Quiet and clean, Danhostel Ribe is a well-equipped hostel for families or other persons seeking shelter and a few basic amenities in a calm and restful environment. This is not the party scene where singles mingle and hang out, and persons seeking that type of hostel would not fit in here.
The group rooms are spacious and sparse with nothing but metal bunks and a simple table within. The family rooms look nicer with their natural finished wood bunks, but they are extremely small; immediately next to the beds is a four person table with chairs, leaving little space for walking or moving about the room. These rooms of necessity come with wood lockers outside the door to store luggage.
The sunny facility is kept clean and in sound repair. Some rooms have private bathrooms while others require the use of common facilities by gender. The bathrooms are cleaned and the toilet paper and hand soap supply maintained regularly.
Breakfast is extensive and of excellent quality, with a wide array of sliced meats, fish, cheeses, breads, cereal, fruit, boiled eggs, and yogurt, as well as coffee, tea, chocolate, and juices. It is well worth the price, especially for those on a budget who might deem it brunch. Dinner apparently is available here in the off-season but not during the summer tourist season when the visit underlying this review took place.
Reception sells basic toiletries and provides free maps for guests. The staff is knowledgeable about area attractions. Guests should plan their activities in advance so that they can be sure of obtaining items needed from reception during limited open hours, including tokens for the washing machines and dryers, internet cards, or bike rentals; the latter, disappointingly, are available only in 4 hour blocks, in this bicycle friendly region with extensive off road tracks. The staff here is flexible when services are needed outside normal reception hours, but guests shouldn't overtax the staff's goodwill or expect their service when reception is closed.
Signage is mostly in Danish. For those who don't speak it, get instructions from the staff, who all speak good English. The small, stackable washer and dryers, for example, have meters attached to them but give no indication in any language other than Danish that tokens rather than coins are needed or where to obtain them. The internet cards are bought for a specific number of minutes and the time begins when the card is handed out. Therefore, it is imperative to go straight to the TV/computer room and use the card when it's received. By the way, if the privacy of your email is important to you, plan time for signing off since the screen goes blank when your time is up, potentially leaving your email account open for the next user's amusement or malfeasance.
Guests can refrigerate food, cook, and eat in a common kitchen with one stove and one refrigerator that seemed adequate to meet the needs of those desiring to use it. An adjacent eating room has several tables and chairs. Other amenities include a large gymnasium where guests can borrow balls, nets, rackets, and other items, a room with two table tennis tables and a foosball table. Outside there's a sandbox in a courtyard for young children. A particularly large TV and internet room is bright and inviting, with banks of individual seating rather than sofas. Most of these facilities are underutilized.
Nonsmokers may choke on the air in the hallways leading to the sleeping rooms, as there are many smokers passing through. However, overall there are plenty of fresh-air areas where breathing is not impaired.
Danhostel Ribe is conveniently located within walking distance of all the attractions of this small town, including the sinking cathedral, the storks, the Storm Flood Column, the night watchman and ghost tours, and the Vikinge Museum. The Viking Centre is the farthest major attraction from the hostel, about a one mile walk. The major out of town attraction, Legoland, is about a 45 minute rural drive away, making Danhostel Ribe a viable choice for visitors of the amusement park who opt not to use its onsite hotel.
— Avis exclusif de Hostelz.com
November 2004
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