The Hostelz.com Review - Genuine, independent review you can trust.
YHA Cardiff Central Hostel is a former Mercure hotel remade into a nice hostel in central Cardiff.
The Location
The hostel used to belong to Mercure and is next to an area called Splott. It is a long walk from John Lewis in the city centre, roughly fifteen minutes away. There is a Lidl in Splott, which is roughly a twelve-minute walk. It is a bit surprising that it is called YHA Cardiff Central, when it is on the outskirts of Cardiff city centre. There is no bus station nearby and no train station either, so the best way is to either walking, biking, or taking a taxi to town.
Rooms and Bathrooms
The rooms are exactly like a hotel room, with four beds and en suite bathroom. There are no mixed-gender rooms. Moreover, the hostel has private rooms that are gigantic. It is fairly clean. However, unlike other YHAs in the UK, the rooms are not cleaned properly every week, which makes it a bit dirty sometimes, depending on the people that are staying in the room. There are TVs, air-conditioning systems installed, and chairs as well as tables. Each bed has a detached lamp; there is soap at the wash basin in the bathroom. The showers are nice, and each bathroom has a big mirror. In the entrance of the room, there are coat hangers and small lockers. Each room is accessible through the room key. There are no cupboards to keep the clothes. A bad thing is that you cannot open the windows, so there is no fresh air coming in other than the air-conditioning fan.
Common Spaces
There is a breakfast/restaurant and bar downstairs as well a kitchen and a TV room where people can enjoy a good meal or drink. There is a storage room and a laundry area. There is a mix of backpackers as well as professionals staying there. It is not a friendly hostel and there are loads of people with issues (including the unprofessional staff) staying there on a temporary basis, which is a disadvantage. The Wi-Fi is also quite bad and in certain rooms there is no Wi-Fi connection.
Summary
This place has nice facilities and rooms, but also has weird people and rude staff. However, it's very affordable.
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The Oz-Man
Hostelz.com Staff Reviewer
Published on Apr 4, 2018
Location and Contact
Location
• By car: The nearest motorway is the M4, so head towards Cardiff city centre from the motorway. • By train: Cardiff Central train station is a 15 minute walk to the hostel - head towards East Tyndall Street to find us. • By bus: Cardiff bus station is a 20 minute walk to the hostel - head towards East Tyndall Street to find us.