This is a very quiet peaceful hostel. There is a little kitchen, but definately not enough showers for the numbers of people who stay there. In other hostels we met people, went out at night with them etc. but here, everyone went to bed real early! The breakfast was indeed real naff, a few slices of bread and that was pretty much it. I do have to say though that the owners were really nice. One night me and my travelling buddy went on the ABSOLUTE PUB CRAWL (an organised thing u'll see advertised there) and cos of the naff tour guide my friend got lost and she had the key and the map, so I eventually made it home at 5 am. There is no official curfew I believe, but anyway the man let me in at that crazy hour, he was cool with me buzzing the bell and waking him up. I thought that was very nice of him. He did get a little cross when I woke him up ten mins later to get him to open the other door (just shows the good security, two sets of locked doors!) I had had a little problem with the person I borrowed a map from to get back to the hostel! Anyway, nice owners, but its a quiet place.
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(Review ID: 4946)
Spectacular place.., July 10, 2005
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Anonymous
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Maintenance
(5)
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(5)
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(5)
..no problems with the 2-night accomodation, it's right that dorm room should be probably your preferred choice. I found the whole building very spectacular and unusual.. see a pic I took here: http://www.photopost.cz/galeriefoto.php?id=160775 and here: http://www.photopost.cz/galeriefoto.php?id=160250. The room is clean, don't worry.. although the pillows and blankets could use replacement.
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(Review ID: 4947)
Fabulous location! But you're living in someone's flat, May 17, 2005
Reviewer:
TimP
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(3)
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The location of Caterina's place (near the Oktagon metro stop) is central and fabulous. You're in the centre of Pest, equidistant from the Danube, Buda Palace, and Heroes Square. You're pretty close to the Opera House, too. As for the room/beds themselves, the Caterina Hostel truly is a bunch of beds crammed into someone's flat. But, it's better than it sounds - the rooms are quiet and safe (but no lockers), and the shower is clean. The shower:bed ratio is fairly low, though.Despite what the guidebooks may say, the hosts' English skills are barely rudimentary. The check-out/lock-out times are strict -- even though we had thought that we had asked for a later check-out time (since we had an evening flight), the hosts wouldn't budge on check-out day. That was pretty annoying. Fortunately, there is a checked-luggage room at the Nyugati rail station. I'd recommend Caterina's place if you're traveling in a group. This is not a party hostel - it's a place to sleep after an enjoyable day/night in Budapest. And you can't beat the location.
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(Review ID: 4948)
Very good hostel for a very reasonable price., November 20, 2004
Reviewer:
Weasleyjunkie
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(5)
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(5)
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(5)
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(5)
I stayed over during Spring Break and found this place to be very comfortable. Joe was very helpful, offering information about the baths and giving out amusing maps to the city. It's small, and its in an apartment, but its very very clean and cozy. At the train station I was approached by someone from a 'party' hostel, who was offering me a room for twice as much and badmouthing Catarina hostel. Not on. Its in a great location, and a supermarket is right around the corner.Look, if you want a party hostel, don't come here. If youre looking to just relax in an extremely clean atmosphere, visit Joe and Catarina. Theyve got a whole notebook full of great reviews!
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(Review ID: 4949)
nice if you like family living, January 20, 2004
Reviewer:
nycgradstudent
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Maintenance
(3)
Cleanliness
(3)
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(3)
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(3)
While it was wonderful to be picked up at the bus station by Joe, who runs the hostel with his wife, and while their central, Andrassy St apartment is elegant and spacious, I felt it rapidly became uncomfortable to stay in the home where they are raising two children. In retrospect, I would have stayed elsewhere. However, for an excellent price (6000 Ft per night for a double room, less for dorm) our experience was that they did their best to welcome us. If you want to stay somewhere quiet and clean, this could be for you. If you want to relax, stay out late, or sleep in, try something else. There are three rooms for the hostel (and two rooms for the family) in the apt: one I did not see and the other two have half a dozen Ikea-style bunkbeds in each. Two superclean bathrooms on the hall. Small kitchen, and great location in a cool building. Near everything, restaurants, transportation, central Pest. They also offer affordable internet and laundry. Breakfast not worth mentioning.
