HI - Geneva Hostel

Noisy and stinky
I have just got home after staying three nights in this hostel. I have traveled to lots of countries and always stayed in hostels. Never before I stayed in a place so noisy like this one. I paid for a private room, so you figure how dorms will be. The place is huge and attracts big groups. The noise level increases after midnight when the reception closes. Groups tend to stay talking very loudly in the floors and doors slam all the time. Drunk guys tend to knock on the doors just for "fun." This happened twice when I was there. Basically no one respects that is already very late and some people would like to sleep. The hostel is clean, but there is a very bad smell in the lifts and in the bathrooms. That's really disgusting and lots of people were complaining about that. It seems like there is something rotten somewhere, but, as I said, the bathrooms were clean. perhaps very old pipes that needed urgent cleaning? The good part is the breakfast which is very good. You get cereals, yoghurt, bread, juice, and something hot to drink.

Admittedly, stayed here with our family. I reserved a room for four with bathroom facilities on the phone. When we arrived we were assigned a room for six without bathroom facilities. It is clean here, and the breakfast is ok. But the staff doesn't seem particularly thrilled to be working here. Everything is under lock and key -- a swipe card (key), that is. That means that doors slam shut round the clock at seemingly ten-second intervals. This kept my husband and me awake -- our two sons didn't hear anything. We weren't able to get a parking space because their parking lot was full, but for 10 swiss francs could park in a locked garage. Not a bad deal. The location is very good. The rooms are extremely austere. The staff gave us a map of the city and we were each given a pass to use on the public transportation system for the two days we were in town -- quite a good deal, I think.

Stayed here for one night. Pretty nice place that is absolutely huge. The outside has the feeling of a cold cement complex but the room are very pleasant with wood floors and huge windows. Also very close to the center of Geneva with walking distance from the train station and the lake. The lockers are huge located outside your room so you don't trouble roomies with too much noise. There is one huge bathroom per sex per floor. The shower is a little strange with short bursts of water but it's ok I guess for not allowing wastage. Only two recommendations. The kitchen is definitely very helpful and a good way to meet people. However, you must use one Swiss Franc to buy a token from the front desk in order to use the stove top (no oven) which sort of sucks. Also, to any traveler, pack earplugs in case you get roomed with a snorer. Enjoy your stay!

the hostel has a good location. come of of the main train station, hop on any tram/bus going left up rue lausanne, and one stop later you are one minute walk away from the hostel, which is situated in a side street off the main road. Look for the motorcycle shop and you cant miss it. there is a co-op supermarket about two minutes walk. the hostel itself is almost like a hotel. its not the dirty, down and out dosshouse that you get in some cities. its meticulously clean, concrete and dull. the rooms are very small, but clean and warm. I stayed in a double room with my girlfriend. prices are a lot better than all other places to stay in geneva. staff were usually polite, although a man tried a few times to overcharge us in the reception shop. all the other staff were ok though. all in all, i would recommend this place as the best place to stay in Geneva. The lake is about ten minutes walk away. another tip is that their online booking system said that the hostel was completely full, but on arrival there was lots of space. might be a good idea to call or email them instead of relying on their booking system.

Stayed here June 2005. It's a very clean and well-set-out hostel with a great location near the lake. Provides a good breakfast (cereal, yogurt, bread, fruit juice, tea and coffee) and also provides a very reasonable evening meal. Their Internet is currently not working, although there are a number of Internet cafes in the area.

This place is a dung heap. Avoid it. The cafeteria is good. They served suitably large breakfasts and large inexpensive dinners. I can say nothing else good about the place. The staff are inept and incompetent. I had to put up with things like double-booked beds and staff smoking in the dorms. Internet access is expensive; it can be had cheaper almost anywhere else in the city. Dorms are unfurnished and noisy. Seriously — choose somewhere else. This place is a dive.

This isn't too bad a place, but like the review says, it is very concrete. I stayed here in June 2004 and the place seems to be modeled on the same cold precision, sensibility and rigidity that you would expect from a Swiss watch, but it's still quite livable. The rooms are small, which is good, and you get a locker big enough for your pack, though the lockers are located outside the rooms. The bathrooms are okay, if a little on the neglected side. At least they aren't push button! The dining room is huge, like the hostel, and you could easily find yourself all alone in this place. I saw the amusements listed above, though I didn't actually use them. It's not really my thing; if I wanted to watch TV, I could have stayed home! But it's good if you like that sort of thing. The best aspect of this place was the breakfast. It was by far the best hostel breakfast I had anywhere in Europe. You get cereal (corn flakes or muesli/oats), yogurt, two rolls, juice and coffee, and I think you might get fruit, too (I can't remember). It was very filling, and very good. The biggest downfall is the place's size. I found myself very alone here, with only a couple of other English speakers (none in my room). It is a bit strange, and I'm sure there were plenty of other English speakers, but the size of the place doesn't help you to meet anyone! The location is okay, but Geneva is so small that it wouldn't matter where the place was! And the curfew doesn't matter either...there's not much to do in Geneva after dark, anyway! Still, in spite of everything the place is okay, and the price was good (comparatively). I don't know if this would be my first choice again, but I wouldn't specifically avoid it either.

I stayed here one night on my way to skiing the Alps. I got in admittedly pretty late, but the staff looked like they'd rather eat gravel than talk to us. This was pretty daunting, given that we were new to the hostelling scene. We had quite a good room, on one of the upper floors (just a double room), which was clean but Spartan. The en suite bathroom was okay; at least the water was hot. As the review says, it's pretty clinical and institutional looking. The same guy was on duty in the morning as when we got in (midnight), and he didn't look any happier. For such a hub to the alpine area, it's a shame there isn't more here to entice travellers.