Leo Hostel

Our Members Say

 Leo Hostel in Beijing is a ‘Rite of Passage’. I can’t think of a more meaningful and cultural place to spend your time in Beijing especially if this is your first time in China. Aside from my fondness for Leo Hostel there is one thing that separates it from the rest: ‘Location. Location. Location.’. The hostel is located in one of Beijing’s famous Hutongs (back alley) the Da Zha Lan Hutong. This is where old Peking was located and that goes back close to 1000 years in history. The Hutong is where old meets new and you can enjoy all the comforts of home in the hostel and step outside and feel yourself transported back into another time and place from times so long since past.

The flavour and feel of China is totally wrapped in this Hutong It is too easy slip away into it making every and any excuse not to leave it … if it wasn’t for the fact that only a five minute walk away is Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, Mao’s Mausoleum and the Qianmen Subway which is your gateway to the rest of Beijing. Just a few shops outside from the hostel is a first class Peking Duck Restaurant where for about 100 rmb (less $20.00 ) you can enjoy a classic meal with full linen and ivory chopsticks while the street vendor only a few feet away stirs up a meal in a wok cooking on open fire on the side walk or in metal drum on coals sweet potatoes for only a few cents or dollar at the most. You could stay at Leo’s for a week and never have the need (maybe even desire) to leave the Hutong. This is a classic priceless MasterCard moment.

Getting there can be easy but if it is your first time in China, then easy may have a whole different and new meaning so I will use the term ‘easy’ loosely. From the airport you can take a taxi using instructions written in Chinese from the Leo Hostel website or as I prefer take the shuttle (see my tips under transportation). From the Qianmen Subway Station, cross the street (depending where you walk as you come out you may have to use the pedestrian underpasses) and if you are facing the subway station from across the street which is in Tiananmen Square then walk to your right along the side walk. You will see small alley ways with signs displaying the name of each Hutong. You walk approximately five or six city blocks past three of four Hutongs before you get to the Da Zha Lan Hutong. There are signs for the Hutongs and Da Zha Lan may be spelt Da Shi Lan. Turn right and walk about three blocks. Leo Hostel is on the left side if the street. If you get to the Hutong where it forks, you walked about two blocks too far.

The staff at Leo Hostel speak very good English and will take care of you. You can count on their honesty, sincerity and integrity. Leo’s can be trusted and will go the extra mile to help you out from simple written directions to help you get where you need to go (in Chinese and in English) to answering a phone call from stranded guests who find themselves hopelessly lost on the other side of the city and patiently coach you back to the Hostel or if they had to, go get you.

Leo Hostel is one of the best out of many many hostels I have stayed at in both China and throughout South East Asia (Yangshuo Cultural House in Yangshuo and the Mix in Chengdu are very close runners up) . I have stayed at Leo on three occasions. My first was arriving on a cold crisp December evening 11:30 pm at night with my 19 year old daughter in a rickshaw and very distraught. When they saw us arrive as such two of the staff ran out, grabbed our bags for us and negotiated a fair rate for the rickshaw drivers who sadly too often see us westerners as cash cows.

Arriving at Leo or at any proper and legal hostel requires you to register with your passport. If they are very busy with many arrivals at the same time they will ask to hold on to your passport for a few hours or over night. You can trust them with your passport. It is important as they must also register you with the local police office and need the accurate information from your passport with a photocopy which means they need to translate the information from your passport to the legal forms. They will ask for a deposit of up to 100 rmb plus ask you to pay for your room or bed charges upfront. They will issue a legal receipt for these and you can count on your deposit being returned. For a deposit they will also issue you a key for a locker located in the front reception area.

The facilities are first rate for hostel standards. This is where there are a lot of grey areas when it comes to recommending or rating the quality of a hostel because it is so very subjective. You have to keep in mind that this is budget accommodation for the lowest of lowest budgets. I try to explain it as: “urban camping” and when you put it in that perspective, your expectations will not be too high or unreasonably lowered. Leo offers dorms as well as rooms. A bed in a dorm can cost as little as $6.00 a night and a room as much as $15.00 per person a night. The sheets are clean but like all of China, the mattress is thin as is the pillow. For some reason as a matter of preference I bring my own pillow case with me when I travel and a small travel pillow as well to bolster the thin pillows provided. The rooms are well heated in the winter and air conditioned in the summer. The common areas like in the bar are less heated or air conditioned so don’t be surprised by that when you first arrive at the front desk. A 24 oz or 750 ml bottle of cold Tsingtao beer costs way less than a dollar and western and traditional Chinese meals are delicious and well priced. Banana and Honey pancakes were my favourite. There are two computers you can use for checking your e-mail which are free and are intended for short use such as that but more involved internet use such as burning cd’s and surfing is available for a very small fee downstairs in the bar area.

If you want to go on a tour or day trip, Leo has some of the best tours. My favourite is the “Secret Wall”. It is indeed a secret … well sort of … now you know … For any of the tours, signup right away as soon as you know your plans or which tour you want. The Secret Wall is a full day hiking along a mountain top on and alongside the Great Wall of China where it is away from the crowds of tourists and restored sections. The Secret Wall is not restored and has been left in time as you see it as it has sat for thousands of years with no touts selling you souvenirs, no trams or tickets to buy just the wall and you. Do not go to the Badaling section … just don’t.

The day I went to the Secrret Wall, there were no others in sight other than just our small group of eight. The Leo van drove us to this very remote area in the mountains about two hours out of the city. A short while following our arrival, a little old man with a straw hat, a walking stick and a pipe waves to us. He speaks no English but tells us “follow me”. For the next several hours he takes us up and down and through amazing trails along mountain tops and a Great Wall experience seen by so few people that they can get away calling it a secret. The day ends in a small village where local people take you into their home and you enjoy a meal of authentic Chinese cuisine and icy cold beer while the van awaits you to take you back to the hostel. The day will cost you 180 rmb (about $25) and includes the meal, guide and transportation. It’s more than a deal.

They also have tours to the Mutianyu and Simatai sections of the Wall. I have been to both of these sections and they too are worth it. They have been restored using materials from other sections and it is very interesting to see what they would look like if you could have been there some 4000 years ago. The Mutianyu has a tram that takes you up a steep hillside to the wall and is not a bad idea to take the tram at the Mutianyu section, however, the walkway up (and it is very up) at the Simatai section is easy and more enjoyable than the tram and I do recommend the walk up at Simatai. They also have trips to the Beijing Opera, Three Gorges, Ice Sculptures (in winter) and other tours of interest. You can rent bicycles for cheap from Leo and you will be amazed at how bike friendly Beijing is but mostly I loved sitting at one of the Patio bars in the Hutong and just simply watched China pass me by instead of always seeming to pass through it. 

28 members live in Beijing