Zrinyi Guesthouse

Optimal location, great price, HARD to sleep

My hubby found this hostel while searching online for a place to stay and then I checked the reviews on several websites. They all complained about the noise there was at this hostel because of the disco/bar downstairs, but my hubby said that would not be a problem and that we probably wouldn't have to deal with the noise because we were arriving on Tuesday.......

The noise at night was LOUD. The bar downstairs (in the inner courtyard of the building) is open 7/7 days a week, and it is really noisy. We knew this already and were warned by the receptionist too before checking in, but still it was very uncomfortable at night when you wanted to sleep but had all this noise till 2-3 am (or maybe later, can't recall). I was able to sleep in spite of the noise but my husband wasn't, so he started complaining (which he shouldn't because he knew this since the very beginning and said it wouldn't be a problem). We sucked it up because it was going to be only 3 days and we were delighted with the hotel's location, but had our stay been longer we wouldn't have taken it anymore. There are very few rooms (3-4) on the other side of the hostel (ie. not facing the courtyard) and they will never give you one of those up-front, unless you're a big group (we saw about 10 teenagers distributed in 2 rooms with 6 beds each or so) or maybe if you pay more money....

The area is safe and the entrance of the building is locked with a code (provided by the receptionist); you can only access the hostel by using the elevator as the door that gave access to the stairs was locked for safety reasons, which I thought was alright.

There was a small supermarket just around the corner (open 24 hours, although the receptionist did not recommend it) and a bigger one 2 blocks away, open till 8 PM and with everything you may need. Lots of restaurants and cafes in the surroundings, but very pricey since it is a touristic area.

Except for the receptionist that checked us in, the service was pretty lousy and non-existent, maybe because the women genuinely didn't speak English (which is already wrong, since they work at a hostel) or just because they didn't give a damn. The rooms were never cleaned but they said we could ask for our towels to be changed if we wanted to. The closets in our room had the doors broken so they couldn't be used. The room was spacious with very basic furniture/amenities (although we got a fan that worked nicely, which I thought was a nice plus that you can't find everywhere).

Unique Quality: The best thing about this place is location & price, you can't ask for a more centric place and it was really cheap: got a double room, shared bathroom (no rooms with private bathroom in this hostel) for only 25 EUR a night...... It has a kitchen, which is very helpful, and they also have a computer with internet access available for guests to use. Cleanliness was ok and there were maps and tour info available for everyone. The guy at the reception desk was kind to us and even suggested a good place to eat. However, he had promised to give us a less noisy room after our 2nd night but he didn't (we didn't have the chance to ask him directly though, we asked another member of the staff and she just pretended to not understand what I was asking for and ignored my request, even though they did have a free room on the silent part of the hostel).

Also, the bathrooms have little or rather no privacy as there are 2 showers next to each other and just separated by a plastic curtain, so basically if there had been many people wanting to shower at the same time I would have had to share the shower with a total stranger, see each other naked, etc. I just locked the door altogether when showering but I know that this meant blocking the 2nd shower for someone else... Well, sorry but I wasn't going to shower with a stranger, even if it was a girl (bathrooms were separated men/women). Other guests did the same. I guess it wasn't a problem because the hostel wasn't too crowded and people didn't try to shower at the same time. Taking a bath at night solved the problem for me. There were 2 bathrooms for women and 2 for men, the closest ones to the rooms were the ones which used to be occupied but the other bathrooms (next to the kitchen) were always free.

I loved the location of this place and how little we paid for it but would think it twice before booking there again, since having a good rest at night is just not possible.

• Opinion of Price: least expensive
• Related to: Backpacking, Budget Travel
• Written September 14, 2011

Zrinyi Guesthouse

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