pans.

When heading to the airport, we did not know our travel time would equal one hour. Because of the strike, services were still scarce, and at each transit, we had to wait about 10 minutes. The airport did not prove to run any faster, but luckily, we planned with more than enough time to get to our terminal. To add to our smooth day, our flight was delayed almost an hour meaning we may miss our connection flight into Houston from Miami :( We spoke to Iberia, and if we do miss our connection, then they will pay for our accommodations in Miami. As of now, we have 2 hours until landing and need to make sure to do some really good stretching before we run through the Miami airport.

San Sebastian: “Basque”-ing in the Spanish sun

DAY13 - Tuesday 29 June

Both snows only took a short one hour nap before leaving the hostel for San Sebastian. The bus left Barcelona at 7:30, and we arrived in San Sebastian at 1pm. The Basque country side proved to be beautiful with many hills, trees, wheat patches and tunnels which went through numerous rocky mountains. When we arrived in San Sebastian, we were greeted by a day long wage reduction strike. The strike was peaceful; however, 70% of the businesses were closed, so we had to go on a quest for food upon checking in to the hostel. Old part of town was completely shut down – even McDonald's was closed! So we headed down south towards the Romantic New town, and the Playa de la Concha. We fortunately came across an open tavern that served affordable pork loin bocadillos for 4 euro each. We walked into the bar, and the first thing we were told was that we had to wait for our food for about 8 minutes because they were out of bread and his son was out trying to find more. As we waited, the owner gave us a free tapa de patatas allijo (fried potatoes with garlic olive oil), a type of basque pintxo. He made sure to explain how to eat them: sprinkle some paprika and eat with toothpicks. I guess we looked like newbies in the area. Eventually, the bocadillos came our way, and it was AMAZING! Tons of swiss cheese with tasty tenderloin in french bread :) When it was time to pay, a snow handed over 10 euros, and was given back 5 euros in change...? The owner cut our bill in half just because he felt like it!! We got lucky :D

Then, we were ready for the beach! We lied out on the beach for about 2hrs and touched the Dover waters, which was surprisingly warmer than the Mediterranean water! We went back to our hostel, named Roger's House, took a shower, and got ready to go look for dinner. We wandered around new town, and eventually settled at a pub called Krunch. One snow was excited about salad, and the other snow ordered a sarten de pollo (chicken grilled on a hot plate with curry sauce). Coffee was calling our names, so we proceeded to walk along the beach to the Cafe de la Concha for some Cafe con Leche and brownies for dessert. Pretty much the town was done for the night, so we went back to the hostel to get some good night's rest :)

DAY 14 - Wednesday 30 June

It's the last day of June!!

After checking out of the hostel, our plans to drop the backpacks down in a locker was a complete fail... We tried the bus station and two different train stations, but all locations did not have lockers! (How strange is that??) Hence, we lunged our bags all the way back to the beach, and our packs joined us for a bath in the sun. On the way to the beach, we stopped at a market inside Centre San Martin where we bought freshly baked whole wheat french bread with nuts and grains, smoked salmon, and tasty havarti cheese. We made our sandwiches by the beach, and proceeded to lay out on the sand.

When we left the beach, we were able to see the true community of San Sebastian come to life after the strike day. People of the town were charming and helpful and there were so many families out and about. San Sebastian is a great, serene town that both the snows are ready to live in :P The great French influence also contributes to its charm, and especially to its pastries! (num num <>

San Sebastian turned out to be lovely and relaxing, and also left us with a yearning to one day return again. Now we are in the bus and making our way to our last stop, the LOVELY city of Madrid.