HI - Hartford - Mark Twain Hostel

Quiet
i came to the hostel in jan. '09, only one in the hostel so it was quiet and lonely. but on the bright side i had a whole dorm to myself. the staff are friendly and are helpful. not bad place for an overnight sleep.

Will not stay here again -- Second worst hostel I've ever visited
I have the ability to sleep anywhere, understand the challenges of hosteling in general (lack of space, snoring, late partying, or early rising roommies), and still did not like this hostel. Sadly, this could be a fantastic place! The house is spacious, the two-person room I stayed in was comfortable in terms of space and had a sink in the room, and, yes, the couple running it are nice. But here are some important points. They are listed on the website as accepting credits cards, but when we showed up that was not the case. Cash only we were told. The entire place is dirty and dingy. The furnishings appear to have been purchased from Goodwill or Salvation Army at least a good ten years ago. Not that I expect things to be brand spanking new, but the place has this grandma-died-two-years-ago-and-we-just-closed-up-the-place feel to it. It boasts one of the worst showers on the planet. We stayed on the first floor up, so maybe there are other bathrooms which are decent, but this one was filthy! There was mold everywhere, soap scum, dirt, and the vinyl flooring is curling up off the floor due to water damage. There are signs all over stating that clothing is not to be washed in the tub as it creates a mess. Personally, I don't think that is what is happening. The walls and shower curtain were so disgusting that I showered with the curtain open. I think everyone else did too. Stupidly, I had forgotten shower shoes, so I showered with my socks on and then just threw them away after having touched that grime. There is a bit of a language barrier (more so with the woman than the man, I think). We tried telling her that a car parked out back had left its lights on, she repeated several times that they had "Lots of parking, lots of parking! Street, too!" We gave up after a few minutes. (By the way, there is space for a couple cars at best, but on-street parking seems fine.) Not everything about this hostel is bad, but on the whole I would not stay there again. Luckily, our stay was for one night -- if it had been longer we would have found other accommodations! I've stayed at hostels that range from "fairly awesome" to "not bad" to "ew." This one was "EW!"

Excellent for the purpose intended!
I stayed at the Hostel last weekend and was surprised to find that all the bad reviews I read were totally out of line. The owners were as friendly and helpful as anyone could ask for. Yes, there was a language barrier but that didn't interfere with our plans. I was with a group of students form Johnson State and CCV college of Vermont. We were welcomed in just as though we were family, only making our stay more pleasant. The rooms were clean as were the linens. The bathrooms could have used a bit more TLC but everything doesn't have to be perfect. We had wireless internet access, maps to anywhere we needed to go and yes, the telephone did work because I used it on a daily basis. If you're planning on a summer trip, you might want to be prepared to be rather warm as there is no air conditioning but our stay was comfortable. If you're looking for an affordable, clean, and comfortable place, you've found it at the Mark Twain Hostel!

Decrepit Flop House
Believe what you read here. I thought I would take a chance on this place, but what a mistake! The lighting is dim throughout, every surface is so grimy I was afraid to touch it, and the bathrooms are falling apart. But it's not just the rotting odors (sit in the kitchen before you make a decision) and the filth, it's the fact that this so-called hostel is more of a flop house with long term residents in the dorms. If you fail to heed this warning and think you will take a chance, do yourself a favor, and only pay for one night at a time, because the owner gives no refunds.

This hostel was a mixed bag. On the positive side, it is in an excellent location to explore Hartford, safe and convenient. A charming neighborhood with secure parking. The old Victorian house does have its share of charm. I stayed there in March, and had most of the house to myself -- only one other person staying there. My dorm and bathroom were clean and serviceable. On the negative side, the hosts barely speak English at all, making communication difficult. They are, to be diplomatic, somewhat eccentric, and the office is an ungodly mess, with thousands of magazines, newspapers strewn everywhere in disarray. They also charged more than the amount posted on the website, without explanation. There is a musty odor in the downstairs of the house, not overpowering in winter, but strong enough that I avoided the kitchen and common areas. The hosts have made an attempt to make literature about local attractions available, but much of the literature is old and not maintained well. I would stay in this hostel again under certain circumstances -- during the winter, and if I'm interested in spending a day or two days in Hartford or the close-in suburbs. But I believe in the warm weather I would be better served camping in one of the Connecticut State Parks.

I recently stayed here and found it quite pleasant. I found it fairly clean and the couple who run it were pleasant and helpful. Even though they don't serve breakfast, the woman recommended Mo's, less than a five- minute walk whre you can get an excellent breakfast. There are other places to eat within walking distance. There was a complete bathroom with shower insider the eight-bed dorm and an additional sink in the room. Definitely recommended.

