Housed in an old brewery just across the river from the enormous Carlisle Castle, the Carlisle YHA is at the end of the long distance hike through the Lake District, the Cumbria Way.
For the price of a dorm bed you can have a very clean single with your own sink and amenities you share with seven others in your pod. The hallway may remind you of the movie "The Matrix" because there are twelve identical doors leading off it. One goes to the fully equipped kitchen, two to bathrooms (one with a bath!), and the rest to dormlike bedrooms. Unlike older hostels, there are tons of outlets to recharge cell phones or other electronics.
There is absolutely no ambiance once you enter the buildings -- no posters displaying local info, no signs welcoming you to Carlisle and directing you to the best pub. Unless someone is hanging out in the kitchen, it's very difficult to meet other residents. There isn't a telephone in the pod, and we couldn't find one in the whole building. There is a pay phone/vending machines/TV room/computer in the building where you check in (open 5 to11 p.m.) and check out (open 8 to 10 a.m.). Since this is a separate building, it's a little inconvenient to make the trek back and forth to your pod, especially if you're up several flights.
There were quite a few spiders in our room (which stayed up on the ceiling and left us alone), but it's otherwise very clean. The light in the bathroom had burned out during our stay, but the friendly management was very willing to come fix it once we told them about the problem.
— Exklusive Hostelz.com Übersicht
November 2006
Ort/Kontakt
