Aventura Boutique Hostel

Aventura Hostel is a wonderful hostel -- it is run by two Hungarian girls who, upon returning from their own travels, decided to open the kind of hostel in which they’d want to stay.

It's quite small, about twenty-five beds in three dorms, so has a nice, cozy feel. The dorms themselves are very quirky, decorated in an Indian, African, or Hungarian folk art theme. There's a Japanese-themed private double, too. The rooms are very clean, and really homey. There are no nasty bunk beds -- instead, as the ceilings are very high, they have lofts in the Indian and African rooms, kind of another floor within the room. An absolutely genius idea, it gives more privacy and comfort. And it's quite fun, too!

The bathrooms are spacious and clean, and there are four showers -- no long queues in the morning. There's a free breakfast, served whenever you get up (we loved that), in a fairly standard European style, including bread, various cheeses, jam, tea, and coffee. And they even give snack packs with crackers and juice for the day!

Reception is twenty-four hours, and there's no curfew. There's also no check out time -- the bed is yours until the next person turns up, which seems to be late afternoon usually. There's free internet access, a fully equipped kitchen, and lots of information about the city. And the girls are always ready to help with pointers about what to do.

In all, this is a great hostel. It's fun, interesting, very centrally located, and the owners are extremely helpful and friendly (even at 5 a.m., after getting up to answer the door all night). The metro and a big train station are very close, as well as two huge supermarkets, a big cinema, bars, clubs, and restaurants all around. The river is also only a couple of minutes away. It seems to be full or close to it most of the time, so book ahead!

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
September 2006