St. Christopher's Edinburgh Hostel

Fantastic,very helpful staff. We had very clean room. Bathroom and toilet were always clean. Cleaning staff were pleasant and helpful. The location of the hostel is great, so close to everything. No problems with noise from other rooms. Bed linen changed regularly. Meals were good and breakfast was fine. No complaints.

The staff consists of an awesome lot, very friendly, and very knowledgeable about the area. This was by far the best bathroom situation I've seen in a hostel in the city (the ones in the sticks always have the best facilities bathroom and kitchen-wise). Not only was the shower very clean but we got our own bathroom in a room of four beds. So in other words, no shared bathrooms! That's huge, and as with all the St. Christopher places I've stayed in, everything was very clean. Again the staff are all cool, but the karaoke lady (they have karaoke on Thursdays) was a horrible mean-spirited person. And there was never anybody at the reception desk. However, in their defense, this isn't a hotel, and thus your messages are not their responsibility. If you go to Edinburgh, keep in mind two things: the city is awesome but the clubs suck something harsh. Just horrible. I actually had more fun during karaoke night at St. Christopher's. The only big problem I had with the hostel is that it was so busy, I didn't get that hostel bonding experience that makes the hostel experience so cool in other cities. Other than that, this place is an all right place to rest your head for a few nights.

This hostel is a great place to meet people and have a great time. The staff are travelers who will take you out on the town, and all of them are great people. There are great drink and food specials in the two bars downstairs. Words of advice: bring a towel, and there's no kitchen (so don't buy food expecting to store it), and don't be afraid of the bars, they are great fun 7 days/nights a week.

This is without a doubt one of the WORST hostels I've ever stayed at. The whole place felt dirty, and the bathrooms especially were nasty. The showers were those annoying push-button contraptions, and you couldn't even adjust the water temperature. The bedroom I was in was criminally overcrowded, perhaps literally so: I can't imagine the Edinburgh fire code would allow that many people crammed into a tiny room. The bunk beds were made of rickety old metal, the type where if you so much as cough you shake the whole bed, waking up the person sleeping beneath you. The lounge room was small and smoky, and even though they claim on this Web site to have satellite TV, they only got about three channels from what I could see. The staff were mostly indifferent. The reception desk was NEVER manned in the three days I stayed there; instead, there was a sign telling you that you had to go to the bar. So when my keycard was inevitably not working at the end of a long day, instead of having someone just fix it for me, I had to fight my way through the crowds of a bar, wait forever while the bartenders poured some drinks, and then FINALLY get them to recharge my keycard. I stayed there originally because it looked like the cheapest option in town; their Web site advertised £10 per night. However, I found out on checking in that that's only the INTERNET price; in real life it's £13. I could have stayed in a much nicer place for £12!!! I thought about giving this place two stars because it is admittedly in a good location, but there are so many hostels in Edinburgh in just as good if not BETTER locations that it doesn't even matter. In short, there's no reason EVER to stay here.

The hostel was a complete disappointment and I challenge the description of the hostel ranking amongst the 10 best in the world!! In my opinion, this is an insult to some of the very good hostels I have stayed at throughout the world. This description therefore must have been made at best by someone who needs to get out more and experience a "real" hostel, or at worst by someone who wants to mislead people into booking this accommodation. This was a dirty, over-priced hostel with extremely small rooms and toilet and washing facilities that needed a damn good spring clean! The staff were also rather unhelpful and could not answer my questions/queries about Edinburgh. Luckily, however, there is a tourist office across Waverley Bridge where the staff are very obliging and able to assist. Of note also, is that the description provided above shows that reception operates 24 hours — during my stay I did not witness this. In my experience reception was rarely manned. Whilst in Edinburgh I did have a look at other accommodations available for myself (in case I ever go back to this lovely city) and can only say that there are better hostels available, in equally suitable locations in the Old Town, at a cheaper rate. My strong advice to all potential travelers is not to be fooled by the description provided by the owners and to take note of the ratings that real people who've stayed at this place have offered on this site!

Overall this is an okay hostel. It is situated in a good location in the Old Town. The bar downstairs was nice to go to before heading out on the town. However, the staff were rude and a friend had a run-in with one who was drunk when we came back in one night. The rooms were fairly nice but the bathrooms were not well kept. I would recommend another hostel for your stay in Edinburgh.

The idea that this hostel is one of the top-rated is quite alarming. Other than for its location, I cannot see how this hostel could win any awards (it might have been in the top 10 in 1922, maybe). The rooms were a grand size, except that there were three sets of bunks crammed into them. There was no space or ledges for your things, so everything ended up on the sliver of floor between the beds. Our particular room's windows wouldn't open, so it became very stuffy. The shower in our en suite flooded repeatedly (it was just an open shower) and the toilet was never cleaned by the housekeepers. The staff were typical of hostels (Australian, smarmy, smart know-it-alls). The reception desk was never manned at night (they all were drinking in the pub) and a very important message we left for another member of our group was never passed on. I saw the girls I left this message with looking very hung over the next morning. All in all, it was disappointing, a bad value, and I would not recommend it unless you like torture - it's quite ironic that the Edinburgh dungeons are across the road!

This hostel was totally overrated - 6th best hostel in the world my arse! The worst thing was the size of the rooms - they are absolutely tiny, claustrophobic and stuffy, and impossible to get ready in. There were no mirrors or clean bed linen. The toilets stunk ("stunk" is an understatement) and the showers were fairly useless. Our reservation was also wrong, and yet we still had to pay the full price for a crappy room. On the upside, the location was great and the bar had good 2-for-1 offers before 8 p.m. The Aussie staff were generally friendly, bar one moody female. I would advise anyone going to Edinburgh to avoid this place if they have any sense!!

The only thing going for this hostel is its location. It's extremely close to the airport shuttle bus link, and close to the heart of town. Apart from that, it's not a place I would recommend. The rooms are very small, and the showers are 'push button,' which are not good when you are trying to wash your hair! The hostel is not particularly clean and the breakfast was awful — extremely plain. It consisted of toast and corn flakes with coffee. This is not a hostel I would recommend.

This place has a great staff and a fantastic location. It has clean rooms, and Belushi's (attached to the hostel) is great for food (they have two-for-the-price-of-one food and drinks at specific times during the day). Breakfast IS a little lame, though, and go early because it gets crowded.

What a disappointment this hostel was--the staff were extremely friendly and helpful and its location was perfectly situated across from the train station, but aside from that it was highly unpleasant. "Breakfast" consisted of bland cereal and toast you had to make yourself--a far cry from a breakfast suitable for young travellers. The sheets were clean, but the sinks were the size of small bowls. They only had unisex bathrooms, and you had to repeatedly press a button when you wanted water in the shower (like some sinks). The rooms were tiny at best, with no mirrors (a pain for anyone trying to get ready for a night on the town). My friend's key and mine kept not working, so we couldn't get into either our room or on the floor until we went downstairs and got it recharged. The "chill-out" room was a TV with about 3 channels, some couches, and expensive Internet access. The clientele of the hostel in general was okay, but there were quite a few older guests (think late middle-aged) who were creepy and tried to hit on younger people. Imagine sharing a room with one of your parents' friends. Belushi's, the bar downstairs, was alright but the food service was absolutely terrible (a single order of french fries took, without exageration, 40 minutes to receive). There was no hand soap in the bathrooms, and knowing that no one can wash their hands makes you aware of how dirty the entire place must be. If you're forced to stay here, bring your own towel and hand soap. Overall, I would definitely not recommend this hostel. If this is the sixth best hostel in the world, I'd hate to see #1!