The Hostelz.com Review
Hostel Brikette is located a very short walk (about 5 minutes) from where the bus lets you off in Positano, which is a tremendous advantage considering the town is built vertically. You don't want to be walking all those stairs with your pack on.
Once inside, there is a lovely terrace overlooking the water, with a wonderful view of the entire town. Complimentary breakfast (croissants with juice, coffee, or tea) are served on the terrace, and folks congregate there in the evenings as well.
There are many dorm rooms, each with about ten beds. However, the hostel never feels crowded. There are seperate bathrooms for men and women. Unfortunately, hot showers are only available for an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening.
The walk to the beach is about 20 minutes down, and 30 minutes back up. Internet is available in the hostel. Nearby, there is a wonderful resteraunt that serves cheap meals, and even cheaper pizza to go.
Sadly, the hostel has its negatives too. Food and drink are not permitted at any time in the premises, making meals more difficult (and preventing cooking all together). Also, there is lockout from 10am to 4pm.
Once inside, there is a lovely terrace overlooking the water, with a wonderful view of the entire town. Complimentary breakfast (croissants with juice, coffee, or tea) are served on the terrace, and folks congregate there in the evenings as well.
There are many dorm rooms, each with about ten beds. However, the hostel never feels crowded. There are seperate bathrooms for men and women. Unfortunately, hot showers are only available for an hour in the morning, and an hour in the evening.
The walk to the beach is about 20 minutes down, and 30 minutes back up. Internet is available in the hostel. Nearby, there is a wonderful resteraunt that serves cheap meals, and even cheaper pizza to go.
Sadly, the hostel has its negatives too. Food and drink are not permitted at any time in the premises, making meals more difficult (and preventing cooking all together). Also, there is lockout from 10am to 4pm.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
September 2004
Their Description
Hostel Brikette Details
|
|
(To add or correct information for this listing, please use the Listing Update Form.)
Map Location/ContactHow is Hostel Brikette rated on other websites?
Hostel Brikette Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Best place to party! We stayed in the female dorm at Hostel Brikette and it was clean but basic with eight beds. Beautiful never-to-be forgotten views from the terrace and great food at pizzeria just around the corner, great coffee place across from tabacchi shop, and fun, friendly staff. The best part was the nightly parties on the terrace spent meeting new people, sharing food and wine, and telling stories late into the night. Yes, Christina the owner was a little distant and cool the first couple days, but even she warmed up and was very friendly in the end. There are no breakfasts or drinks available at the hostel, but food is available at pizzeria and supermarkets two minutes' walk away and there is no problem bringing your own food in. Refrigerator is available to keep your food and drinks cold. Will definitely be back. — canadagirl , Canada (2009-09-06) Overpriced with rude staff The hostel does have good views over Positano and the building itself is very lovely. So much potential if it was run in a good way. However, paying 80 Euros for a double room which doesn't have a toilet seat, no shower curtain which means the bathroom is flooded when you have a shower, no soap, the two mattresses put together for the double bed were different heights -- very uncomfortable and one was wrapped in plastic (why?). It is generally very badly looked after. I know it is a hostel and that you should not expect any luxury, and I can deal with that if the staff is nice, but the hostess is a true bitch. Don't stay at Hostel Brikette. — Jenny , Sweden (2008-09-15) Horrendous The hostel has a beautiful view, but it's a very unpleasant place. I arrived to find two dogs fighting with each other in the lobby (the rude staff members seem to think the dogs are adorable, though they were growling ominously the whole time I was there). My room had no window and was right next to the reception desk, which made it very noisy until around midnight. Breakfast is not included in the price. Frankly no one in their right mind would stay here. — Casey , USA (2008-08-01) Fantastic I was there three days in August, but we stayed in private room with own bath. Our host was a jewel, room had double and single bed, fridge, little patio with table and chairs that overlooked the beach below. It's a bit of a walk from the main Hostel, but beautiful. We did seven hundred eight steps (down and back up) every day and scenery is gorgeous! Positano all switchback walkway, roads. We ate breakfast one day at hostel, not worth it, better on beach. Bedrooms at hostel really cramped and dirty. Staff rude to us about using the bathroom while there for breakfast. Would highly recommend private only. Be prepared for bus ride in from Salerno to Amalfi, then changing for another into Positano. It's a cliffhanger! — Dinah , USA (2008-01-20) Don't stay here unless you want to be robbed This hostel had an amazing view from our private room. That part was great! So here is the bad part. My daughter had booked this room at least two to three months in advance. We paid for four nights stay. There were five of