Golden Sickle Hostel

Party palace!
usually i avoid places with lots of one star ratings, but having stayed here before (for quite some time) i really had to laugh! too many signs? maybe too many people doing stupid things in the first place? slow internet? well, at least its free. ill agree that things arent five-star with five hundred-count sheets or whatever but it has a great vibe, fun staff, top location, and not to mention the wicked underground bar next door. i give it five stars, i had the time of my life.

Avoid!
The Golden Sickle is in a pretty good location, but that's about where the positives end. The receptionist was very rude and always angry, just waiting for the end of her shift when she can go get high at the bar next door. On check-out day the reception was locked, no staff were working, and we had left deposits for the keys. A couple of Aussies were also waiting, and they had left their passports as deposits (don't do that!). About ten minutes later, rude receptionist lady strolls back in with her McDonald's breakfast, and doesn't even care that four people are already late for their trains. There was one toilet and two showers shared among eighteen people, and neither of the bathrooms locked. Some nice person did make a sign to flip on the door when you are in there though. I felt bad for the people who paid more for a four-person dorm, since another fourteen people walked through their room to get to the back rooms. Horrible hostel, avoid at all costs!

A nice place with a mellow vibe.
I wound up staying at the Golden Sickle for longer than anticipated and thought that staying for a prolonged period in a hostel would drive me crazy. I have to say though that the Golden Sickle is one of the better places to stay in Europe. Of course it's a hostel so you're not gonna get room service and stuff like that, but the staff is super helpful and friendly on top of that. The location is fantastic, especially with a top notch bar next door, the guests are generally great. All in all I have to rate this place as excellent. It's safe, it's centrally located, the staff is great! I've actually had as much fun with the staff here as I've had with guests, and I think that's the strongest element of this place. It's people that make a place and this hostel has a high concentration of really great people in and around it.

Bad Hostel! Unfriendly, rude staff. Rooms in poor state of repair.
A very strict, rule-ridden hostel. There are signs up for absolutely everything, basic common sense stuff, like close doors, don't make noise after 9 p.m., don't sit on radiators, and it creates a real negative atmosphere. Found the staff, with the exception of the night watchman, to be very rude, unaccommodating, and unhelpful. Arrived at midday after a very early flight to be told abruptly that we couldn't check-in until 2 p.m., this is not mentioned on the website or in the confirmation of the booking. The room was ok, except for the broken shower (detached from the wall) and the terrible state of the flimsy beds. My friend actually broke his bed by sitting down and we were charged 50Euros for its replacement. We protested that it was an accident and were flat-out told we were lying. I mentioned the overbearing abundance of signs displayed, the only one needed is one on the front door stating "Don't Stay Here." I'll second the slow internet comments and about them making your beds. well I've been home a week already and I doubt they've made it yet.

Don't stay there. Horrible mattress. Extremely slow internet. Filthy toilets without lock in the doors.

I was extremely dissatisfied with this hostel. First of all, the mattresses were old and stained with who knows what. The comforters looked like they hadn't been cleaned in ages -- yellow stains and all. The kitchen was a joke a table and a sink, that's all. There were ten lockers for twelve beds so two people didn't get a locker. When the two of us checked in, the receptionist brings us into our room and as she is showing us our beds, is ripping the used sheets from the last person off. She hands us our bed sheets and walks out. As we are putting sheets on one of the beds she directed us to, a girl comes up and informs us that is her bed! We ended up having to share one bed the entire time we were there! This hostel is extremely disorganized. There were no locks on the bathroom, but I didnt want to use it anyways. The toilet only worked some of the time, the rest of the time it was filled with all the things a toilet would be filled with and it stank horribly! One of our roommates puked all over the bathroom and the cleaning lady mopped the floor but did not clean the puke covered toilet. Some of the receptionists were nice, others were extremely rude. One receptionist kicked my friend out of our dorm that she had reserved. The receptionist said she had to get her stuff out and leave, but only after going back down and going through her logs did she realize that my friend had a reservation! The free internet was nice, but if you don't have alot of time to spend waiting for things to load, I suggest you go and pay for a decent computer. All in all, this is the absolute worst hostel I have been to, and would not recommend it to anyone.

Good hostel in excellent location for getting into the heart of Prague. Nice and affordable, with relatively comfy rooms. Toilets and showers ok. Best avoid the breakfast. Security is not bad — having lockers is essential as you have one door key to two dorms. Wouldn't recommend it if you are after early nights and good sleep, as there is always noise or people come in late drunk. They walk through your room to get to theirs (guilty as charged —sorry to the guys I woke up 3 nights running), and the cellar bar next to the hostel never seems to shut, Good beer in here, and a brilliant table foosball room. Duvet and linen is provided, although the towels are more like hand flannels so you should probably bring your own. Good place for a short stay in Prague.

