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Hostels Guide > Western Europe > Norway > Oslo > Oslo Hostels > Best Western Anker Hostel

Best Western Anker Hostel

Oslo (Sofienberg)

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Hostels in Oslo

Address	Storgata 55, Oslo (Sofienberg), Oslo, Norway Map
Price	NOK 140,- / NOK 210,- Check Current Prices by Date Here

Location/Contact

Details

Their Description

Features

Free Breakfast
Kitchen
Lockers
Bar
Gameroom
Lounge / Common space
Food/Restaurant
Washing Machine (laundry)
Elevator/Lift
Travel information provided
24 Hour Free Hot Showers
Phones (public or in room)

The Hostelz.com Review

The Anker Hostel in Oslo is great. It's reasonably priced for an overnight in the capital, which is usually very expensive. It's also close to everything, including just a ten minute walk from Oslo's bus and train station. Oslo also has great public transportation (so get a day pass for about 50 kr). To get to the hostel turn right onto Storgata from Karl Johans Gate (the big one running from the train station to the palace). The hostel is a few blocks up. You can't miss it -- there's a sign on the building.

This hostel is huge, about ten floors high. It even has an internet cafe and bar downstairs. Reception is open 24 hours and the hostel has a guest kitchen.

There are private rooms for individuals, couples, and groups, and male and female shared rooms. And each room has a toilet and shower. Sheets must be brought or rented, and you can't use a sleepingbag. The cleanliness of the rooms may not be especially good. The rooms may vary, but during our review stay there was a bug in the bathroom that had crawled out of an unpatched hole in the wall. Perhaps the other rooms are cleaner than this? On the positive side, the beds were comfy and the room was large with plenty of storage.

All in all, a typical hostel -- and try to get a better room if yours has a hole in the wall.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
October 2004

Ratings & Comments

2.9 Average from 21 Ratings

This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.

Comment by Jen & Karen, Canadian

August 2007

Good
Small fridge provided in room, along with hot plate. No dishes or pots, but they could be borrowed. Comfortable beds, spacious room with tables and shelves, but squeaky bunk beds. Shower curtain unfortunately did not stop the entire bathroom from getting wet. Good hostel, about ten- to fifteen-minute walk from the train station through a decent neighbourhood.

Comment by Bazz, Australia

August 2007

Dated and dirty
Really not thrilled with this place. From the outside the building looks very modern. Yet I echo other comments that this place feels like a prison. The rooms are getting shabby quickly -- cupboard doors missing. A little grubby too, with things like shelves and windowsills not dusted in too long. I stayed here as nothing else had space, and even then considered checking out.

Comment by Roger, Australia

August 2007

Boring and rude
This is part of a larger hotel converted into a hostel. The whole thing is boring and soulless. The doors don't lock automatically, and there's no lockers in each room. Also, the staff were incredibly rude. This was because everyone was trying to check in at once at 3 p.m. because they don't let you check in earlier. On the plus side, there is a shower and toilet in each room, as well as a cooker, but you have to hire cooking equipment from reception, of which there is a limited supply.

Comment by A, The Netherlands

July 2007

The least cosy and least friendly hostel I ever stayed in
Like everything in Oslo, the Anker hostel is quiet expensive, but I would have expected more service for this kind of money. The rooms were too small, the common room was too noisy and boring, the staff was unfriendly. Wouldn't stay here again.

Comment by Tina

December 2006

Stayed here for two nights, really no complaints. They seemed to keep it quite clean and the rooms were fairly well equipped. The staff were polite and some quite friendly. The location is pretty decent as well. My only wish is that they had had more computers for internet use and a bigger common room. I would recommend staying here.

Comment by Vanessa

September 2006

Overall this was a nice hostel, close to the attractions and easy to reach. Our room was cleaned daily and was nice and bright. It's a big building, but the lift worked fine so there was no dragging bags up ten flights of stairs. A few downsides -- everything needed a deposit, the key, the kitchen equipment. The area was a bit of a rough area, but we still always felt safe. The shower curtain was inadequate so the bathroom was always wet. I would still stay here again. I have come across a lot worse. Also, check out the Streetwise Torsdags (Thursday) Happenings when in Oslo. Usually a few hours of fun and free entertainment!

