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Cambie Hostel - Gastown

Vancouver (Gastown), British Columbia, Canada

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Address
300 Cambie Street, Vancouver (Gastown)   Map
Price
Location/Contact
Details
Their Description

Features

  • Free Breakfast
  • Kitchen
  • Lockers
  • Bar
  • Lounge / Common space
  • Food/Restaurant
  • TV
  • Book Collection/Exchange
  • Washing Machine (laundry)
  • Clothes Dryer
  • 24 Hour Free Hot Showers
  • Phones (public or in room)
  • Pool Table
  • Travel information provided
  • Gameroom
 
The Hostelz.com Review
The Cambie Hostel in Gastown offers a central location and a loud party atmosphere evenings, sometimes continuing until two in the morning. Its best feature is the large pub with a good bar tapping a number of beers at reasonable prices.

Getting there is easiest from the Waterfront Skytrain ans Seabus station; walk out between the pillars, cross the street and head east for two blocks. From the Greyhound the same instructions apply, but first you have to board the Skytrain at the nearby Main Street Station, and then take it to Waterfront. From the airport, bus it to the Skytrain similarly. If you need to park a car, this place is not for you.

The central location–near downtown, Chinatown, and in Gastown–is good for sightseeing, but the point of staying at this place would be to party in the pub and sleep in as long as the road noise outside allows. The rooms have very large windows overlooking trolley lines and other old buildings, and the traffic builds up from five in the morning so a light sleeper will have to scrap that plan for the sleep part.

Amenities are found: internet, kitchen, laundry, bedding, and showers. But the toilets cannot be described as clean; dripping and pooling water add to a less than satisfactory atmosphere in the dark area where the sinks and bowls are found. The operative word for them is usable. In hallways–somewhat swaybacks–the hardwood is kept waxed, and cleaning efforts are obvious, but the smell of age cannot be got out. A fat little mouse met us down that hallway once. Lockers in the rooms are supplied, own lock needed, and a keying system for building security exists in the form of low quality or "funny" locks. For instance the first key going upstairs jiggles in easier if you've had a couple of drafts in the bar; or so it seemed to me.

The area around the Cambie Gastown is not safe at night for a person alone; daylight hours one can even walk to Chinatown by way of Pender Street, but if unsure of a good route bussing is better. Breakfast is available and included, but if you only get up in time for lunch. The Vocational School two blocks up across Victory Square is the best. They have dinner around five too, when classes are on, and that is weekdays most of the year. Kent's Kitchen in Chinatown is good for price–Keefer, east of Main–and it gives the traveller a sense of being Vancouverite.

In the event that a brief change becomes desirable, here are three half day trips from the Cambie Gastown which would supply something of a change in venue: ( i) a stroll down Robson Street for more upscale shopping, (ii) a ride on the Seabus for marine action and the market at Lonsdale Quay, and (iii) Granville Island for the Market, Plays, or just more beer direct from the factory.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review


