Santa Barbara Tourist Hostel

Santa Barbara

Read the Hostelz.com
Guide to Packing

Address	134 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara California, USA Map
Price	20-30 Check Current Prices by Date Here

Location/Contact

Details

Description

Features

Free Breakfast
Kitchen
Lockers
Lounge / Common space
Pool Table
BBQ
Book Collection/Exchange
Washing Machine (laundry)
Clothes Dryer
Travel information provided
Bike Rental
24 Hour Free Hot Showers
Phones (public or in room)
Gameroom

Ratings & Comments

1.8 Average from 4 Ratings

This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.

Comment by cirtap, usa

May 2009

If you like dirt
I took the train from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, that was a very nice trip. Got off the train and to the left of the tracks, was this hostel. It truly looked nice and friendly from the outside. But wait, hang on travelers. Once inside, it is run by total slackers. Some truly scary young people with no clue. I went to my shared room. On the way down the long hall way it is cluttered with junk, and smells bad. It seems this Hostel has not gotten a cleaning in many years. Got to my room and while no one was in the room, it smelled like five5 other people who never ever, ever never took a shower in their lives. I know that this is a tourist hostel, but a small time in a shower would be nice. This place truly is the first hostel that ever scared me off. I was not delighted with the people or even the room. It was messy, dark, and truly smelled bad. Hygiene was not on my roommates minds. Now, when I decided to leave, the ever strange and weird front desk girl, had to have my credit card numbers on file, it seemed that she was bound and determined that she had to have my credit card on some kind of filing system there. Which is truly scary to me. These slackers truly scared me off. This has to be the worst hostel ever. And i know for a fact I am not the first one to say so. Avoid at all cost. Never go.

Comment by Rebecca, USA

July 2008

Worst hostel experience of my life.
The staff were standoffish and incompetent -- I was made to wait over half an hour to check in when I arrived, even though they were checking someone in as I got there and the process took less than two minutes. The bunk beds were unsturdy, and I was terrified that the structure was going to collapse on top of me when someone climbed up to the top bunk. There were curtains instead of doors over the toilet stalls, the shower curtains were thick with mildew, and you had to pay to lock up your valuables -- something absolutely necessary when you're in a room with eleven other people. I stayed for two nights, and when I came back after being out all day for my second night, they had given my bed away and then had the audacity to seem reluctant to give me new sheets, even though the person to whom they had given my bed had taken the sheets right along with them. Overall, it wasn't clean, I didn't feel safe, and I couldn't wait to get out.

Comment by morgan, u.s.

January 2008

Terrible
I stayed at this hostel over the summer. It had only one nice thing about it -- location. But besides that, the staff were rude, the laundry machines and vending machines were broken, you had to pay to use the computers, kitchen was unclean, dorms rooms were disgusting (dark, no ventilation, overcrowded). All of those things would have been ok if it wasn't so overpriced. If my friends and I knew it was going to be such a bad experience we would have just stayed in a hotel.

Comment by Rita

March 2007

Great location. blocks from the state street "strip." blocks from the water. one block from amtrak. clean, quiet, and friendly staff. there is wireless available, but only if you have your own computer. you have to pay for internet access at the hostel so i would suggest going over the the city college library just around the corner instead. the kitchen is closed after 12. so the hostel stays pretty quiet.

Have you visited this hostel? Post your comments here.

Hostelz.com is the only hostel guide with complete information and reviews on all youth hostels and backpackers worldwide.

Reviewers Wanted: Hostelz.com pays travellers US$10.00 (that's roughly 6€, AU$10, or CAD$10) per hostel to photograph and review hostels. If you're interested, use this form to get more information.