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(Review ID: 4950)
Reservation problems, September 30, 2003
Reviewer:
Louise
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(1)
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I also had problems at this hostel. We had booked our room and were not told that we had to arrive at a certain time. We got there about 8 o'clock and were told our rooms were gone and to go somewhere else. They were very rude and unhelpful about where else we could go. Ended up wandering the streets most of the night but eventually found the Downtown hostel. It's great, I thoroughly recomend it. Basically don't bother booking with this one, they can't be trusted.
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(Review ID: 4951)
Like from fairy tale..., May 29, 2003
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Anonymous
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(1)
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(1)
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(1)
it was in April 2003.We booked double room in Caterina by e-mail. Everything seemed to be ok, the owner-by the way very pleasent lady on e-mail- answered that there was no problem if we came later at night. So we arranged the accomodation. But there was quite big problem after. We arrived to Budapest by train than we found the hostel, rang the bell and were waiting. In 5 minutes some nasty and almost naked women - she was getting dressed on her way to the door- said: full!!! and closed the door. We had no time to say anything but we found out that the woman was really good at speaking English like it was said on internet. So we left and because there was no chance to find any vacancy in Budapest-it was Easter, we stayed all night in the pub. in the morning we went to information center and they helped us to find another hostel. This one was smaller flat for about 15people but it was really very familiar. If I remembered the name of the hostel I would write it down but I dont. So this was our experience with Caterina hostel.
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(Review ID: 4952)
English guys have problems with theirselves, April 24, 2003
Reviewer:
Karlito Tanatas
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Maintenance
(5)
Cleanliness
(5)
Facilities
(5)
Atmosphere
(5)
I just cannot tell anything wrong about this hostel because it is what you can expect from a low-financed hostel.All I saw: -clean shower , -very good location in the city , -very friendly attendent(good english) , -cleaning every day , -laundry aviable . So you can just get the service which you pay for nice and calm.It is a worthy investment to have fun in the largest and most beautifull city of the hungarians.I was so amazed by all this adventure I have contrived in this country.If you would do yourselves a favour you go around there and have some fun!!
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(Review ID: 4953)
We were tucked up by Caterina, go elsewhere!!!, September 30, 2002
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Anonymous
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(1)
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(1)
We made bookings for Caterina's hostel well ahead of our stay, but when our train from Venice came in at the station we were met by the owner of a different guesthouse who somehow had been given our reservation by Caterina without us knowing, she told us that Caterina's was full - surely this is the point of our reservation in the first place - and that our reservation was now with her. At first she was friendly and we were tired so we agreed to stay at her home on the Buda side.She drove us to her guest house 'The Weissehaus' and I had a bad feeling as we seemed to get further and further away from the city, until we were about 15 minute drive from the centre, well into the hills, on streets with no lighting.Our 'double room' was more like a lounge, and the breakfast was foul, two stale breadrolls and warm milk. Worst of all was the journey into the city, three different buses, including a change in a very intimidating communist council estate, local boy racers treated us to a display of handbrake turns whilst threatening us. Because of this difficulty in getting back to the guesthouse we were unable to stay out later than 20:30.When we asked the hostess to give us a lift to the station for the following morning, reasoning that we booked somewhere near to the station to avoid the stress of rushing for our 08:00 train, she started screaming at us and threatened to kick us out, fearing for our lives, we pleaded with her to let us stay. and set off at 05:00 the next morning to make sure we got to the station in time.We blame Caterina's hostel for ruining our stay in Budapest - go elsewhere!
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(Review ID: 4954)
Only come here if you like VERY communal living....., September 7, 2002
Reviewer:
Mad Max
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(2)
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Whatever she may advertise, Caterina does not have private rooms. They are just spaces separated by curtains in an ordinary apartment converted to a 'hostel'. The worst room is the loft gallery, which is a bunk bed above the entrance hall - yes, you are a curtain away from every drunk staggering back to the hostel at 4am.... I guess if you're intending to stay in dorms her accommodation will work for you, but I still think she overcharges for what she offers. The only good thing about Caterina's is decent showers. But she has no lockable storage in the place, her towels & linen are tiny and manky, and she woke us up at 6am every day by shouting at builders - who were equally early with their endeavours in a crumbling building. I was not impressed with the place, she seems more interested in the money than customer satisfaction, safety, security, etc. She also doesn't speak much English (although better than the average Hungarian), and our stay with her was definitely the lowest point of our holiday which was otherwise fantastic. On our last night we stayed at Marco Polo, which was well worth the extra money. By the way, the countryside in Hungary is better than anything Budapest has to offer so do yourself a favour and get to the mountains, the river or the lake!
