Chicago Parthenon Hostel, Chicago

Your friendly staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We appreciated the quick tutorial of Chicago's public transportation. Our room was adequate for the price we paid, and ready at the promised time. The hallways need some new carpet, but our room was clean and comfortable. The bathrooms and kitchen nook were clean. The fan you supplied helped with noise, we never heard a sound all night. Thank you for your hospitality, we will return!

Comfortable beds

The staff was friendly. I reserved a single private room for one night. When I checked in, he said he had a two bed room on the second floor. I shared the room (my choosing) with a new girl friend. It was nice to have company! Overall, a good experience!

Stayed there for 5 nights

The hostel is clean. only one bathroom a floor, but it wasnt much of a problem. Basically its a hostel so dont expect anything too fancy but there's cool and young atmosphere -- a great place to meet people. Only problem i had with this place is that they dont have a kitchen there.

3.5 stars, not average, not great

Good points -- Nice common room with free computers, Nice beds in the dorm rooms, Free linen, Free wifi, Close to union station and sears tower, Nice free breakfast, VERY friendly staff. Bad points -- Wifi reception very bad in the rooms (at least the one I stayed in), No kitchen, TV in the common room doesn't really work properly.

Good, clean

every thing is fine, but there's no elevator.

The AAE Parthenon Hostel is located in Greektown, Chicago. The staff are excellent and the rooms are more than adequate.

The Location

The location is great! It's in the middle of Greektown, with lots of restaurants and an easy walk to downtown. We found no need to use public transport as we walked everywhere for three days, but there are lots of bus routes stopping outside the hostel and the subway is only a few minutes away. I went to three different restaurants within a three-minute walk of the hostel and all of them were fantastic and very reasonably priced!

It's less than a ten-minute walk from the Greyhound station and about fifteen minutes to the main part of downtown Chicago. There are also grocery stores within a ten-minute walk. The neighbourhood is nice and quiet considering the highway and the city are close by.

Rooms and Bathrooms

There is only one bathroom per floor but we never had to wait. There are hooks for towels and shelves (outside the shower) for clothes. There is no elevator in the hostel, which is an issue for heavy bags but the stairs are wide enough to comfortably carry bags up to one of the three levels. The beds are very comfortable, and although we had a room facing the road, we didn't really notice the noise. There are a range of room types from private single rooms to eight-bed dorms. The rooms are spacious and have medium sized lockers for valuables.

Common Spaces

There is free Wi-Fi in all rooms of the hostel. The common room is fairly small. It has a large fridge, TV, couch, and free computer. The restaurant is large and the reception can give a key to give access to the laundry room and kitchen. There is not really anywhere to hang out and socialize with other backpackers besides during the free breakfast or in the small common room.

Summary

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will definitely stay here again.

Lovely!

it's very close to those stations (union station, greyhound bus, CTA UIC-Halsted, and bus stop) as it states above. it's a three-story building like dormitory. everyday has people check-in and check-out, the business seems quite busy to me. and the bathroom is clean and pretty new! the breakfast is good as well, included toast, cereal, coffee, tea, milk, juice, and boiled eggs, and the place for breakfast is quite fancy for me! the staff are friendly and helpful, too. there is common room with a computer connected internet, TV, microwave, sofa, and Refrig. don't how does the wireless work, i didn't bring my laptop. there is no kitchen, so if you prefer to prepare a meal, that'll be inconvenient. But for me it's fine, i always ate and bought food out. and it's safe there at midnight, those greek restaurants are opened until midnight, there are people dining. So, on the other hand, there are some pubs on weekends, if you go to bed early, that'll be noisy, but i'm fine with that. overall, if i had chance to stay there again, i'd be ok with that! i recommend it though.

Terrific location and amenities

This hostel is only a couple of blocks out of the main loop city area. If arriving by airplane as I did you just catch the Blue Line to Halsted Station from O'Hare Airport for about $2 and its in the very next block in S Halsted St. Myself and my traveling companion were lucky, we got into a brand spanking new area they have just opened with beautifully refurbished rooms with their own bathrooms but I spoke to travelers who were in dorm rooms in the older section and they said they were nice too. The hostel is in the lively Greek quarter of town (food shops next door) and the Parthenon restaurant run by the same people as the hostel (its all one establishment basically) is full of lively atmosphere and the most delicious Greek food I've ever tasted and cheap -- order the "banquet"! Included is a complementary breakfast. Now I know you're thinking a couple of loaves of cheap bread and spreads and maybe a bit of cereal if you're lucky. No! The breakfast room is set up in a function area of the restaurant complex and is like a classy hotel atmosphere with a long table with choice of two cereals, milk, two types of juices, high quality bread you can toast plus warm, hard-boiled eggs in a silver server and tea and coffee of course. There is a rather vigilant Greek manager guy who keeps an eye on things but its only to stop travelers ripping off the hotel and others by getting off with all of the food into their backpacks for lunch. And of course befitting the congenial type atmosphere you don't have to wash your breakfast dishes -- they just ask that you neatly stack them at a nearby clearing table. Leaving you to go off to enjoy the sights of Chicago! They are such warm and terrific hosts -- the types to spontaneously throw their arms around you when you first arrive they are just so glad to see you! True friendly Greek hospitality, I just loved it.