I stayed in many hostelz in the last month, but this one has really been disgusting. The beds are old and its not very clean, but not too bad. But the whole ground floor stinks and I mean it really, really stinks hard. I tried not to breathe going trough the groung floor to get to my room in the second floor. I have never been to the kitchen or the TV room, as this smell is so disgusting. I strongly recommend not to visit this hostel, only because of this smell, but its so disgusting.

My premiere solo stay and hostel experience was here at the Mark Twain Hostel over the past week, as I visited friends in the Hartford area. I overall had a memorable stay at this place that has a great deal of charm and unique flair to the place. The office strewn with stacks of newspapers, towels, and sheets is a complete disaster but the managers know their way around which is what's most important! A tip I can offer is if the cardholder is not traveling if you arrange with them on the phone you can bring a photocopy front and back of the credit card, and they can charge the card with that. I was taken up to my private room which for twenty-five dollars a night (more than the dorm at forty-five dollars) is well worth it! It's a rustic private space that's perfect for the solo traveler. You have a double bed with clean sheets and many blankets of different shapes and sizes (I certainly didn't need in the heat of July but would be ideal for winter travel) and many pillows. I stayed in room sixteen as was told there are nine private rooms in the house. Room sixteen I would highly recommend, on the third floor of the house has a pretty view out the large window looking at the stunning Victorian mansions in the surrounding neighbourhood, and opens easily for fresh air. There's a large table and a couple pub style chairs that worked well for spreading out maps and my travel materials. There's a large three drawer dresser with plenty of storage space, a large two tier side table beside the bed, and plenty of space despite the sloping celings overhead. As seems to be often the case in Connecticut far different from where I live in the region surrounding Canada's biggest city of Toronto there is no central air conditioning. This seems to be very prevelent in many parts of the U.S. practicularly on the East Coast despite America wanting the world to know they are ultramodern, Canada and Europe most times are far more modern especially when it comes to air conditioning. Especially in Canada all our houses, lodgings, and public places are almost always fully air conditioned, it's often taken for granted here. Having grown up always with air conditioning I find the heat to be difficult. However the rooms do have powerful fans, and if you place the fan right in front of the bed on medium or high depending on the humidity you will get a solid breeze and keep cool. To keep food and drinks there is a large stacked fridge and freezer in the hallway that can be used anytime, these are on the second floor too. Just across the hall on the third floor is the bathroom which is shared among the four rooms here. The bathroom is relatively clean and does have a good stock of toilet paper and soap. They will supply you with as many towels as you want. The bathroom especially the bathtub could do with some work as the bathtub area is grimy, it looks worse than it is. New grouting around the tub, shower curtain and a new tile floor would make the bathroom much more inviting. It does the job though and certainly is relatively clean. The Taiwanese couple that manage the hostel are extremely friendly and bubbly. Each morning when I came down grand staircase into the beautiful oak foyer the couple would always greet me and were interested in where I was visiting. They are eager and knowledgeable with local attractions and further afield if you are visiting New Haven, home of Yale University, which I did or New York City. The friendly wife even transferred my laundry and showed me how to form a bag with a towel to carry my laundry up to third floor. The coin operated washers and dryers are in the basement and cost two dollars per load, a dollar for each the washer and dryer. The foyer is plastered in interesting travel brochures of Connecticut and New England, and on the dresser in the private room is a collection of informative and funky travel magazines if you are interested in study abroad and the travel industry as I very much am. The location of the hostel is fantastic, one block away you will find: a Fed Ex with Internet for forty cents a minute, which you can extend any time with the free card they give you and photocopying, a CVS drug store for food and drink, film, stamps, and stationery. In this area along Farmington Avenue you will also find a Mexican, Japanese, Ethiopian, coffee bar, pizza place, and Burger King as well as a small conveinience store and gas station. I ate at the Mexican and Japanese restaurants and having traveled to both Japan and Mexico in the past found the food to be very authentic and reasonably priced with good service. Take any E bus north to downtown Hartford or south to downtown West Hartford, where you can also make bus connections to surrounding towns. For phones, there is a phone in the foyer of the hostel which I tried to use the first morning. The managers are very friendly on showing you how to use the phone but it often cuts out and is a real challenge to use. In the area of the restaurants at the gas station previously mentioned you will find a pair of payphones where you can call collect from or call from (local calls, twenty-five cents, U.S.A. and Canada fifty cents a minute and international seventy-five cents for every three minutes). I used collect call. Making your calls from here is the best as the phone in the hostel is very hard to use. In case of emergency your family and friends can call the hostel's main line in and the managers will put you on the phone. The public phone in the foyer however you should avoid. I met friendly locals and people from Brazil and Austria here, however it is a relatively quiet place you will meet and chat sporadically. In conclusion my first hostelling experience was one I will remember, I would come back anytime despite the phone and bathroom problems.

