Red Lantern House

Warmly recommended!
This hostel is the most friendliest hostel I have ever been. It's charming and the rooms are very comfortable. I have been there several times and both yards are absolutely worth staying there! I would never choose another place in Beijing!

I found my second home at Red Lantern House, Beijing
Thanks to the wonderful, friendly, and helpful staff of Red Lantern House (especially William, Simon, Kane and Lisa), me and my wife preserve beautiful memories of Beijing. The place breathes with history and exotic atmosphere. The crew is constantly smiling and tries hard to make the guests feel well. The rooms are clean and warm, the food is excellent and trips (to Great Wall at Mutianyu or to a circus performance) match the description. That's why I did not hesitate to book the same place for my parents who just left for their Asian trip. if I'll ever find my way to Beijong again, Red Lantern House it will be!

One of the best hostels i've been in China. looks very nice and the people who work there are so cool. the area is not very bad. the hostel is located in a Hutong and right next is a cool shopping street.

Absolutely fantastic hostel. Has a beautifully courtyard with a restaurant. Rooms are clean and comfy. A bit hard to find as the dairy queen place mark that they use as a guide to find it is no longer there. If you want something chinesey without the dirt then this place is great. The food at the restaurant is cheep and very good. Even the coffee is not bad, which is amazing for a Chinese place.

Fine place to stay right in the middle of old Beijing. Quite close to most of the major attractions (not a walking distance though). The staff is very helpful and friendly and speak some English. If something is not cleaned or changed at the time desired, one can just ask. Everything that a budget traveler might ever need in there in one place -- small trips, books, Internet. Yes, one must lose some of the comforts offered by the bigger hotels, but then why stay there in this case. Bigger hotels are the same everywhere, but Red Lantern House is quite unique.

The location of the hostel is very bad. Honestly I think this hostel is over-charging, with the price they offer, you can actually get a two or three star hotel room at the Beijing town area. Never try to get the Great Wall tour or airport pick up service from them, you can easily get a much cheaper tour at other travel agency, and you can get taxi from the airport with a more reasonable price. Think twice before you commit yourself in any long term booking, I booked for seven days, but decided to leave on my second day. I try to check-out in the afternoon of my second day, but they refuse to return my money for the second night, not even half of it. Good luck if you want to stay in this hostel, I will not going back there anymore.

Visited this hostel in april 2005 for 3 weeks : a wonderful experience because its located in the traditional hutong. Because of the good atmosphere and the friendly English staff I can recommend this hostal to any backpacker and will go myself to this hostal in 2006 again.

We booked a double room with bathroom. When we arrived, it turned out that the room was not at the Red Lantern, but at the building next door. I've never seen a dirtier, more unclean room. When we stepped into the bathroom, our shoes stuck to the floor. The toilet had a "sanitized" banner on it, yet it was covered with sticky urine and hair. The bed was surrounded with gooey spots on the floor. We returned to the front desk to see what could be done about the problem, and we were told that there were no more double rooms, so we would have to stay in a four-bed dorm. The dorm room was located at the Red Lantern, and it was clean and the bed was comfortable. The courtyard was beautiful, and the common showers were fine, but overall the experience was disappointing and we chose to stay somewhere else for the remainder of our trip. The location is neither bad nor good; you'll have to take a bus or taxi to get to any of the usual Beijing attractions (other hostels are closer). The Red Lantern's directions for taking the bus from the airport to the hostel were very good and easy to follow. If you choose to stay here, be sure to stay at the Red Lantern and not at the place next door.

It's great!