The Hostelz.com Review
The Bauhaus Hostel in Bruges is relatively clean, up-kept, and in an excellent location. But it may not be the best choice, depending on what you're looking for.
The Bauhaus is a large hostel with a bar. Or perhaps it should more accurately be called a bar that also happens to have hostel rooms upstairs. The bar is very much the focal point of the place, and it's where you check in (which may take a while since the receptionist is also the bartender, so you may have to wait to check in while people in the bar order their drinks). Unfortunately there is absolutely no common space anywhere in the hostel (not even a kitchen) except for the bar, which is often smoky and crowded with locals since it's open to the general public. And outside food isn't allowed in the bar area since they want you to buy the food they serve there (which is good but overpriced). But having said that, the bar can be a fun place to hang out and it may be a good place to meet people on most nights.
There are a fair number of restaurants and cafes nearby. The bar serves a simple breakfast in the mornings – which includes various breads, hard-boiled eggs, and tea, coffee, chocolate, and various juices. You need to request and pay for breakfast when you check-in (sometimes you are charged automatically, so make sure you pay for it only if you want it). Other meals range from around €8 – 12. The bar is also where luggage storage is – in the closed part of the bar until individual rooms are cleaned and ready. When rooms are ready, there is no lockout, so if it's raining all day, there is somewhere to take shelter.
There are no lockers in the rooms, but the rooms have locks. Unfortunately there is only one key per room, so whenever you want to get into your room you need to ask for the key at the bar (which can take a while if the bar is busy). If one of your roommates has the key and they happen to be in the shower or they wandered off, you may find yourself locked out for a while.
The rooms are clean and up-kept. Beds are comfortable and clean. Bathrooms are down the hall, while the showers may be on a different floor than your room. The rooms are great except for a few small drawbacks. First, there is quite a lot of traffic noise from the busy street below from early in the morning until late at night if the room faces the street. Secondly, also in terms of noise, the walls between the rooms are somewhat thin, meaning neighbour-noise is to be somewhat expected. Finally, the showers are those where the button has to constantly be pressed again and again to get water, and it does sometimes take awhile to get any warm water.
Location is a big bonus of this hostel. From the hostel, it is only about 10 to 15 minutes to the Markt or Burg Squares, where most of the tourist attractions are located. It is further from the train station, but easy to catch the bus from the train station either to Markt Square, or down the street of the hostel. To get back to the train station, it's simply a matter of waiting just down the street from the hostel for the bus that takes you directly there. Altogether, this is a great hostel that offers somewhere clean, comfortable, and reasonably quiet to relax before more exploring the next day.
The Bauhaus is a large hostel with a bar. Or perhaps it should more accurately be called a bar that also happens to have hostel rooms upstairs. The bar is very much the focal point of the place, and it's where you check in (which may take a while since the receptionist is also the bartender, so you may have to wait to check in while people in the bar order their drinks). Unfortunately there is absolutely no common space anywhere in the hostel (not even a kitchen) except for the bar, which is often smoky and crowded with locals since it's open to the general public. And outside food isn't allowed in the bar area since they want you to buy the food they serve there (which is good but overpriced). But having said that, the bar can be a fun place to hang out and it may be a good place to meet people on most nights.
There are a fair number of restaurants and cafes nearby. The bar serves a simple breakfast in the mornings – which includes various breads, hard-boiled eggs, and tea, coffee, chocolate, and various juices. You need to request and pay for breakfast when you check-in (sometimes you are charged automatically, so make sure you pay for it only if you want it). Other meals range from around €8 – 12. The bar is also where luggage storage is – in the closed part of the bar until individual rooms are cleaned and ready. When rooms are ready, there is no lockout, so if it's raining all day, there is somewhere to take shelter.
There are no lockers in the rooms, but the rooms have locks. Unfortunately there is only one key per room, so whenever you want to get into your room you need to ask for the key at the bar (which can take a while if the bar is busy). If one of your roommates has the key and they happen to be in the shower or they wandered off, you may find yourself locked out for a while.
The rooms are clean and up-kept. Beds are comfortable and clean. Bathrooms are down the hall, while the showers may be on a different floor than your room. The rooms are great except for a few small drawbacks. First, there is quite a lot of traffic noise from the busy street below from early in the morning until late at night if the room faces the street. Secondly, also in terms of noise, the walls between the rooms are somewhat thin, meaning neighbour-noise is to be somewhat expected. Finally, the showers are those where the button has to constantly be pressed again and again to get water, and it does sometimes take awhile to get any warm water.
