possibly the dullest hostel i have been to, totally anti social out of town and in general boring!
the workers seemed nice enough apart from the cleaner who chucked me out of bed at half9! the old receptionist (the lady with the odd eyeliner halfway down her face) is a little grumpy
6 of
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(Review ID: 8110)
fantastic....... if only!!!, June 22, 2006
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possibly the dullest hostel i have been to, totally anti social out of town and in general boring! the workers seemed nice enough apart from the cleaner who chucked me out of bed at half9! the old receptionist (the lady with the odd eyeliner halfway down her face) is a little grumpy
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(Review ID: 8111)
avoid if possible -- I found a much better option, May 17, 2006
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First of all, the dorm bed costs 17 EUR, NOT 12.70. So be prepared to pay more.I totally agree with all the other negative reviews, regarding the out-of-the-way location, no atmosphere with no traveller mingling/meeting, having to leave the place during the day, and all the other stuff. We chose to stay in the hostel to meet people in the first place, but that proved rather difficult....For me, the biggest problem was the annoying 12 midnight curfew. I am a YOUNG traveller, I like to go places and experience all they have to offer -- both during the day and during the NIGHT and party. This is a HUGE problem with this place! We unfortunately stayed 3 nights in the Youth Hostel, but we fortunately salvaged our last night because we found MUCH BETTER place -- "Hotel Paul" on Avenue Pasteur (I just tried googling it and found it: http://www.aix-en-provence.com/hotelpaul/index.html ). It is right in the center, and only 40 EUR / night for a room with 2 beds. Even if you are 2 people the slight extra cost is WELL WORTH IT! And if you are 3 shoved into that room, it becomes a bargain. The night life in Aix on a saturday turned out to be REALLY good! But we never would have experienced it had we been locked in our rooms in the Youth Hostel... (am I travelling, or staying with my grandmother??)Aix was quite nice, but save yourself some grief and find a place in the center -- if you are 2 people, you'll only pay a couple of more euros per night and have a much better time.
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(Review ID: 8112)
unfriendly and too far away from center, August 4, 2005
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It's sad that this lovely town does not have a better place to stay. It's really far out of downtown, the staff is unfriendly and I had to pay a lot for leaving my luggage there during the day. The building is modern but ugly and in the evening there's nothing to do in or around the hostel. I can recommend the town but not this hostel.
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(Review ID: 8113)
All That Jazz says: Unfortunately adequate, June 3, 2005
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...and not better, as a town like Aix should present. If you're into sipping coffee while people-watching you'll love the town itself, and this is practically your only budget option in town.Pros: 1. It's brand new, or at least thoroughly renovated. The rooms, bunks, showers, washrooms, windows, flooring, electricity system - all in perfect condition.2. Needlessly mentioned: It's quite clean.3. Staff was pretty helpful and very friendly.4. Despite its being institutional, the people I met there were mostly the standard hosteler/traveler type. No school groups.Cons:1. The distance: walk 25-30 minutes from the hostel to the city centre, and don't even consider doing it with your luggage. Take the bus. At this specific hostel, this is more than an annoyance than you'd like to think.2. Speaking of which - the bus shows up once an hour on Sundays. The timetable, however, is posted at the bus stop right outside the hostel and is quite reliable.3. Staff was pretty unhelpful as far as information about the neighbourhood or city was concerned.4. Socialization was pretty complicated: the "bar/common area" has the same institutional, unwelcoming feel the rest of the place has, so people don't really hang out there. If you're lucky to have fun people in your room - good for you; if not - good luck with the rest of them...
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(Review ID: 8114)
Staff=courteous, helpful, friendly, April 13, 2005
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We stayed at this hostel in March 2005 arriving with a group of 42 on our own coach. From the minute we arrived to the minute we left, the staff was friendly and courteous. Several evening meals at the hostel were exceptional. We allowed for a supplemented breakfast in our budget and the breakfast was tasty and generous. We ordered a packed lunch for one of our excursions and it was also tasty and adequate. The rooms were clean and the hostel was in a safe and secure area. I would not hesitate to return here, either as an individual or with a group.