us, three adults and two children. On the second day, the hot water in the shower quit and Maureen, the resident manager, could not figure out how to fix it and neither could the maintenance guy. There was the strongest smell of gas/sewer smell coming from the bathroom. It made us sick so we decided that we wanted to leave and try to find another hotel where the accommodations were not so substandard. We spent a lot of money for this place, and Maureen would not give us our money back. She had our passports so she knew that she could charge us for the two days that we wanted out of. She fought and fought us to the point where there was a knock down, drag out with her. I am sure she was following orders from the owner, Christina, whom we never did meet. It was horrible. We told her we would contest the charges on the credit card if they were not refunded. Happily, she did not charge our card, but what a bad experience to take back with you. We had to sneak out of the place early in the morning because we were afraid she would sick Christina's dog on us who, by the way, is not that cute. It bites and growls at people and one of the guys that works there said to steer clear of it. We found a beautiful place to stay after that so our vacation was saved. But, for your own good, stay far away of this place. — Kathy , USA (2007-12-26) Well presented hostel with nice views, staff are the problem! Upon our late arrival into Positano after a very long day, we were greeted with kind friendly faces only to find out that our "Double room" had been double booked. We were then shifted and being tired and extremely exhausted we settled for a small room with bunks which had a strong smell of gas. (But for the tired traveler a mattress is better than the tarmac.) In addition to this we were also made to finalise payment for the four nights stay before we even had a chance to put our bags in the room, only to find out later the catch behind it.
Due to travel arrangements we found it necessary to make adjustments and realised that we could only stay for three nights or else miss our connecting transport. The following day we endeavoured to inform staff of our need to amend our booking and would therefore like to be refunded our last night's stay. To my disgust and surprise i was informed that they don't give refunds as part of their policy. In addition to this as a result of their initial error, by double booking our room, we also noted that we had paid a deposit initially through the internet when booking the accommodation but were then charged again when made to pay on arrival with the amended room arrangements. We were then told that we could not be refunded this amount also. We gave the management over forty-eight hours notice of our intent to reduce our stay yet they insisted that it was their policy. I demanded they refund my money and after heated discussions we were made to leave two nights earlier than we had planned without the money that they so blatantly stood in front of me and said they would not return. I told them they were crooks and thieves and left in a very agitated state only to have to pay again for two-night accommodation elsewhere. I would not recommend staying here unless management were to be changed completely. They are a hostel, not a hotel, and they do not have the right to withhold money when they have more than adequate notification to re-advertise the room. I will be pursuing this further by means of lawyers to retrieve lost monies and the aggravation and upset caused. I would suggest that anyone else who has the balls to do so will, to prevent travelers being robbed of money by crooks. This is daylight robbery and plain piss taking! — Lance , Britain (2007-09-19) I did not like how the hot water was only on certain times of day and while I was there there was no sign of any dinner (only drinks for sale at night). It is a long walk from the beach and the nice part of Positano, but close to the bus stop for Amalfi. If you go here you have to go to the trattoria down the hill to the left, it is one of the best places I went to eat in Italy and in Europe on a three-month trip! — Sam , USA (2007-05-23) Apparently they have hot water and dinner every night now. However, the manager is still a dark cloud looming over the hostel and I truly pity the lovely employees who have to work for her. The no-outside-food rules are annoying, since food is so expensive in Positano and there are grocery and fruit stores around the corner. Avoid Christiana, she is not a happy lady, but her dog is really cute! The other employees were wonderful and pretty much ran the hostel, working all the time. The view is outstanding, and the rooms with the terrace view are worth the extra couple of euros. Overall, this hostel is amazing, I came for three nights and stayed a week. I would come back, if the management changed! — Positanolover , Canada (2007-04-23) Hostel Brikette is an amazing place -- not only are you in paradise, though your situated on a beautiful cliff overseeing all of Positano, breath taking. I was traveling alone and was welcomed by Christina and her cute dog. Her welcoming and warmth was truly memorable, she was so sweet! The Hostel itself was clean and had everything you needed, they have a huge patio which has the greatest views of Positano! This place was my highlight of my trip, when I return to Positano I will be staying at the Hostel Brikette. — Thomas Cincotti (2007-03-06) We stayed here in Summer 2006 on a trip around Italy and