Your Comments
This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites, we don't censor out the negative comments.
We do not validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.
Comment by Ian, Canada
October 2007
Hmmm
this place has always been good to me when traveling to whistler to visit friends or hitchhiking on the island. I believe that timing is everything with life and that is how you should take this place.
Comment by Mel, USA
September 2007
Never Stay Here
I took the train up from Seattle to see Vancouver for the first time and literally stayed only one day thanks, in part, to this scary, nasty hostel. First off, it is in Gastown off Hastings, which means it's on the edge of Vancouver's skid row. There was garbage literally waste high in the alley next to it -- and rats. When I checked in at the front counter they told me they did have lockers for bags but I'd have to buy a lock. 5 bucks for this useless combo lock that you could break just by staring at it hard. The lockers in my room were ancient high school lockers that were just propped against one wall. Only one of the three lockers actually had a functioning handle on it and so I had to cram my backpack in that. The door to the room I was in looked like it had been popped so many times, it barely worked. The women's bathroom had two showers, absolutely no hooks or shelves to put your clothes any where while you showered and two toilets -- one of which was leaking and there was a nice puddle of water on the floor the whole night. I was "lucky" because I booked on a Tuesday night and got a four bunk bed room all to myself. There was no fan in the room and nothing but the nasty air from the open window which overlooked the giant pile of garbage in the alley. Every single time someone opened or closed a door on my floor or walked down the hallway, you heard it. There was no insulation on any of the doors and so I got to listen to doors slam open and shut all night. The Cambie's bar is touted as having "cheap drinks" on their website. What a joke! I had one draft beer and it was $4.50. And the bartender was rude. And, I'd say 50% of the people sitting in the bar were there to sell drugs. Speaking of drugs, I didn't see or smell pot the whole time I was in Gastown but I got four offers to buy heroin while I was down there. The skeevy little dealers would come rolling down the street on bikes and ask you point-blank if you wanted to buy some heroin.
Comment by Becky and Lynsey, UK
May 2007
This is, by far, the worst hostel either of us have stayed in, and having clocked up over thirty different hostels between us, thats saying something! Although the price is reasonable, the hostel really isnt worth it -- after one night we're having to look for somewhere else, even if it means paying more! The rooms are badly in need of a facelift, with lockers that dont lock and doors that you have to kick open -- they frequently stick. The calibre of the guests here is not high, making us feel very uncomfortable about even walking around the hostel. The corridors look like they came straight out of The Omen, and the bathrooms were ages away, with only one bathroom per floor. And dont even get us started on the kitchen -- grossly under stocked, with no basic necessities such as washing up sponge or tea towel. And with a grand total of two plastic bowls for crockery. This would be fine if you were planning on eating out or eating microwave meals the whole time, but as we were planning on cooking every night, there is no way we could have put up with this.
Comment by French guy
November 2006
Well located, the hostel has a great bar at the main floor. But this bar can be noisy if you want to sleep. The place is not that clean but if you don't care and prefer to focus on having a good time having a drink, this is for you!
Comment by Nikki
August 2006
Don't stay here if it is the last place left in Vancouver -- sleep in the street -- it would certainly be much cleaner. My boyfriend and I have been travelling round the world for the last couple of years and this is by far the grossest place we've had the misfortune to stay in. We booked a double room and after only two hours asleep, woke up to find the bed infested with bedbugs -- and not just a couple -- there were at least twenty crawling around and at least four different species. It was obvious that they hadn't just popped up over night -- the place had clearly been infested for days. We went to the reception staff at one a.m. to check out and the man at the desk had the audacity to ask us why it had taken us so long to notice! He wasn't shocked to hear that the place was crawling and obviously didn't care. He wasn't even going to give us any money back until I mentioned that we had taken pictures of the bed crawling with bugs. Even then he only gave us back a partial refund. The next morning we discovered we were covered in bites -- thank god we woke up only after two hours asleep. What makes me really angry is that I can guarantee the room had someone else in it the next night with nothing having been done about the infestation. We've stayed in a large range of places on our trip and this place is the worst hostelling experience we have had and gives a bad name to hostelling in general.
Comment by JEN 06
July 2006
A really sh*tty place. I arrived there early in the morning and was instantly hassled by the pride of the DTES (down town east side) mob who tried to tell me smack before i got to the door. The staff at the hostel are therefor very paranoid about who gets into the hostel considering the colourful characters hanging by their doors so you might get a pretty rude welcome. The hostel itself is pretty sh*tty - overcrowded rooms and poorly maintained facilities. On my first night I was welcomed into my room by 4 strange smelling old canadian men smoking weed till about 3 in the morning. They said they were long termers - kind of reminded me of a prison. Then at 6 that same morning a schizo hooker climbed the tree outside my window and started screaming into the room for money - pretty representative for the whole area really. I packed up the next day and moved to the much better cambie seymour. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE - WHICH IM SURE MOST OF THE RESIDENTS ALREADY HAVE.
Comment by daniel h
May 2006
if u dont like it a little rough then dont stay here. however i dont mind it and so this place was sweet for the price (18 a night, 15 a night if u stay a week). wasnt the cleanest hostel, and had odd couches and a stove that was a little dodge but you get a double bed, so u win some, u lose some. if u like to do it cheaper and dont mind it a little rough come here for sure. a little out of the town centre though, but the downstairs pub was sweet and free breakfast was decent.
Comment by Ryan
September 2005
The Cambie Gastown is a great place to stay. I also stayed at Grand Trunk, Pender Lodge, and C&N Backpackers but the Cambie was the best by far. They have a great bar downstairs with great drink specials. It was the safest hostel I stayed at. They had automatic locks on the main floor, then another on each level, locks for each room of course, and lockers inside the rooms. The rooms were spacious, and the beds were fairly comfortable and clean. The bathrooms were clean, but the showers didn't provide much privacy, which some people may not like. Also, they had a shared refrigerator for everyone and a lack of kitchen equipment (not many bowls, cups, plates, etc.) That was the only negative thing I can say about this place. The location might also be a little too seedy for some. It was not far from the notorious Main and Hastings intersection. Overall, the Cambie kicked ass and I would recommend it to anyone.
Comment by Vera
September 2005
I stayed in the Cambie Hostel for four nights in August and September 2005. Beside the nice breakfast in the cafe next door, I could not find anything to like there. There was a mouse in my room, a broken window, street noise, bar noise, beggers and drug-addicts outside the building, shabby furniture, hairs on pillow, etc.
Comment by Anonymous
July 2005
I had a really good time at this hostel, I didn't even mind the mice that live in the common room. Some of the women that work in the bar are very rude, and some of the guys are a little too keen for a date. Aside from all of this, the type of people who come to stay here are very friendly and loads of fun. On the facilities side of things, the toilets and showers often didn't work, and the kitchen is kind of bad. BUT I would still stay here again because I had so much fun.
Comment by Anonymous
February 2005
I stayed at the Cambie in June 2004. It was great. I'm from Montreal — there are some cool pubs there!! But the Cambie is hard to beat. I'm coming back in May 2005 before the fruit season starts in the Okanagan Valley. See you there, people. P.s. it's a great place to meet chicks. ;-)
Comment by Briar
December 2004
September 2004: East Hastings is a seedy place to be, but the Cambie is the best!!! The bathrooms are a little dirty, but the common room was awesome. It's a great place to see the playoffs and meet people. Cheers.
Comment by Sept 2004 Visitor
September 2004
The hostel itself is fine, but the front desk staff (both women we dealt with) are cranky and unhelpful. VERY IMPORTANT: We parked adjacent to the hostel and our car was broken into--back window smashed, when there was absolutely nothing to steal! This area is overrun with drug addicts. The police and shop people referred to it as "our drug problem." I will NEVER stay in this area again.
Comment by Anonymous
July 2004
People who are employed by the Cambie must hate themselves or their lives because the look on thier faces as well as thier additude stinks. They should turn those frowns upside down.
Comment by Anonymous
April 2004
I always stay there while in Vancouver. Great spot, as long as you ask for a room in the upper floors away from the noise of the bar! There is no kitchen and the toilets are ... let's say quite "rosty," but it is definitely one of the most agreeable hostels I have stayed in so far. The coffee in the bakery beside is great!
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