Location is a big bonus of this hostel. From the hostel, it is only about 10 to 15 minutes to the Markt or Burg Squares, where most of the tourist attractions are located. It is further from the train station, but easy to catch the bus from the train station either to Markt Square, or down the street of the hostel. To get back to the train station, it's simply a matter of waiting just down the street from the hostel for the bus that takes you directly there. Altogether, this is a great hostel that offers somewhere clean, comfortable, and reasonably quiet to relax before more exploring the next day.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
July 2004
Their Description
St. Christopher's Inn - Bauhaus Hostel Details
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St. Christopher's Inn - Bauhaus Hostel Reviews from the WebHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Decent hostel, good bar, adequate breakfast, bad restaurant. A bit far from the train station but the whole town is quite small. A few buses stop close by, bus drivers are very friendly and can tell you how to get there. Staff are quite friendly and informative, interesting mix of people from around the world! Breakfast is a couple of rolls, some butter and jam, a hardboiled egg or two, some cold cuts and cheese, tea/coffee. It is served in the restaurant. It gets VERY busy at breakfast, please be nice to the staff as they try to keep up! The restaurant itself is not that great. For the same price you can eat out and have a better meal. The bar is cozy and warm, the crowd, well that depends on the guests, most of them were great conversation and interesting, though there were a few whiners but that isn't the hostel's fault. Bathrooms and showers are as clean as you can expect for the numbers they serve. — Yulgene , Canada (2012-05-14) Quite disappointed i chose this hostel because the one in London was great. however this time i didn't have a pleasant stay. there was no hot water for shower, only a bit warm water, the music from the bar downstairs was so loud that i couldn't sleep. also, there was something wrong with the system so they made a mistake with the number of beds available in my room which took an hour to settle down. — Anonymous (2011-05-10) St. Christopher's Inn Bruges Belgium The private room en-suite I was in was very clean and quite roomy. Breakfast was included and ok, provided you arrived early. The thing is it was impossible to sleep in this place because of the central heating system which seems to have been inadequately installed. Then the noise erupting from the pipes every 30 minutes prevented any sound sleep. There was also the lack of common room and guest kitchen and there wasn't even a microwave on sight! Plus, the TV which was supposed to work didn't and then food in the restaurant was just as pricey as everywhere else in town. Staff was nice but not helpful at all. — May , France (2011-02-26) Helpful staff Very good, friendly, helpful, and professional staff. They found my lost wallet. Note there are two entrances -- in a bar and a reception two houses away. I stayed in a room of eight beds with two other people divided into to parts with one sink. But you had to change floor for the showers. — Jéronimo , France (2007-05-31) stayed at the bauhaus in january '06. Place was great, especially the bar. people were great. we'll be back in '07. best stay in our trip to europe. — darren & danielle, australia (2006-08-20) This is more like a great bar with a hostel attached. The rooms are spacious and the beds are good, but depending on the room you are in the noise from the bar can be a bit intrusive. The place also needed a bit of plumbing work. Great staff who are always happy to help and show you what Bruges has to offer, and which Belgium beer to drink. I would stay there again. — M Davidson (2006-05-20) This hostel has a pretty decent social atmosphere and had I stayed in a dorm room perhaps my overall opinion would have been different. However, I did not stay in a dorm room because my reservation got messed up. Instead my brother and I were put in a private room that really smelled and had a shower that only produced scalding hot water. I was laughing hysterically at the sounds of my brother's shouts during his shower until I had to experience it for myself. Maybe the dorm rooms are better, but the private rooms are not too great. — Catherine (2006-03-27) Our room was on the main floor — behind the bar. The patio doors (which do not lock) opened to a beautiful view of recycling and garbage storage. It was smelly (from the leaky sink and the carpet in addition to the garbage) and untidy. The closest toilet was shared with the public pub-goers and was frequently out of toilet paper. The staff were friendly, but, certainly more interested in bartending and breaking up bar-fights than providing helpful information or service. Bruges is a beautiful place — the walking tours on the Bahaus Web site are fantastic!! We also suggest hiring a bike for a day and riding to Knokke. — Dr. Donna, Canada (2005-09-20) The location of this hostel is good, but not perfect. The breakfast is not included in the price. There are no common places and no kitchen facilities. The showers are very clean, but the water was scalding hot. We stayed in August and we expected the hostel to be full of people, but it was mysteriously empty (we only meet three Italian girls). It's a good hostel for a night. (Bruges is a beautiful small village that could be visited in a day.) — Ivan GS (2005-09-05) Beds were clean, bathrooms were decent too. Except for the fact that you had to either constantly hold the button to get water or go without because it gave only five seconds worth of water. Bathroom smelled of urine, although looked clean. Bar was hopping with loud music vibrations felt through the floor until about midnight. Seemed like a very lively place. Don't use their internet facility - it's exorbitant, but there is a cheap place further down Langestraat. Walking distance to old city center but a long one. Decent for what you pay, certainly could be much worse. — Maya (2005-07-23) Location is a bit out of the way, but still in the Old Centre. Staff are pleasant, but busy because reception is at the bar/restaurant. The room I had was spacious, clean and comfortable, quite nice for a hostel dorm. Comfortable mattress, cozy duvet. Got a few good nights' sleep there. Between two large windows and a hot water heater, it was easy to regulate the temperature within the room. Showers seemed clean enough, but they were difficult to find, you have to keep pressing the button to keep the water coming, and every time I showered, the water eventually became scalding hot. Breakfast (in the wonderfully atmospheric bar): hard-boiled eggs, rolls, butter, jam, cereal, tea, coffee. I'd definitely stay there again. — Jessy (2005-04-21) This is a great place with LOADS of atmosphere. The bar is relaxed and atmospheric, and the meals are the best to be found in any hostel anywhere in Europe. I experienced no noise problems, despite being in the room which fronted onto the street and was directly above the bar. In fact, there were folks sleeping in there in the afternoon with no ill effects. On the down side, the communal showers are barely functional and lack privacy. Also, if you don't like hard-boiled eggs, you'll find breakfast to be unsatisfactory. — Fester (2005-03-30) I have stayed here four times. Great staff. Patrick and gang are great. Good food, good fun. Security is the guest's responsibility. Why should the hostel be responsible for passports, money, etc., when guests indulge in Belgium beer? Very clean rooms and clean towels each day. The town is a 15-minute walk but the atmosphere in the bar each night is great. Why go to town? Thank you, Patrick and staff. — Chris (2005-03-26) Make sure you go down the hall to find the good showers — some of them are disgusting. Also, there were no towels or soap provided for us. The bar is loud until 4 a.m., but the hostel has a good location, pretty clean linens, and it's easy to find (there's a bus stop right down the street). — Anonymous (2005-01-25) This place had good food at the bar, and friendly staff. The showers were awful, but the ambiance was pretty good. I got a good night's sleep here, but the hostel wasn't very crowded. — Anonymous (2004-11-04)