The Stranger Hostel Krakow

Let no one ever say there is a shortage of good hostels in Krakow anymore. The Stranger Hostel (don't ask about the origins of the name, unless you want to hear a really strange answer) fits perfectly into the plethora of new, funky, backpacker-friendly hostels in this city of nightlife, party fun and history. Started by two guys from Seattle, it is now a new contender in Krakow.

The hostel is located about a five minute walk from the Old Town. The location is great, although this being a small city, there are a couple of hostels that are located exactly in the Old Town square. But a little excercise does every backpacker good. The truth is every hostel in Krakow has a great location, because you're never more than about half an hour walk from anywhere else.

Let's start with the lowlights. The rooms themselves are really nothing special: they're big; one room leads to another meaning a lot of foot traffic during the night hours and quite frankly they are too loud and impersonal (Ikea style gets boring really quickly, although it is nice). The bathrooms have that certain "hostel" je ne sais quoi: the downstairs bathroom has two shower cabins with hooks outside, which offer little privacy. And breakfast, like every hostel breakfast is of that continental variety: bread, jam, marge, tea, and coffee. But at least there is a free breakfast, which always counts for the budget minded.

Highlights... there are only two, but they're big ones. The common room contains a bed-like structure on which several people can fit at once, together with their beers and pizza and a wall painted white wall serves as a screen for the LCD projector (which leads to a DVD player with a huge film library). And the other highlight (which is quite common for all the good hostels in Krakow) is the staff of young, multilingual and educated students willing to help you with anything you might want: from hints on how to get to Aushwitz, to pointers for a good night out.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
March 2006