this has got to be the most interesting location ive seen a hostel in right in the center of the medivail cité. but if your traveling alone its hard to meet people as no1 is ever in the hostel i was lucky enough to make a few friends but if you don't apart from the great sites you'll be walking aound alone bumping into the o so many overenthusiastic American tourist families.There is also a lock out from10am to 3pm which is not good if you have a heavy night until 5am ish. Sometimes there are school groups staying which can be annoying. The place its self is very clean you have sinks and mirrors in every room, a bar that occasionly opens, a kitchen ect its definately worth a short stay
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(Review ID: 8025)
Good facilities, spectacular location., May 12, 2006
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Anonymous
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I had a room to myself so I found it very comfortable here. Facilities were faultless, breakfast was very good and the kitchen was very useful. The best thing about this place is undoubtedly the location, the walled fortress looks absolutely stunning around sunset when all the tourists have left or are leaving and it feels like you've got the place to yourself.
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(Review ID: 8026)
Great place, July 14, 2005
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Anonymous
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Really friendly staff. Located right in the center of the old city (which is far from the train station so take the bus!)Beautiful patio for hanging out and having a glass of wine in the evening and great showers too - one for each dorm (4 people). But I definitely could have lived without the school groups!!!!
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(Review ID: 8027)
Could have skipped Carcassonne all together, June 30, 2005
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Anonymous
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There are better walled cities! That being said, the hostel was nice and clean, breakfast was so-so, but it was nice to be in the old city. Given the choice, I would not have stayed more than a night had I the chance to do it over - there just isn't much going on. We ended up going into the town and shopping. The biggest down side was that all weekend we saw school group after school group. High school kids yelling through windows across the couryard and booping around to what ever spanish or french rap song is at the top of the charts is not condussive to a good stay.
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(Review ID: 8028)
A pretty decent place, December 11, 2004
Reviewer:
jaypandolfo
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This place was OK. Standard HI hostel: decent beds, decent toilets, decent showers. There is allegedly a bar, although when me and my friend were there it never opened. But the real reason to stay here is for location; there is no excuse to not stay in the Cité. After about 9:00 PM, all the locals and tourists clear out and you get the place to yourself. Running around the Cité at 2:00 AM was one of my best memories of my trip.
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(Review ID: 8029)
Head here for Bastille Day, book ahead, October 15, 2004
Reviewer:
RoseyH
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I stayed here for 3 nights over the Bastille Day (July 14th) holiday 2004 and saw the best fireworks display of my life. The Cite is lit up and for 30 minutes there is real world Disney magic all around. Book well ahead for this special night. The hostel has friendly staff, great atmosphere, good facilities (2 sinks in my 6-girl room) and a fantastic location in the heart of the medieval cite. There were no grocery stores nearby (unless you had a car) so arrive with food to take advantage of the good kitchen facilities, or splurge and check out the good menu deals to be had at the many nearby restaurants. The town is amazing but small, so two days is sufficient. I took a tour of the region from the tourist info office, Id recommend it but be sure to wear good shoes to climb up to Lastours Castles and bring lots of water. Book right away upon arrival in town, they panic if you do it at the last minute.
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3 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 8030)
Incredible, July 30, 2004
Reviewer:
Manutd1935
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Driving towards La Cite, it does bring back memories of driving up to Disney World, but it IS real. Previous posts have nailed it right on the head, the hostel itself, overall, is excellent - save the security, but I was never worried about it. Getting up early and walking around the city, seeing the shopkeepers set up and watch as the city 'awoke' to greet the tourists was pretty cool. It's a must see, even for one night.
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(Review ID: 8031)
Decent hostel in a stunning location, September 16, 2003
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Anonymous
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Although not perfect, certainly one of the better hostels I stayed in.The rooms are clean, cheerful and spacious, the opening hours are relatively good, and they have a decent bar, cafe and laundry. Oh, and their sinks have plugs if you're washing by hand. It's up in the medieval citadel which is really quite impressive. It's quite a walk up the hill, but worth it for the views and just the feeling that you're staying in a medieval city. The citadel gets way too touristy during the day (always enter through the Porte d'Aude) so tour the city early or late in the day. As far as Carcassonne itself goes, there's almost always some kind of festival or event going on in summer, which makes it a fun place to stay. While I was there they had 'Les Chevaliers de la Rose', which meant that I went to sleep to the strains of medieval music floating up from outside the walls. They only downside to Carcassonne is that the train connections aren't wonderful. Until about 11:30 all trains go to Toulouse, 50 mins away,and after that all trains go to Narbonne, which is at least 30 mins away in the opposite direction. If you've already visited Toulouse and Narbonne, then that's not ideal.Sleeping bags aren't permitted 'for hygiene reasons'. Basically they say that they have a lot of people who've been camping outside, and whose sleeping bags have tended to contain creepy-crawlies and stuff, so rather than inspect eveyone's bags, they've banned them.The showers aren't marvellous, but they were no worse than a lot of hostels. They're push button showers, but I think that's part of the 'hostelling for the environment - don't waste water' thing, as well as a sensible precaution against people leaving them running and flooding the place. You can't adjust the temperature, but then that seems to be standard practice in French hostels and at least it came out at a decent temperature.Security leaves a fair amount to be desired. 'Left luggage facilities' means that you can dump your bag at the bottom of the stairs or leave it in your room, although staff will lock your valuables up in a safe. Each room has one key which hangs on a board in reception. Every time you leave the room, even to go to the toilet, you have to take the key back down to reception and hang it on the board, so that other people don't go up then find the door is locked. That does get rather annoying, and I'm not convinced that people couldn't just walk in off the street and grab a key when nobody was looking.Despite this, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this hostel and actually stayed for 4 nights. Security apart, it totally catered to my practical needs as a traveller, which is what you really want from a hostel. Then, on top, you've got a good atmosphere with friendly reception staff and an attractive location and building.
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8 people found this review helpful
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(Review ID: 8032)
King of the Castle!, September 7, 2002
Reviewer:
Vanessa
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Nothing beats walking over an old bridge into a walled city. What a great start. This place is fantastic for its position alone, Carcassone is gorgeous and at least one night here is worth it. Access from the station best by bus or taxi, its not that far, but far enough!The hostel requires a YHA card, so best have one. The dorm rooms are nice and clean, single sex. Security facilities available, lockable rooms. Sheets provided at a small cost. Great buffet breakfast included. There is a busy bar that is open till late. Internet available at a small cost but you have to wait for it to be free.The showers and bathrooms are okay, clean no problems, single sex also.Carcassone itself has dozens of restaurants and shops to keep you entertained and well fed.The location, facilities and breakie included are an absolute steal at 12.20 euros a night. Enchanting!
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(Review ID: 8033)
Really good and really bad, August 11, 2002
Reviewer:
Guyman
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First off, the buffet breakfast was simple, but awesome. Some of the best bread in France I had there. The location too is amazing, especially at night fall or early in the morning when most the tourists are gone. The beds themselves are also rather comfortable too. On the other hand...The showers were probably the crappiest experienced throughout my whole European experience, and I think the 6 or 7 bugs that shared the shower with me can attest to that. I carried on a rather interesting conversation with them during my shower when I wasn't busy pressing the button down to keep the water coming. The other bad thing was their "luggage area" i.e. the dirty area in the stair well that we never clean. If we didn't have our various locks with us I would not have felt too comfortable stashing our crap there. In the end it all works out to a rather recommendable place and pretty cheap too!