I stayed here at the beginning of August for five nights. Great location, just off Wenceslas Square. It's a really good place to meet people and make a few mates on our travels, and the bar downstairs is brilliant for a quick pint. I was travelling alone so the company I found here was great. There is only one major flaw with this hostel — security. Security is a MAJOR issue in this hostel — the rooms work as two wings off one central dorm, so you have to pass though other people's rooms to go to your own. Technically the rooms are there for 45 people to share. There wasn't a night that went by when something wasn't stolen — CD players, passport and even a diabetic guest's blood meter reader! The trouble is, with so many people in a dorm you're not sure who's supposed to be there and who's not. Some Irish girls I met there had a few drinks with the guy they were sharing a dorm with and a few card games but he got up in the middle of the night and stole their stuff — he wasn't even a guest. People let people in behind them and that's where the trouble starts. Make sure that you get a locker — insist on having a locker!! As a female travelling alone I never felt personally unsafe at the hostel but I made sure my stuff was under lock and key. Cleanliness was ok-ish. The cleaner did come round every morning and emptied the rubbish and stuff. The kitchen was a great place to socialize. A lot of people complained about the noise levels in the rooms but when you're sharing with 45 people what do you expect — this is what hosteling is — buy some earplugs and an eye mask. Breakfast was very basic and it was difficult to get to the free Internet. But there's a lovely bookstore cafe The Globe, which is about a 5-minute walk away, has great coffee and loads of Internet terminals. Except for the security issues I found this to be a really good place to stay. You'll meet loads of fellow travelers and have a great time I'm sure — just remember about those lockers.

We arrived here on the 9th and to tell you the truth we had an amazing time meeting new people, as well as annoying some people, too (Edwin!). The hostel is brilliant. We stayed for eight nights and did not have one complaint the whole stay. We stayed in the three-bed private room and it was perfect, nice sized, with your own bathroom, and a kitchen area where everyone seemed to come and party. The hostel is clean, very secure and well looked after by the staff and well worth a stay. Trust me, if you decide to stay at this great hostel you are bound to meet some really cool people and not want to leave. Hopefully we'll be back next year and able to stay at this great hostel again.

This hostel is the worst I have seen in my years of travel. The bathrooms and toilets are so filthy. Please wear footwear at all times. My friend got a bad case of athlete's foot! Haven't these people ever heard of bleach? The staff are cool, though. But at the end of the day they go to their own homes to sleep and leave us in dirty dorms and bathrooms. Don't expect to get much rest as people are constantly passing through your dorm to use the toilets, and there's a lot of noise from the other guests. And please, please keep your valuables with you at all times!! There is no security!!

Yeah, I can't really recommend this to anyone. It took us two hours to check in because of not enough people working in there. One person in check-in isn't really enough for 150-plus (?) beds. There are no locks in the showers or toilets!!! It had the absolutely filthiest showers I've ever seen — there were nine moldy, old, wet, stinky towels (towels and linen included) in the shower cubicles floor waiting for someone to pick them up. There were four tiny lockers (you can fit in your daypack) for 16 people. Well, the location is perfect. That's all.

Yea, this place was top notch. If you're nice the receptionist might even make out with you! Our power blew on the second night so we had no light and cold showers for three days but we didn't have to pay for those nights so that made up for it. Like I said, the staff are really friendly and the Internet is handy. The breakfast is all you can eat and really yummy. Security is a bit rubbish because some of the doors open with a push but you have to get past the big street level door, which is opened by the reception person. Go to Roxy, the club, it will probably be recommended to you because it is good and is so close that if your mate passes out you can carry him home. Also, if you go to the big 5-clubs-in-1 club and lose your friends make sure you know the name of the hostel. Oh yea, finally, this hostel is awesome for meeting people because of breakfast and the courtyard area. Have fun.

I stayed here last Sunday. It did the job. Nothing too flash. The free Internet was OK, but breakfast was a bit stale. Cold showers, though - arghh! Nice bar downstairs.

I don't understand the low ratings this hostel has gotten from other people. I just got done staying there for five nights in a row. The only thing you can really complain about is having to go through one room to get to another, or a bathroom. Other than that the hostel is CLEAN, the staff are friendly AND helpful, they have three computers that are always online, and there's an inner patio area with plenty of chairs. Breakfast is all you can eat. I can go on. I've been to a few other hostels here in Prague. This one's the best.

I've been hosteling for many years, and this has to be one of the best hostels I've stayed at. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Megan and the Czech guy were particularly helpful to me in many cases, providing answers to all my questions. And of course they had sheets, towels, and all the stuff that was needed. Basically, the employees were outstanding, and the facilities were pretty good. Thanks...keep up the good work.