Mavi Guesthouse

Mavi Guesthouse is located in the old Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, where most of the tourist sites, exchange offices, and cheap hotels and pensions are. This area is a great base for exploring Istanbul and is well connected to other parts of the city by the excellent public transport system.

Mavi offers a range of private rooms and dorm beds, including some of the cheapest beds in Istanbul on the semi-covered in roof in summer. The four- and five-bed dorms tend to be relatively spacious -- in particular the five-bed dorm on the second floor, which really is quite lovely with lots of sunshine streaming in. The rooftop dorm is very squishy with lots of bunk beds all jammed in, but if privacy (or order) isn't that important, the price could well be right. There are a number of private rooms which vary in price according to how much space there is.

The prices themselves are highly competitive for this area and include free breakfast (standard Turkish-style with cucumber, tomato, egg, jam, and bread with tea or coffee) along with free wireless internet access if you bring your own computer. If you plan on taking advantage of this from your own room, make sure that you get a room on one of the lower floors, as the signal does not work further up. Otherwise, you can use your own laptop in the reception/foyer area downstairs, or you can pay to use one of the two computers situated next to the main reception/foyer area. Prices for internet usage are reasonable, and it is also possible to do printing and write CDs.

There are two main communal spaces for hanging out -- one in the downstairs foyer/reception area (complete with leather padded seats and a bookcase of books), and the other outside where there are a couple of table and chair sets. As is the case with most hostels and guesthouses in Turkey, kitchen facilities are not available for private use.

Mavi also provides travel services, but the atmosphere is very relaxed and there is no one pushing them on you. The rooms themselves were pretty clean with fresh linen, but the toilets and showers were just ok in terms of the cleanliness. The place is generally quite full and busy so that is partly a factor in the cleanliness, along with the lack of a really good scrub every now and then. They are bearable though, and there is plenty of hot water.

If you are leaving late in the day on a bus or train, it is possible to leave your luggage there for the day for free. Overall, Mavi is pretty good value and has a nice relaxed feel with friendly and helpful staff. Although cleanliness isn't its strongest point, generally the rooms themselves are kept quite smart, and the price still makes it good value. Book ahead though if you want to stay here as it is popular and can get quite full.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review