Patio Hostel

Patio Hostel is very well located near the Bratislava town centre, where there are a variety of places to eat, a big supermarket, and sights to see. The hostel entrance is situated off the street through a driveway and courtyard but there is a brightly colored sign on the street just above the driveway that is easy to see. It's also not too far from the train station and easy to get to within ten minutes by taking the number 13 tram. The location and the price (given that it is significantly cheaper than any other hostel we could find in Bratislava) are its main strengths.

The hostel interior seems to have recently been coated with fresh paint, giving it a nice, modern finish in the downstairs reception foyer and common room. There are also some painted pictures in the hall leading to the common room, the walls of which are fast becoming covered with hand-written sentiments from people who have stayed there. The common room is quite spacious and is laid out with dining-style tables and there are two computers in the corner with free internet access on a Linux system.

The decor in the corridors/foyer areas of the upper levels (where the rooms are situated) is a little more sterile than the reception/common room area. The kitchen areas are located in not much more than a cupboard and are pretty basic. There is only a tiny bit of bench space, a few plates, a small amount of cutlery, a couple of pots, a kettle, and a double element cooker that plugs into the wall. So it's not really set up for preparing a three-course banquet but could suffice for snacks as long as no one else is using it at the same time. Outside the kitchen in a sort of foyer area between rooms is a small fridge. There isn't anywhere on the same floor to sit and eat food so the only option is to go back to your room or down to the common room on the basement floor.

The dorm rooms themselves are clean and bright and have a decent amount of space. They have bunk beds with wooden lockers underneath that are big enough for a large backpack -- lockable if you bring your own padlock. There is also a wardrobe and a small table with a couple of chairs. We weren't shown around the hostel when we arrived, so we had to look around a little before finding the shower. The shower is clean and has good water pressure and sufficient hot water. There is also a toilet/bathroom (without shower) beside the dorm room we stayed in that is a little poky and is able to trap some interesting vapors for a decent amount of time due to the lack of airflow.

Overall we concluded that Patio Hostel was an ok no frills hostel given the price -- it's decent enough as long as you're not planning on settling in for too long.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review