Comment by Andreas

September 2006

Stayed there for three nights. Very nice hostel very near to the center of Oslo. I stayed in a six-bed dormitory room, which was nice, clean, and extremely large. Big windows for sufficient ventilation, and nice wooden beds. Every room has bathroom and kitchen, so it is well equipped. The only con is that the lockers are small (you can put only a handbag) and many of them cannot accept pad. Security is good, with locks to every room and also you need a lock for every corridor. Community room nice and cozy, you meet people and you can buy the cheapest coffee in Oslo, a very expensive city! Staff very nice and helpful by any means. Hostel situated very near to the center, five to ten minutes from the main street. Around there are markets and food stores twenty-four/seven. This hostel is the cheapest accommodation in the center of Oslo, at least when I was there!

Comment by Anonymous

August 2006

This is by far the worst hostel I've stayed in. The area surrounding the hostel is definitely not the safest and my friend and I were bothered more than once on our way from the train station to the hostel. We reserved beds in a dorm room. Because the hostel is so large, it was noisy all night long. My friend fared much worse than I did -- she had small cockroaches and other insects crawling all over her all night long. It was utterly disgusting! Needless to say we checked out immediately the next morning but were refused a refund for the night because the hostel manager "expects that that is something that can happen" at their hostel and so their policy is to not refund the money. I would definitely recommend staying elsewhere. We ended up with a private room in a nice home, referred through the TI, for basically the same price as the dorm room in the dirty hostel.

Comment by jenna

January 2006

it was ok we were in a dorm and had a kitchen all we had to do was rent the dishes which was a bit lame but its so they will be ther for the people after. i liked it it was clean so no complaints, and it was in an ok location you can walk for the train station

Comment by Arief

June 2005

I think this is a nice hostel. For me it's clean enough. I stayed in an en suite dorm; it was nice and quite spacious. The staff are ok. But most of all, for that low price (in Norway) I would recommend this one.

Comment by Anonymous

March 2005

Anker Hostel looked modern on their Web site, but on our arrival we were disappointed. The hostel looked like a prison. It had an old kitchen, and old beds with terrible mattresses and filthy-looking duvets and pillows. Each night a horrible cooking smell filled the room, and we saw lots of cockroaches (one on the bed!). We were not happy!!

Comment by Anonymous

December 2004

This hostel was a nightmare! The reception staff were friendly enough, but the dorm we were allocated was filthy. There was a sticky substance on the sink in the bathroom (possibly blood), the room stank of smoke despite declarations that smoking was not allowed, there were beer cans and cigarette butts scattered all over the place, and the sink was cluttered with junk. Also, there were signs that people cannot use sleeping bags and people had to either rent linen or use their own. I seriously doubt that any practical backpacker travels around with his own pillowcases and bed sheets. I would highly recommend that people spend a little more money and go to a proper bed and breakfast.

Comment by Cathal Ireland

October 2004

I quite liked the Anker; it was reasonably priced and the rooms were okay. Having said that, the shower was weird! It was right next to the toilet. The reception and common room were cool. You could buy a beer and sit outside all night. The toilet in the reception area got really dirty and no one seemed too bothered about it. The hostel is right next to the bus and train station, which is handy, and it's a ten-minute walk to the city center.

Comment by Peter

August 2004

Nice hostel. It's on the edge of the city centre, and just a fifteen- minute walk from the train station. I have seen one cockroach in the shower, but nothing more. They have a small fridge in the rooms, and private showers. You can easily make your own breakfeast here. The common room is modern and very nice. The Internet is expensive, though (just around the corner is a cheaper place).

Comment by Anonymous

August 2004

This place is your typical big hostel. The rooms are okay and have nice bathrooms. The kitchenette is a little old, with only a stove. Laundry is not too expensive, but you have to do it in a building behind the hostel. You also have to give the reception a big deposit for everything you borrow, such as dishes and laundry cards; this gets a bit annoying. The neighborhood seemed safe enough. There are a lot of immigrants in the area and university housing nearby--neither of which made me feel unsafe.

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Hostels in Oslo

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