St. Christopher's Inn - Hammersmith

St. Christopher's Hammersmith Hostel isn't the cream of the crop when it comes to a place to put your head at night, although the price is good. Located above a bar on a noisy street, it can be quite loud at night, but their common area is second to none, and the breakfast is nice. Free wireless is available in the bar.

Take the tube or bus to Hammersmith station and walk outside the main entrance. St. Christopher's is directly across Hammersmith Broadway at number 28, above Belushi's Bar. It could not possibly be easier to get to, or located in a more convenient spot. You'll need to enter Belushi's and head up to the bar to check in. Good luck alerting the staff to your presence if they are busy. Arrive late at night and you may need to queue up behind a bunch of bar patrons just to get inside.

Security to get into the hostel is controlled by a key card, which is also required to get into each room. Inside the dorms, however, there are no lockers for security of your bags. The dorms themselves are pretty standard, with decent cleanliness. Their bunk beds are quite average. Toilets and showers are a little rare -- head upstairs to the very top and through an unmarked door for a shower nirvana if all the ones downstairs are taken. Shower heads are full of crud, and therefore spray water everywhere but onto you. Shower stalls are generally grubby, and there is almost nowhere to put your clothes if you want them to stay dry. Some shower stalls have windows to the outside with no curtains, allowing lucky people in the buildings next door a look inside.

There are no common areas in the traditional hostel sense. Yes, the hostel is located above a bar, and yes, the hostel patrons are welcome there (it really jumps at night), but the bar mostly caters to locals, and is way too loud to talk and be social in. There is no kitchen, TV (or any other type of social room), and no laundry facilities. It has beds and bathrooms.

St. Christopher's is a cheap place to stay in a city that will ruin all but the biggest budgets. Don't expect much in the way of backpacker community or cleanliness, and you won't be disappointed.

— Avis exclusif de Hostelz.com
October 2007