Shuyuan International Hostel

My husband and I stayed here for a few nights in a double room with our own shower. We would not recommend this hostel for several reasons. Information -- they do not have very much information on trains, planes, Xi'an, or phone cards. Isn't information supposed to be the strength of a hostel? Rooms -- the rooms are dingy and old with uncomfortable beds. Noise -- this is the noisiest place we have stayed in in all of Asia. The women working there are shouting loudly by 7 a.m. every morning and keep going until after midnight, the travelers are drinking in the courtyards past 1 a.m., the dog is usually barking in the morning plus the doors to the rooms have to be slammed to shut them. Construction -- still going on and adds to the noise. Food -- ordered breakfast one morning and the toast was soggy wet. No cleaning -- this is particularly gross when you consider that you can't flush your toilet paper down the toilet so it stays in your room until you vacate. Laundry -- there are no facilities for you to do it yourself so someone there does it for you. The problem is there is no dryer so they hang it on the bannister of the courtyard. Ours was hung out during the rain and when we found it people were leaning against it smoking. That about covers the lowlights. The only plus was the price. Find somewhere else to stay in Xi'an!

Unfortunatly i arrived at night into Xi'an and finding the place was rather difficult what with road works/development on the go. However, that being said i cannot fault this establishment. The staff spoke excellent English, and were great company, the food catered for everyone and was of a high standard, and the rooms were what i needed (a bed and air conditioning after a long hot day). The courtyards in the centre of the building were fantastic at two a.m. for a quiet drink. I originally intended on staying for only the two nights but i met some really genuinly nice folks here from all walks of life, and even after six nights i was sad to be leaving. Anybody who passes this way definitely check in.

Culture of the old Xian combine in the essence of the people and staff of this Magical hostel. Thure owner general shows the real deal of adventure and how travelling and backpacking experience should be. Complete with all amenities a traveller could ask for a perfect meal to start and finish your tired days and feel complete soulful on the meal experience. The chef is an excellent tourguide to your palates requirements, take a trip to the zones of flavours and cultures right in their kitchen to your table complete with the brew of the emperors. Friendly front desk host to happily show you tell you where to go as they excitedly direct your days like they are coming with you on your tour. Any questions to helping you out on flight bookings to anything they wont stop. The house keeping staff will greet you with lovely smiles and gestures and magically turn your dirty clothes to near new. The restaurant floor staff the ambassador of the restaurants they will serve you with a smile no matter what, so a tip wont hurt your pocket be generous right to the kitchen chefs. The in house masseuese, a gentleman and a scholar, one of the best example of real china man in this modern era, informative and excellent hands for relief for your aching back. This place is a place fit for an emperor so if you're a true hearted adventurer in china head to Xian favourite hostel youl'll will love it and defintely a sure return ticket back to china!

The hygene standard of the shared showers and toilets really drag the rating of this hostel down -- perhaps it is better in en-suite rooms because the showers and especially the toilets were plain dirty and not very nice to use. The quality of hostels in China has improved greatly from when I first came in 2003 -- the quality in Beijing probably being the highest -- but they have stayed at the basic level in this hostel which I have stayed both in 2003 and 2006. Location is excellent though.

I had a great time at Shuyuan hostel. The room was fine, had a good shower and decent restaurant. The staf was very friendly and helpful. I forgot the charger for my camera at the room and two weeks later (didn't know I forgot it there) I sent them an email about it and they answered me the next day. They organised someone who was coming to Shanghai to bring it with him and I recovered it the charger one week later in Shanghai.

In our experience, there are two types of hostels: the type that are in business to get as much money as they can from you for the least amount of comfort and service, and the type that truly welcome travelers and try to give you a positive experience. This hostel was definitely of the latter ilk. The staff were exceedingly helpful and friendly, and were genuinely interested in learning more about different cultures and places, as well as teaching us about theirs. We stayed in a double room with a private bathroom. Although the beds can be a little hard and the bathrooms could use a good anti-mildew scrubbing, the convenient location and great staff balanced out the shortcomings. I recommend it if you want a quiet, welcoming retreat, especially after spending the day being hassled by every hawker and beggar on the street because you're a "lao wai" (foreigner).

We were here in late October and unfortunately the perfectly preserved exterior of the building had succumbed to the bulldozers. We went out one morning and returned to find a pile of rubble where the front door had been, which we had to climb over to get in! They are renovating the building in the traditional style so after a few months things should be back to normal, and despite the crumbling exterior, it was a well run, clean and friendly place to stay. And they were giving out free dumplings and beer to compensate for the inconvenience.

We were here in late October and unfortunately the perfectly preserved exterior of the building had succumbed to the bulldozers. We went out one morning and returned to find a pile of rubble where the front door had been, which we had to climb over to get in! They are renovating the building in the traditional style so after a few months things should be back to normal and despite the crumbling exterior, it was a well run, clean and friendly place to stay. And they were giving out free dumplings and beer to compensate for the inconvenience.

Friendly Staff. Good services. Variety of accomodations. Surprisingly decent food for a hostel (great pizza and breakfast). Book sharing library. And a lot of people from a lot of places make it a good atmosphere. This place has character.

We stayed here for a week. The rooms were nice and clean, although the toilets weren't the best. The owner was helpful and there was a friendly atmosphere. It was a great place to meet new people, especially on the dumpling night!

The staff were friendly and helpful. There's a bar onsite (you decide if this is good or bad). Great place to meet other travelers. Bring your own toilet paper. A tasty western breakfast is available.

This place was dirty, noisy - one of the worst hostels I've ever been to.

I rate this hostel 5 stars because out of all of the places I have stayed in China, this was the best. I was traveling alone and it provided an awesome atmosphere to meet people. Xi'an leaves a little to be desired (besides the terracota soldiers) but the hostel and a trip to HuaShan made up for it. Hua Shan is best hiked at midnight (arriving about 5 in the morning for the sunrise). This hostel gave us the info and the environment to find fellow hikers. Awesome.

I got a double room w/ a private bath for $17 a night. A great deal. The staff were really nice, and the location is great.

Lovely old chinese style hostel. The staff were great and full English breakfast is available (or as near as you can get in China). The room we stayed in had 2 double bunks, the matresses were quite thin, but thicker than the ones we had in Beijing. The decor is minmal with untreated concrete floors in the rooms (ours anyway). Lockers are provided in the rooms. One problem was the cold, we arrived in October and the heating wasn't on and with it being a courtyard didn't get very warm. Also the toilets are in with the showers and if you've seen chinese lavvys, they can get quite smelly not pleasant when your showering. however saying this it is typical of a lot of cheaper hostels in China. they claim to pick you up from the station, and indeed they did. The staff even tok us to the ticket office on the way back from the station and bought our onward ticket for us. They also gave us a lift back to the station when we left. We had an enjoyable few days there, and would recommend it for it's price, if you are not to worried about standards (but thats China in general).