Hostel Reviews

So, it's been a while. And that's because I was on holidays doing a lovely round trip in Germany.
And of course I stayed in a few hostels along the way. So here are my reviews of them.

First I stayed at frankfurt hostel right across from the main train station in Frankfurt/Main. You can't get any closer to the train station's front door. It is literally across the road, which is not only great, if you travel by train in Germany (which I don't really do anymore, because car share is the way to go in Germany, but that's for another post) but also for the local public transport like S and U Bahn, trams and buses, they all stop at the train station.
The hostel itself occupies everything but the ground floor of an at least 100 year old building. Just the entrance area has beautiful old tiles, an impressive arched Art Nouveau doorway and iron cast stair case rails.
The reception area, which is also the common area and a bar, has a very modern style to it. It almost feels a bit like a beach bar, with lovely colour full tables, a rather small kitchen area, big windows, comfy couches and big flat screen. There is also another common room which mostly serves as computer room ( free wi-fi everywhere and a bunch of computers you can use free of charge), but also has more tables and chairs in case the lounge gets to full.
I stayed in a 4 bed female dorm with an en-suite. It was fairly minimalistic but sill stylish with a bit of funky wall paper. What I really loved about the room, was the fact that there was enough space in the room for your luggage and you didn't step on each others toes to get to your bunk. It also had a table and a couple of chairs which I think really comes in handy, if you just want to sit down in peace and quiet and write a couple of postcards.The en-suite was basic, maybe even at bit small, but hey it was a freaking EN-SUITE!!! It means I didn't have to share one loo with 20 other people or run down the hallway at night and locking myself out in the process. So no, I am not complaining at all!

So much for the inertia - now for the overall fell of the place.... I think that is a lot harder to put in words especially since hostels can be such different experiences...
Vanessa the one staff member I chatted with for a bit was really lovely and we exchanged a bit of hostel and general travel experiences. Generally the reception staff there was in their 20s and seemed like the backpacker type, some of them clearly from other countries which deserves a big can of respect, because they spoke German which is a bitch to learn.
Really cool is the free breakfast with rolls, bread, cereal, yoghurt, juices, cold meats, cheese and probably other stuff I don't remember. It's a shame though that the coffee was awful but you can get proper coffee for only 2EUR at the bar.
They also have a free pasta night every night which the generally poor backpacker will be happy about. All you have to do is sign up a few ours before dinner is served, so they roughly know how much pasta they've got to make.
I mentioned the bar a few times already. First you have to know that Germany is quite liberal when it comes to drinking. In most cities you are allowed to drink on the street and especially the beer is cheap, sometimes cheaper that water (I am not shitting you). And so a lot of hostels sell beer or have a bar. The one at Frankfurt Hostel had an interesting selection of well known beers like Beck's and smaller specialty breweries, but also really good soft drinks (Germany is big in organic lemonade made from all kinds o herbs and fruits) and hot beverages like latte machiato or chai latte.
The hostel in general is quite big and modern and maybe a bit cold. I found it hard to make contact with other people but that might have been due to the fact that I had quite the migraine during my stay and wasn't as talkative as I might be other wise.
There are really only two things though that made the hostel less attractive to me.
One being the fact that people are allowed to smoke on the lounge's balconies which are small, but their doors are huge and nobody would close them while having a smoke. It really felt like they were still in the room and the entire room would be full of smoke.
The other thing is the fact that the hostel is basically situated in the red light district which does not only mean dodgy bars and people but in Frankfurt's case a lot of junkies. When I told my local friend where I was staying he was a little bit shocked and told me to be careful.
I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, kind of a morbid interest but I also know that it can be frightening. You definitely walk around that area with an open eye. I mean nothing at all happened to me while walked right through the streets lined with dodgy looking people and well... brothels, but I had the feeling that the men in that area look at you in a different way and check you out the whole time, but maybe that was me paying more attention to them. I don't know how it would be walking through these street as girl, looking a bit less punk rock and more girly than me, maybe they would have sleazy guys coming on to them.
But I think that, if you are careful and maybe have a friend with you, if you feel unsure you should be fine. The hostel seemed to be dealing well enough since you have to ring a bell and there is a camera at the front door, to keep an eye on who is coming in.

All in all I do recommend the hostel, it is definitely worth the money and in a very central location, you just have to watch your back a little more that you usually would when you walk around that area.