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(Review ID: 8115)
The longer you stay the worse it gets, November 16, 2003
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Initially, this hostel didn't bother me. Yes, there seemed to be a lot of rules posted, but the showers were very hot and the room seemed clean. Even the distance from the center didn't bother me, as it was simple to find on the bus and I often walked it. However; the longer I stayed the more annoyed I became. The first problem was that the door keys didn't work. We were told to just leave our room door open...which naturally explains why we were paying money to stay there. When they got them fixed, it took us five trips to the reception desk to get the key properly coded. Also, the staff is down right surley. One gentleman on the staff was eating every single time I saw him work...which is okay, except at breakfast one day when he denied he worked there and wouldn't hand over the coffee to a guest. Breakfast is another complaint indeed, and I must differ with those who said it was good. I actually sustained a TMJ injury from chewing the dried bread that passed as "breakfast"!!! So I began just taking coffee there and purchasing something to eat later on in town... Yes, there are washing machines, but they don't work... Even leaving is an issue...If you do stay there, don't plan on departing before seven am as you'll have to throw your stuff over the fence and sacrifice your IYH card (one girl really did this); on the other hand don't expect the staff to be there at seven as they will assure you they will be...but you can expect curtness when you do finally hunt them down, as was the manager we finally located to get our cards. By the end of our stay (4 nights) this place had turned into a bad joke, so expecting the worst we checked the bike rental rack and the bikes appeared to have Dahli rims. All in all, I would say that Arles is a much more convenient place to stay as the trains & busses run to everywhere and you don't have to route through Marseille. The hostel there is not a whole lot nicer the lady who runs it is really nice. You can do Aix in a day, and really Arles and Avignon are much more convenient places to stay. From the train station in Aix you either have to take that train through Marseille, which is not at the top of my touring list and an immense time waster, or take extremely long bus rides. You pick.
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(Review ID: 8116)
Don't be fooled by the nice entry in the guide, September 17, 2003
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Out of all the hostels I stayed in, this hostel is vying for worst place.It's not so much that it's a bad hostel, as that it promises so much and delivers so little. I booked online and got charged 15 euros per night, which was more expensive than anywhere else I stayed, including other 4 sapin hostels, yet got the facilities of a 2 sapin/8 euro per night hostel.The hostel is relatively modern and really nicely decorated and all, but everything was completely impractical or just plain didn't work. When I was there, the laundry wasn't working, the telephone wasn't working, there seemed to be no internet and there was no sign of the promised cafeteria food. They have bikes to hire, but when my room-mate tried to hire one (to travel the 2km into town) she was told they weren't available. I tried to put my bag in the left luggage facility and they asked me why I didn't just leave it in my room if I was staying another night, in which case I don't understand why they have the facility in the first place since the hostel is locked from 9 until 17:00 and therefore you're highly unlikely to want it if you're not staying another night. My second night apparently this facility had broken as well. And if you're staying in a 4 sapin hostel and paying that much, you expect not to be turfed out of your room at 9am and completely, totally and utterly locked out until 17:00.The whole place just seemed totally disorganised and designed without a thought in the world for travellers needs. I'd booked 6 weeks in advance, yet when I got there at 17:00 they spent 10 minutes arguing where I was going to sleep. Because of this lack of planning and the fact that the hostel is shut all day, you get huge queues at reception, and if you're not there on the dot of 17:00 you can be waiting until 18:30. The bar then didn't open on time and there was nobody in Reception first thing in the morning because the guy on duty was taking a leisurely breakfast in the kitchen. This wouldn't be so bad except that they have notices up everywhere giving you conflicting notices about what you're supposed (not) to do when, so you need to ask them to find out what the rules actually are.Finally, the atmosphere in the place was just dead. I had the misfortune to be there at the beginning of September when they provide temporary accommodation for students coming to the university there. While I appreciate that they welcome the income in a low season, the students' attitude tended to be very different from mine, speaking as a traveller. They came burdened down with tons of luggage which took up half the dorms and they didn't want to chat or anything, just sort out accommodation in town and get out of there. Half the fun of youth hostelling is talking to other travellers, finding out where they've been, what they've been doing, what's good in the town, and none of that applied there. I was the only traveller I met while I was there.It's not absolutely dire, it's clean, the rooms are nicely decorated with a shower and toilet in each dorm of 4 and breakfast was quite good, but given a choice between a hostel with a working telephone and laundry and one where they've put up pretty wallpaper, I'd go for the former. My overall impression was that this hostel had the potential to be really great, and indeed it looks great on paper, but when you get there, nothing works.
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(Review ID: 8117)
Out of the way, September 3, 2003
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As others have said, it is a fair way out of town, and the bus does stop early. The place itself was tidy, comfortable, good breakfast, nice place to meet others, but the staff, the hours and the location let it down badly.
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(Review ID: 8118)
Clean...But try other options....., July 21, 2003
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Kristian
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The hostel is situated very far away from the center and there are not too many busses passing the hostel....It is new and clean etc. but really lacks spirit......But two stars for being cheap and the breakfast is not too bad....
