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Caledonian Backpackers Details
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Caledonian Backpackers Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Worst Hostel Ever I have been hosteling for over twenty years, stayed at over one hundred hostels in fifteen different countries and I can honestly say that this is the worst hostel I have ever come across. The staff were mostly unable to communicate effectively in the local language which lead to many misunderstandings. Expensive items such as cameras and mobile phones went missing after one staff member had been routing through belongings in our room at 4 a.m. When confronted about this they became aggressive and threatened to have us removed from the hotel. My advice to anyone is to read these reviews before staying here as our party now wish we had. — Fallows , England (2009-05-26) Worst place ever This place is about as nice as a low end crack den. I can't believe that this place has remained open or stayed in business. The only reason I can come up with is that they blatantly provide false information to entice budget travelers. I felt like we were squatting in an abandoned homeless shelter. The staff who worked there were about as helpful as a brick when you're drowning. I would like to nominate this hostel for the worst place to stay in all of Europe. — Anon , Australian (2009-02-01) This place now has breakfast. Decent price, great location. Really nothing bothered me about this hostel, but I'm used to the hostel way of life. One request: make the lighting better for the pool tables. — jbeck (2005-06-28) If you are a down-to-earth person don't listen to some of the negative comments here. My friends and I stayed at Caledonian during Easter for two nights and it was really cool. The place is huge, it's painted with all these funky murals and stuff, the bar downstairs is good with really cheap beers, it is within walking distance of the nightlife, most of all, it has a good vibe and the staff are nice.
The only problems are:
—The gent's is really dingy but most people don't travel to Scotland to look at bathrooms.
—The rooms are massive with lots of people and no lockers.
Hope this helps. Ciao. — Matt Damon (2005-06-28) We were forced to put a 200-pound deposit down of which we only got a 100 back because of noise complaints. However, we were only informed of these complaints when we were leaving, thus not giving us a chance to reduce the noise levels. Also the sheets and pillows smell bad. The blinds on the window were broken, thus making it hard to sleep. The bar staff are especially rude and the bar itself is filthy. We got fined for a broken door even though someone broke it from another room who was not part of our party. I could go on all day about this place but the long and short of it all is do not stay in this place. Pay the extra cash and stay in a hotel. — Irish (2005-02-27) It's a roof over your head. :) Seriously, it's a huge hostel, with plenty of stairs to climb. It is fairly grotty [shabby] compared to a lot of hostels. The bar was the biggest disappointment, a bit like a student union but basically darker and smokier. But the beer still tasted the same. :)
The kitchen is good enough. It has all the essentials. The Internet works fine, and the beds seemed fine to me, no urine or bloodstains, etc. mind you, I'd probably drunk half the bar dry by this stage, so . . .
Staff are great.
Overall, it's not going to suit everybody but I'd guess to refurbish a place this size is going to cost a huge amount. I'd recommend giving it a try. Most people will like it just fine. — Anonymous (2005-02-01) I stayed in this hostel for three months two summers ago. Admittedly when my travel buddy and me arrived we were a bit daunted (the smell of urine by the MEN'S opposite the bar was to blame) and we decided to stay out drinking for as long as we could so we wouldn't have to go back! But as we stayed longer and longer we found it harder and harder to leave. The hostel wasn't brand new so obviously things aren't going to look too healthy, but it was clean, judging by the amount of work the 24-hour cleaners did. It was a lot cleaner than most places! The beds looked a bit mangy but sheets were always washed routinely. As for the bathrooms, putting a towel over the door sorts that problem. The only thing I had a problem with was that the water was always pretty cold — but maybe I was just getting up too late! As for the bar, I had some of the best nights of my life there! It was the best place in the world for making new friends, and the drink was so cheap that it was almost illegal! We had so much fun on our trip and most of it was down to the hostel. We ended up making so many new mates and had way too many drunk card games with all the staff. This was the best price we found, too!!! Top job all round! — Anonymous (2005-01-27) I visited this hostel one week ago. I have to say that it was a very nice experience. The staff are so cool and very friendly. The rooms are very comfortable and colorful. The bar is loud but pleasant. — Xiana (2004-12-20) I recently visited Edinburgh for a weekend and was fooled into staying at this place by its misleading website! It sounds an ideal place, new, clean, comfortable, reasonably priced and well located, but in reality this is far from the truth. Apart from the location, which is actually decent, everything else about this dump is a nightmare!