Greece. It was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen -- well worth a visit. We only stayed two nights as we were constantly on the move but I could have stayed a month!The town is so peaceful with the typically chilled out Italian way of life and it feels a millions miles away from anywhere. Incidentally, it's quite hard to leave as the coach services are prone to cancellation for a day or two- bear this in mind! although there is always the ferry. The hostel wasn't the cleanest we stayed in but not dirty by any means -- just basic. The first night we had a private room with a huge balcony at the front and I woke up at 6 a.m. and watched the sun rise over the sea -- seriously took my breath away. The rooms are a good size and, although you share a bathroom, it's right next to the room. The second night we had a room at the back which wasn't as nice as the first one but still ok. The only problem was that we got back from a party on the beach to find ants running all over the walls -- not pleasant! But it was our fault because we'd left food out. The hostel guys helped us by trying to kill a few! We just ignored it and went to sleep and they didn't bother us. I think they were only there because of the food and you have to accept that there's bound to be creepy crawlies in a hot, seaside town. The people who work in the hostel are loads of fun and we met a lot of people there in our two nights. We went to a party on the beach on the second night -- even if there isn't a beach party on just go down to one of the bars on the beach at night! Such an atmosphere! One of those nights which makes you love traveling. The dorm rooms looked really nice too and the ones at the front are right next to the terrace so you can wake up and go straight out and look at the sea and the view -- so beautiful. It really doesn't matter what the rooms are like in a place like this because you'll be out the hostel or on the terrace most of the time anyway. Positano is one of those places you know you'll go back to at some point in your life. Although there can be a few tourists milling around you hardly notice because it feels like heaven! And ask the staff for directions to the pizza restaurant at the top of the hill -- it's some of the best food we had in Italy! And so cheap! Go straight into the kitchen and speak to the chef to get the cheapest food (gnocci highly recommended!) Don't eat in the restaurant -- it's more expensive, just get take-out and eat at the hostel. We didn't come across any of the scary rules or scary owner when we were there. There is a lockout at midnight but if you knock the staff let you in anyway. — Kate (2007-02-14) I stayed here for three nights in June 2005. It was one of the highlights of my trip. The hostel itself was clean, comfortable, and well run. Had no issues with the staff. The view from the balcony (and your dormitory window if you get a front room) is breathtaking -- unparalled by the view from a hostel anywhere else I've been. I had no trouble with the staff at all, but didn't deal with the owner very much. Things to keep in mind -- yes, there is a lockout during the day. No, you cant bring in food or drink. And the bathrooms are communal. Keep all that in mind before you book, and you should have a great stay. oh, and the little pasta restuarant down the road, next to the hotel, is awesome and cheap -- it's where the locals go to eat, which is always a great sign. — Bazz (2006-09-22) I stayed here in 1999 and it appears that the staff has changed and many more rules have been added. In fact, this was my favourite stay in all of Italy -- I too extended my trip by four days. I was hoping to return this summer, but will probably change my mind based on the new rules and staff. In fact when I stayed here in 1999, we were still allowed to bring our take-out food from the restaurant back for a private terrace dinner at the hostel. It was lovely and great for all ages, too bad it seems to have gone downhill. — old time backpacker (2006-04-11) We were greeted on arrival by an outwardly friendly owner, Christiana, whose thinly vailed spite quickly became apparent. We witnessed her reducing her six-foot American footballer staff to tears and were overcharged for our room. We were then told tales of Christiana's famous Italian cuisine only to be served with pasta and tomato ketchup, then she stole my earring. The grotto at the back of the hostel where we stayed was lovely and it has to be said, good value. A beautiful part of the world and great food, shame the stay in the hostel inevitably involved dealing with the abhorant malodourous figure in black known as Christiana. — c&g (2006-03-08) I stayed here in 2003. It was during my first visit to Italy. Now, after several additional visits and many more experiences, my time at this hostel remains one of the highlights of my travels. I was with my family, and we all agreed that the location and the view could not be beat. Anna (the resident manager) could not have been nicer and more accommodating. Her recommendations were always perfect; she was always friendly and helpful. We originally planned to stay for two days, but stayed for six days. I have referred several people to this hostel and I look forward to returning in the future. — Stu (2005-10-19) I don't know whether the hostel has new owners, but I stayed there in 1999 and it was excellent - beautifully clean, friendly, great position, stunning views - and I was in my 40s at the time! — Jill (2005-02-15)