Casa Caracol

nice and warm atmosphere, nothing to complain. sure, if you want to sleep quietly at night and take great showers, it's definitely the wrong place. you'll meet long queues for the shower, and people coming back home early in the morning (like in all hostels of this type?). forget planning your evening with strict appointments. in contrary, make sure to forget the time and change your life on low-fire. then you'll meet many backpackers from all over the world, all with their own stories to tell. dinner parties on the roof, or chilled guitar music as well as friendly stuff. furthermore, it's a safe place for your luggage. I also had the impression that it's a clean place.

I met friendly people and this place has a nice relaxed vibe. The one aspect I would warn other females about is the owner. On first meeting him he was nice enough, friendly and down to earth, when it became apparent I wasn't interested in seeing his bedroom (yes he took us to his house, how friendly) or travelling south with him for a few days he became extremely rude. I'm sure his heart is in the right place and he means no harm.

As I made my way through Spain (about fifteen hostels in thirteen locations) I was shocked to find out that this is by far the worst hostel I came across. They take away your passport as a "deposit" for the key. That's insane. In a worst case scenario that's the only thing I would need to get back home, I can lose everything, even my credit card, the embassy will get me back. And talking about the credit card, how am I supposed to pay with my credit card in Spain without the passport? The breakfast consists of Muesli and something to drink. Although this is not unusual in Spanish private hostels (meaning a youth hostel that doesn't belong to the REAJ), this is a joke. You could at least provide some slices of toast. I went to an REAJ hostel in Alicante which was eight Euros a day during low season and had the one of the best breakfasts including lots of bacon, cheese, cake, all that good stuff. Although there are other hostel chains like the Home hostels where (at least in some of them) you don't get breakfast at all it's just ridiculous to have a hostel posing with free breakfast that consists of something that costs them almost nothing at all. At least try to make it less obvious. Better bring your earplugs (some industry earplugs attenuating the noise a lot). In case you want to sleep at night you would either need them or drink until you're in a coma. The hostel is loud and I mean loud at night. Unfortunately there's no way to protect you from the noise in the hostel as the design of the rooms is quite "open," meaning you can't shut off the noise. You're supposed to put all your used toilet paper in a bin and not to flush it down the toilet. Although there are areas in Europe where this is necessary, I'm not doing that in Spain, no way. Gross. There are three showers (actually it's four if you count the one on the roof), one of them (first floor) sort of improvised in the middle of the bathroom meaning that if someone wants to use the toilet after someone took a shower the whole bathroom will most likely still be flooded and will immediately get dirty if the person about to use the bathroom is wearing shoes. Sometimes it looks clean, most of the time it feels dirty. Well if you belong the the strange kind of people that go to Spain to actually speak Spanish I'm sorry to tell you that -- just like in a ton of hostels that don't belong to REAJ -- the staff is struggling hard to have a conversation with you as the official hostel language is English. Unfortunately hostels like that are starting to make me hate English and I'm only writing this rating in English to share my impression with other tourists that want to go to Cádiz and consider this hostel one of the few possibilites to stay there. I'm from Germany and surprise surprise, in Germany we don't speak English officially. In Germany we speak German, I'm pretty sure in England and the US (for example) they speak English and -- I'm deeply sorry -- in Spain you have to be able to speak Spanish, at least working in a hostel. It seems the team is changing quickly all the time as many lost souls wandering the earth are occasionally working at the hostel to save a few bucks and get have a place to sleep.

Ignore all the comments before; there are no dirty sheets here currently as the staff work really hard to make this place nice for everyone. Yes, indeed, I know because they've roped me into helping too. There's no bed-bug problem either, and I've never been kept awake by the brothel next door. The place next door is more like an old-blokes Irish boozer in Cork and there's no need to be intimidated by it. The only risk of embarrassment here, is getting humped by Che the dog, but he's way more attractive than the fille de joie next door.

Great place!! I honestly recommend this place to everyone who is looking for a relaxed time in a very warm atmosphere. Check it out, you will certainly like it.

Have you ever seen Peter Pan? Well, the staff here are kind of like The Lost Boys in that they "Never Wanna Grow Up..." international hippies who kind of loaf around this damp, noisy, dark tree-house-esque hostel. There was free mueseli and internet, however you are going to feel like an intruder in someone else's club house. Hammocks are not as cool as they look. Cute dog, though.

This was such a fantastic place; everyone ends up coming back for more! The staff are super friendly and I had a great time here. Thanks for making my stay in Cadiz such a blast!

I strongly advise you to check out this hostel for a once in a lifetime experience. During my stay in Cadiz, the Caracol was a home away from home. For anyone who loves to have fun everyday of the week, this is the place to be! With friendly helpful staff, a multi-lingually relaxed owner who is a great laugh and always looking for ways to improve the place, perfect rooftop relaxation with hammocks under the sun and stars, nearby stunning beaches and the cutest dog in the world. If your going to Cadiz, the Casa Caracol is the way to go! But beware, once you've entered paradise its hard to leave...

What can I say? Dirty sheets, lazy staff, a brothel next door (open all night), bedbug bites all over me. Perhaps bedbugs ate the free breakfast, because I didn't see it. If you like suffering, go there.

This hostel is the best! I have the best memories of this place. I went here this last summer, and the people here are the friendliest! Why are you waiting to go here? It has a good vibration for all!!! :P

The hostel was great; my experience included nights drinking and partying to spending the days lazily lying in a hammock on the roof reading a book. I planned to spend a few days and I ended up staying over a week. It was just too good to leave.

Well, to make a long story short and because of the fact that English is not my native language, I am going to use some other people's words to describe what this place did to me. They might be personal but I guess travelling is quite a personal thing. What you can feel in this place is definitely the power of love, a force from above, and these guys made love their goal. So do the same, and help them to keep this place beautiful and unique. Why? Because it's cleaning your soul, so MAKE LOVE YOUR GOAL!

It is easy to feel at home here if you want to party. If you want something besides a 24-hour party, stay somewhere else.

You will either love or hate this place. Check it out for yourself.

I liked this place a lot! It was better than a five-star hotel or a Michelin star restaurant!!!