The place is grotty and rundown beyond belief. There is a disgusting musty smell in all the corridors. The rooms are shoddy, with paint peeling off the walls and no heating. The sheets and pillow covers are filthy, and look like they've never been washed. But the bathrooms have to be seen to be believed. There are no toilet rolls, dirty floors, and many of the shower doors don't close properly and they're completely transparent! The bar is stuffy, dingy and unclean. We didn't even consider staying for a drink! In short, this place reminds me of a dilapidated boarding school – with absolutely no hygiene standards!
I'm not one to badmouth places without reason, in fact this is the first hostel I have rated online, but in this case I feel I owe it to others to share my awful experiences with them. So to set the record straight – ignore the website. This hostel STINKS – STAY AWAY! — Larry (2004-09-17) Big hostel in a good location near the castle. The rooms were nice, but the bathrooms were pretty filthy and unclean. The men's one on the top floor had one sink and one toilet (which was always backed up). The bar was just too dirty and too dark. The kitchen was pretty good, though, and the TV lounge was nice. It's not a great hostel, but not too terrible either. — Anonymous (2004-08-17) After reading all the comments I'm left thinking what exactly do people want? The accommodation is the cheapest youll find and in the prime postition for all tourism, be it shopping, site seeing or bar crawls. I've stayed there 4 times now, twice for weekends and twice for a full week and wouldn't go anywere else.
CLEANLINESS. Yes, I'd be the first to admitt that perhaps it's not the cleanest, but having stayed there so much, I know that it is cleaned on a daily basis and if there is a complaint made about the cleanliness of an area, sumone will be straight there to sort it out. You have got to remember that there is 250 beds in the hostel, thats a lot of people coming and going all day, you cant expect the place to be spotless. As for the sheets, we have never had a problem with them, but the simple solution is, if they dont look clean, get them changed!! It's fair enough to expect not to have to do this, but its a simple problem to resolve if required. As a suggestion a fresh paint job in some of the rooms and bathrooms in brighter colours would make so much difference to peoples perceptions of the hostel cleanliness. The dark colours make the lighting look bad and so gives the illusion that it is dull and dirty when actually its not that bad.
BREAKFAST There is still no breakfast available, but, as said before there is many cafes very close by and the hostel has a kitchen with everything you will ever need.
DORMS For the dorms that require keys, any time weve been, weve have always been asked how many keys we would like, thats never been a problem. The rooms do tend to be very warm though, even with the windows open, but its comfortable enough to sit in. The large dorms still do not have any curtains so it can be quite bright in the mornings, but lets face it, if your tired enough, that's not gonna wake you. A sugesstion for the dorms would be a mirror in each, from my experiences there is only mirrors in the bathroom (I'm a typical woman who likes to try and look there best, the lighting is better in the dorms for getting ready for nights out!).
STAIRS The stairs are a bit of a curse when you have baggage but otherwise there not that bad, a little exercise in a day isn't gonna do any harm, besides most people spend the day walking around site seeing so whats a extra couple flights of stairs?!?
BATHROOMS Don't know about the mens', but there is still a set of showers that are see through. I have to admit that I was very uncomfortable with that, but, the way around it was to hang a towel over the door and you can't see a thing. Alternatively you could use any of the other showers, although those ones were the cleanest and have the best lighting. Personally, I have never noticed a problem with the pressure and they are always warm, great after a long day...or a rough night! As for toilet paper, there has been a few times when there was none, say to reception or any of the staff, they are very quick to sort it out. The main drawback with the bathrooms is the lighting is still quite bad.
BAR I can understand how some people have a complaint about the bar. It does get very smokey as it's the only place in the hostel you can smoke, it gets very warm, it's quite dark and the music can be loud. My view on it... the drinks are cheap!!! It's a great place to socialise with people from around the world and either spend the night there or have a few drinks before you hit the clubs. There is some very good live bands that play that are free to see. They have just started karaoke on a wednesday... although.. if you hear some of them singing you have to wonder if thats a good thing or not. :0) On sunday you get free food after 6 in the bar!! I don't know if this is all year round or just for the summer though. There are two pool tables and a pool competition (on a Thursday I think) with free drink as a prize. What more can you ask for! I've never stayed in any of the rooms directly above the bar so can't comment on the noise in them at night but the other rooms along that corrider are fine.
