3 Ducks Hostel

Not up to standards! Terrible!
This is the worst hostel i have ever stayed in (and i do not consider myself to be a difficult person). All I can say is that this hostel does not even come close to meeting basic hostel standards! First off, the rooms are way over cramped with too many beds -- there is simply no room to do anything in there, even changing is difficult. The hostel is also very dirty, even though they have a lockout time every day for many hours. It is a small hostel, cleaning should not have been a problem with the hostel being empty. It is a beaten down hostel, windows and doors half broken, offering no peace of mind for security. (we got some stuff stolen too!). It is impossible to sleep as they do not limit the noise inside the rooms as they should. I really do not recommend this place, not even for meeting people.

Basic facilities, not very clean, noisy, and disrespectful staff.
We stayed here for six days and I have a bit of advice for anyone coming. Bring earplugs unless you plan on getting drunk and passing out, which plenty of people do, and do not come here if you are older than twenty-five. If you are a grown-up, somebody from the staff will tell you that you don't belong to this place. They will not refund the money you have paid in advance, and you will be harassed by an unfriendly employee. There is only one key for each room so you basically have to leave the room unlocked if you're sleeping and not everyone is there. I would absolutely not stay at this hostel again and would not recommend it to anyone.

I think that 3 Ducks hostel is a pretty standard hostel. The courtyard was great for meeting people and just generally chilling out. The rooms were ok, the beds basic but comfortanble, and the bathrooms were clean but small. The bar was smaller than i expected but still cool for an afternoon drink after a long day of sightseeing. And after comparing the prices with other bars, it is cheaper to get a pint at 3 ducks. The Location is great as it's only a short walk to the eiffel tower and to the Fat tire bike tour shop (handy if you plan on doing one of their tours which are great by the way). The only complaint would be security, i felt a little uneasy leaving my bags in the luggage room as it seemed anybody coud walk in and grab them, but i had no problems whilst there. I would definitely stay there again.

The best part of this hostel was its atmosphere. It was always filled with youth and they were always having a great time at the bar or eating the crappy free breakfast. There were two computers with free Internet that ran fine it is just that someone else was usually using them. The hostel is far away from the center of Paris and requires you to hop on the metro in order to get somewhere fast. The metro can be heard every now and then but is so faint that it is not a problem at all. The beds are standard and after traveling around Europe with my friends a bed with some old sheets was nothing to complain about. The bathrooms served their purpose but were nothing extraordinary.

i loved the hostel. it's got a great bar to meet people, i met five aussies four years ago and i am still friends with them. if you are looking for some swank place then don't go to a hostel in the first place. its cozy, has loads of character, and is a basic hostel. if you want an experience then stay here.

I think people who moaned about the 3 Ducks arent cut out for traveling. you've got to make the best of any situation. I stayed here for about four nights for my eighteenth birthday in november '06 with two friends under eighteen and a twenty-year-old. the surrounding place is really lovely, quintessentially french and there are plenty of cheap bakeries to buy something from if the baguette and jam served for breakfast wasnt enough for you, which was great. the showers werent that cold and i was there in november! Our room, the door wouldnt lock from the inside because it was broken and we freaked out and tried to get the guy to fix it but he was a total waste of space (like when we left for the airport at 5 a.m. and needed to get our passports, the moaning git) so we used our female brains and tied the door handle to one of the bunks and hell it worked but after two nights there we realised we didnt even need it, it was such a friendly atmosphere and group of people, young people traveling basically. (you get the odd couple of losers in the bar cause it's public but they cant go into the courtyard) we were lucky as we had four people and got a four bunk room, but sharing wouldnt kill anyone and taking your earplugs is common sense even if you are staying with friends. Friends snore too! personally the sound of the metro didnt bother me at all, i liked it and its definitely not loud enough to keep you up. the place was clean enough for me too (and im easily grossed out) we also found a lovely chinese restaurant across the square which was great and not expensive. given you can't see the eiffel tower (as we managed to walk in the opposite direction to get to it in the dark for about three hours!) it's still a fantastic french place and definitely worth going. dont bother spending money on any other hostel when you can save it to see some of the sights, i mean thats where you spend most of your time isnt it! overall i really enjoyed my stay at the 3 ducks and i would go back, if you look for things that are bad then you're going to find them anywhere. this place was fine and safe. I feel I owe it to this little hostel to let other people know i met some lovely people here, was safe, felt safe, and approved of it because people moan too much. its hostel, not hotel.

After I read some comments on the hostel I knew that there was no need to write something too, but I have to say too how horrible the place was. We stayed here for three nights after New Years Eve in 2004 as we couldn't find anything else for less money. It was extremely expensive for what we found. The place might be ok in summer when you can use the courtyard but in winter it was just horrible cold and it was just a strange, open to the wind and the cold place. We had a six-people dorm and another room was only accessible through our room so much about security. We had a shower in our room but I can't remember anyone having a shower as the water was so cold. As the other said: don't stay there. Paris is an expensive town but there must be something better!