This place was a blast from the past. To be honest I feel like Hartford youth hostel is still stuck in the 1980s. No bad thing in itself, it's pretty clean the rooms are spacious but not air-conditioned (beware if you're there in July). Theres no internet, the telephone facilities are charmingly antiquated, and most of the leaflets are a good three years old. I had no trouble with the dogs at all. The owners were very sweet and accommodating although sharing a kitchen with them was a bit stressful at times. It's definitely not the most happening place in the world, but its clean, in a quiet neighbourhood with good connections to public transportation which was what I needed.

The rating depends on your expectations and reasons. So in my opinion, it is an appropriate hostel for a student who wants a neat, clean room and spend a few days in Connecticut. I stayed in a big room with ten beds but they weren't occupied all the time in September which means you can have a quiet stay in a really quiet neighborhood. No big problems about the bathrooms or the common areas such as TV room. Kitchen is full with equipments and you can use the refrigirators. The owner is living upstairs with his family, which I consider is a big chance for travellers who want to experience different cultures. They have a dog, yes, but even I wasn't bothered by it, they are kind if you tell them you are scared. We even had a picnic in the rose garden with the family and other residents of the hostel. Since the hostel is very close to the main road, you can easily take a bus to downtown and to the bus station. Once I tried to walk from downtown to the hostel and it was thirty minutes max. Fedex (for internet, quiet expensive), pharmacy, and mall, Burger King and other ethnic stores are one block away. Elizabeth Garden, a wonderful place to relax or take photos, is seven minutes walk. Buses to Simsbury passes by another main road so you will have to walk twenty minutes to take them. Mark Twain House Museum is four blocks away and people of Connecticut are very kind to offer you a drive if you are stuck in the museum because of strong a September rain. Last thing is a must -- Tisane! A café, only one block away, famous for its various types of teas and three cheese fondue! Try it, you won't be regretful for that!

This is the most disgusting place I've ever seen. They forgot my reservation, the office is a total mess, the whole "hostel" smells and the sinks are dirty as hell. The hosts won't refund you your money - so have a look into your room first. If you argue with them then especially the husband is getting very angry and impolite. If you want to wash your laundry you have to go into the basement and to surpass excrements from their two dogs. I give you one good advice: STAY AWAY FROM THAT PLACE!

No. It's not a nice place. It's the dirtiest, most disgusting place I've ever been to so far, and I stayed at a hostel in Bangladesh, for Christ's sake! The entire building reeks of stale Chinese food. The bathrooms were full of old soap, dead bugs, no toilet paper, and dirty magazines on the floor. They will NOT help you with anything at all, even if you ask politely. Use the phone, they say, but the phone doesn't work. Idiots. Stay away. Please.

A VERY nice Asian husband and wife own the house. They are more than accommodating, and willing to give you directions to just about anywhere in and out of town (although, be forewarned, since they are locals and don't speak English very well, they don't use street names!) It is definitely a hostel when it comes to cleanliness: the front office is so crammed with stuff, papers strewn everywhere, that by the time you get to your room you are glad that the rooms are fairly clean and Spartan. (I was a bit worried walking in!!!) There is also a very odd smell in the hallways and in the downstairs area. However, my dorm room on the second floor did not smell at all, and I was very happy about this. Despite having dorm rooms, this hostel has more of a hotel-like atmosphere. Having traveled around Canada and Europe using the hostel system (and also to Boston), I found this hostel lacks the discussion between travelers, as no one used the common room while I was there to trade stories. If you go alone, it was kind of lonely just staying around the house, because it is situated in a residential neighborhood that is perhaps one of the wealthiest city neighborhoods I have ever seen in my life!!! It's a very safe and very nice neighborhood! About five minutes driving distance up the main road you will run into a trendy shopping/bar/restaurant area. Check it out, very cool and filled with college students from U Conn.! (the campus is very near the hostel) Don't miss walking to the Elizabeth rose gardens to watch either the sunset or sunrise at Sunrise Lookout. It is well worth the ten to fifteen minute walk. Of course you can't miss the houses of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe. These places were very fascinating. Overall, I would have to say that the hostel's location and its nice owners are its strongest points. Parking is available in the back for free.

Nice staff (unfortunately they have some problems with the English language). The hostel is OK. It was a nice Victorian style mansion. It's not so close to downtown, but who wants to go there anyway, 'cause Hartford isn't great. The Mark Twain house is OK, but that's about it.