The excellent, friendly service starts just after booking at Chester Backpackers Hostel, this lively backpacker hostel in a typical Chester-style house just a couple of blocks away from the Chester Rows. Not long after your booking has been received, you will get an email welcoming you to the hostel and asking for your approximate arrival time so that a member of staff will be available to meet you.
The friendly and helpful manager, Kath, met us and showed us around instead of simply saying you're in dorm B and pointing vaguely in some direction. It's a nice touch.
Getting to the hostel takes about five minutes walking from the amphitheatre ruins where the National Express buses stop (walk away from the ruins along the road, turn left, then right at the Pizza Hut/Nokia) and is close to the train station. Sure, the area isn't that charming (and there are underpasses or "subways," which may be a little creepy), but it is incredibly close to most of Chester's sites.
Although the dorms are quite large, they are split up by dividing walls. They're hardly cosy, but the beds are comfortable and, despite the hostel's party atmosphere, the rooms are quiet. An excellent self-catering kitchen and pay phones are also available.
There are tonnes of places for socialising -- the main lounge at the entrance where you can watch movies or have a chat (there will be tons of beer cans around, some even in dorms, but the party doesn't get brought into the rooms) and a number of patios (which are the only places where smoking is allowed).
The bathrooms downstairs are quite clean and brightly painted. The showers are good and there is space to hang up clothes in the cubicles.
The hostel is walking distance from all the sights, social (but also quiet enough in the dorms if you want to sleep), clean, comfortable, and run by a friendly bunch of staff. It's definitely worth staying here if you visit the beautiful town of Chester.
— Exklusive Hostelz.com Übersicht
September 2007
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