RECEPTION/STAFF From my experiences of staying in the hostel I have always found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. If you're pleasant to them, they will be pleasant to you. Yes, the staff at reception will always ask for your blue card when you come in but this is as a security measure to try and keep everyone safer and to stop people from staying without paying. Can you really expect them to remember 250 faces? Yes it can be hasslesome after a night out or after a busy day, but you are told when you check in that you must always show it, so keep it handy, or have it ready to show when you get in, it makes the whole process quick and pain free!! They have also always been very helpful with any queries we have had.
IMPRESSION My initial reaction the first time I stayed in the hostel seems to be similar to many others. We were very unimpressed, Are opinions rapidly changed once we settled in. The hostel has a very friendly atmosphere, friendly staff, there is storage for your lugage if you need it, safes for any valuables, 24hr reception, no curfew, a good bar, a well equiped kitchen, TV room, and is in a prime location... what more can you ask for?!?
I would recommend the hostel to any one who wants to stay in Edinburgh, it may not be as clean as others, but it is more than adequate to meet anyones needs. I have stayed in one other hostel in Edinburgh, yes it's very clean, very modern, but the staff were terrible, very unhelpful, and the atmosphere was miserable.
Edinburgh is such a fun, friendly, busy cosmopolitan city, and the Caledonian Backpackers blends in with this lifestyle perfectly. — Lynda (2004-08-15) The reception here was chaos, and some receptionists were really rude. The smell in the corridors of this hostel was sometimes unbearable, and also the heat in our bathroom (which contained only one shower for six 12-bedded rooms). So, I certainly would not recommend this hostel! — Ilse (2004-05-18) I spent four nights in this hostel. The rooms on the first floor are ok, although as soon as you see the rooms that have letters as a reference, all you'll want to do is run, run as far away as possible. As for the staff at the reception, the two Americans we met were ok, but there was one incredibly rude guy. I believe he was from Spain. I just wanted to strangle him with my bare hands. I strongly suggest sacking the Spanish, long-haired, rude, smelly bigmouth who works at the reception. What went wrong? We had already stayed at the hostel for three nights. We left to go to Loch Ness and on our return, our booking had mysteriously gone missing. The person at the reception felt really bad for us and tried to help us as fast as possible (when you are on holiday for only a week you want to go out to see the town!). However, on our return, the Spanish guy, which I have already described to you, wanted us to give back all our blue identification cards (at 1 a.m), while there are 10 drunks around us trying to get to the bar. I guess you get the picture. All we wanted was to get some sleep because we were to leave at 9 the next morning. We were on our way to bed, so why take back all the cards when people are leaving in eight hours, during which they are sleeping? I still do not get it. Final tip: Never ever bring children to this place!!! — Maria (2004-05-18) Worst hostel I've ever seen. They actually forgot we had made reservations, so half my group got to spend the night on the top floor, where there was 1 shower for a whole floor. Very noisy (street noise & bar). At 1 am the receptionist told all of us to show our blue cards (there were 16 of us... we had been there 4 nights). He kept us there for half an hour to write something on the card. Staff was rude, see-through windows are still there, toilets and showers still filthy and tiny. Good location. Sheets were ok for the beds that had sheets; some didn't. Internet is available and good. One more thing, I really hope that that manager is reading this -- I got the impression that the rudest signs in Britain are in your hostel. Try telling people NICELY to clean up after themselves. Please. — Inky (2004-05-09) Thank God I didn't actually have to spend the night! When we arrived here, we paid for one night based on tons of previous recommendations. We then proceeded to walk to our beds, and were horrified to find that instead of matresses, there were filthy styrofoam pads on wood. If that is not bad enough, they were covered in enough hair and filth to make them look like wild animals laying in rows. The sheets that they provided were balled up at the foot of the bed and looked and smelled as if they had never before seen a washing machine. We turned right around and went to the front desk and asked for our money back. When asked what was wrong with the beds, we explained the "hair and filth" situation, and the woman working the front desk did her best to imply that we had in fact done this to the foam pads ourselves. She then said that because she had already rented the beds to us, she would have to keep 50% of the cost if they were not able to rent them again. As she said this, three more travellers came in looking for lodging, and according to my simple logic, they could take our beds, and can we please have our money back? She refused. We were in the actual room for less than 2 minutes, and they had an entire day to rent three more beds. We actually had to speak to the manager to get our money back, and even then she did not apologize for her employee's rudeness or for the filthiness of her hostel. STAY AWAY!!! — Kate (2004-04-12)