HI - Riga - Profitcamp Hostel

The newly opened Profitcamp Hostel is located just off the main street in old town Riga. It's a bit off-putting to enter, considering you have to pass through a small alleyway into a dirty courtyard to reach the entrance of the hostel. Even worse, the strip club in the basement attracts a rather seedy crowd, making it uncomfortable for single/female travelers. After reaching the hostel entrance on the second floor of the building, you'll hardly notice the outside seediness -- the hostel is bright and shining clean. The rooms come in anything from double to twenty-bed dorm and include linens, towel, and breakfast.

The dorm rooms are sterile and dark. The window on the twenty-bed dorm opens to the aforementioned courtyard and booming music wafts through mingled with cigarette smoke (although the hostel itself is smoke-free). The beds are very comfortable, with soft new mattresses, although the underlying slats holding the mats can come loose during the night (leading to sagging mattresses and sore backs). The sheets for the bed aren't quite large enough to stay put with a moving person in them and the comforters are a bit thick for warm weather. The bathrooms are very clean, with two stalls available. The showers, there are two available, are in a separate, lockable room, but they have transparent doors on them, making it a bit uncomfortable for more than one person to shower at a time.

Breakfast, which is included in the cost, consists of yogurt, hard-boiled egg, toast with jam, toast with cheese, and coffee or tea. The kitchen is only open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., making it difficult for those who might want a midnight snack, but it is well equipped with all the modern amenities. All in all, the hostel is nice and, minus the strip club's clientele (the hostel itself warns against going to the strip club, although, it seems, many of the travelers ignore the warnings), comfortable to stay at.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review