Heraklio Youth Hostel

Location: In Iraklio/Heraklio town centre. Within 10 minutes walking distance from the commercial port. Just walk towards the direction of the old Venetian port along the main road, "Sofokli Venizelou" Street, turn into "25 of August" Street and turn right at the next street and you will be at "Vironos" Street. You can see the white and blue "Youth Hostel" Signboard ahead. The hostel is run by a family who speaks English, but the hostel only opens at 8am, which means that if you arrive on an early ferry from Piraeus, Athens at 5.30am, there will be a long wait of another 2hr and 30min while it is highly possible for checking-in early at other hotels during low season. The hostel is very quiet, dreary and dull. Keys are not given to the occupants of dormitories and there is no receptionist at certain time and the main door of the hostel is still wide open. The hostel rooms do not have heaters, so it will be very cold in winter. The beds are rusty and the mattresses are old, dusty, too soft and are not good to sleep on. The toilets are dark, dirty, have no toilet paper and hot water. Generally, the hostel does not give a good, secure feeling at all. 10euro is definitely too much for a stay at such a place when even taking a shower or using the toilet can be such a chore. The hostel is not exactly one that one will go to, since there are other choices especially during the low season, when the hotels within walking distances offer rooms at competitive prices such as 20euro for a single bedroom including breakfast.