Well, we stayed here for three days and I have a bit of advice for anyone coming. Bring earplugs unless you plan on getting drunk and passing out, which plenty of people do. Now I'm no stranger to hostels as I have been traveling for almost nine months now, and this was by far the worst. The hostel is close to the Metro which is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing should be self explanitory the curse is that your walls shake every fifteen minutes or so as the trains go by. There is no security, which is the point I wish to drive home as implimenting some would not be a problem. I have stayed in hostels that only had one key per room before, but they always required some form of identification to get it back. Here all you had to do was walk in and request a key and it was given to you. They wanted you to keep your valubles in the same place as the keys which I didn't do since I saw how easy it was to get the keys. The luggage room has no lock nor any security cammeras or lockers. The kitchen is shabby at best -- two hot plates and an oven, very few dishes and I only saw one bowl and no plates. Also if possible get a room on the top floor as I stayed there and the showers and toilets were infinitely cleaner than those that opened into the courtyard. Breakfast was good and the staff were very helpful and nice, which was redeeming. But it couldn't make up for the complete lack of security.

I recently stayed at the 3 Ducks for a week and had the time of my life! Ok, so the facilities are extremely basic. The rooms are covered in graffiti and can be very noisy thanks to the rumbling metro tunnel below and noise from the bar until 2 a.m. However, what makes this place so great are the cool, friendly people you will meet in the bar. I had such fun meeting so many interesting travellers from all over the world. The location is also very good, close to a couple of metro stations and in a nice part of Paris. If you are a solo traveller and party animal (like me) this is an ideal place to crash and meet some cool people. If you are after the Ritz and a full eight hours' sleep, then look elsewhere.

Horrible hostel. The bathrooms are outside and not well-maintained, and I didn't see showers anywhere (though I didn't look). Linens are NOT free. "Breakfast" is a baguette that you can put butter or jelly on, and coffee. They ran out of baguettes the second day I was there. The noise from the bar (and there's a lot of it, between voices and music in that tiny cramped space) at night carries up to the rooms so that it's hard to sleep. There is only one key for each room so you basically have to leave the room unlocked if you're sleeping and not everyone is there. The luggage room doesn't lock. The only redeeming value of this place is that the bed and pillow were comfy so I could actually fall asleep once the noise from the bar stopped. I would absolutely NOT stay at this hostel again and would not recommend it to anyone.

I stayed at the Three Ducks three times throughout the years. In all different seasons I found that this little hostel is always filled with diverse friendly people. The breakfast is excellent and the beer is cheap. The lockout stinks but at least you can see the Tower put on it's light show before having to get back (only a 10-15 minute walk). I have great memories there!

I stayed at the 3 Ducks in 1996 and was about to book again for August 2005 but after reading these posts have changed my mind. Part of the reason for wanting to go back was to put some bad memories to rest as last time I stayed there I had one of the worst experiences of my life. I wasn't put off by the bad noise, dirty bathrooms etc., and I loved the party atmosphere, but I feel obliged to tell any girls (or guys) thinking of staying there to think again. I was sleeping in a dorm of about 10 girls when in the middle of the night I was awoken by a guy crouched next to my bed with his hand down my sleeping bag, and he wasn't going for my passport. Luckily I woke up, yelled "get away" and he took off. All the girls woke up as I made a bit of a fuss, but they thought I'd been having a bad dream. My sister took me to reception as I needed to convince myself that it had just happened. The guy on front desk confirmed my description of a man in his 30's with curly black hair and wearing a denim jacket had just bolted out of the place. Apparently he is a local and it wasn't the first time he'd been seen lurking around. I consider myself very lucky that I only lost a few nights sleep over it, and after reading so many bad reports on the place I now wish I'd reported it to the police. Perhaps someone should at least call the health department.

I stayed in this hostel for two nights in April 2005. I was surprised to find such a hostel in Paris, which is one of the most famous cities in the world. This is the worst hostel that I have ever been to. The condition of the hostel is old and it's badly managed. The doors of the rooms are half broken, giving me the impression that anyone could just easily break in your room if they wan. The room is old and dingy, and the toilets and shower rooms open to the courtyard, the least privacy ever. There is no toilet paper in one of the toilets and the water flow in both shower rooms was stuck when I was there. Without noticing that, I accidentally stepped my foot inside the tub where the water stuck. Yuck, it's really disgusting! The location is great and the staff are nice and helpful, but I would say it is really a rip off. The owner of the hostel really has got to do something to improve the condition of the hostel for people to make it worth their money.

How do you make money with an ugly place in a fabulous metropolis? That's the Three Ducks: ugly, small, with only one toilet for 20 people. It's dark. Breakfast is in a smelly café that serves also as the check in, and it's a noisy place in the evening!!! This is a place to avoid. It's the worst place I've ever slept in.

The complaints here are not just from spoiled or high maintenance people. The place is SOOOO bad. If all you want to do is party, you can pass out here and won't know the difference, but if you want to sleep, even an hour or two, this place is not for you. The people are so loud, until four or five in the morning. People are suppossed to stay in the bar to drink but they spill out into the courtyard that borders all the rooms. The rooms are about as large as a VW beetle, and how they fit four beds in there defies the laws of physics. The showers are not only the most disgusting in Europe, but are OUTSIDE---And so cold. The rooms smelled like pee, and, of course, there were bedbugs galore. There are plenty of cheap hostels in Paris, many cheaper than three ducks, so dont waster your money here.