being new to travelling and having only stayed in one hostel before we made the mistake of taking their 'package'. this place was a shocker!! we paid $319 AU for 3 nights. breakfast and dinner was included - a stale bread roll with no butter until the 3rd morning. dinner the first night was quite ok - the next night it was spaghetti with butter - ugh! the 3rd night we weren't even sure what we were eating - it was awful. and there wasn't pizza on offer as is stated. the guy behind the bar was scary the first day but i think he drank a few the next night so was more pleasant. the books we were supposed to get 'free' with our package weren't available. there were four of us but only 3 lockers available which was a real pain. if i turned over in bed too quickly the whole mattress slipped off onto the floor. one of us was covered in bites each morning. i found the bathroom reasonably clean but only half of the showers had doors.the staff were unfriendly but possibly just overworked. the kitchen staff were unpleasant and continually arguing and yelling at the bar man.all in all - don't stay there if you can help it! or if you do don't eat there!we found the location fine - and there is a very good laundromat with internet access a few doors down - plus a great pizza bar (thank god that was there!!!)
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Anonymous
St. Louis
Giudecca is a destination!!! 31 August 2005
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n/a
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Anonymous
saw things this way
Maintenance
(4)
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(4)
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(4)
Atmosphere
(4)
(Review ID: 4371)
With significant works by Palladio on the Island and an Island hop away, as well as ship/boat/and gondola building factories and a smattering of fine restaurants (I had the best spaghetti with clams at the albeit pricy hotel restaurant down the way, but what is a hostel for but to afford a very nice dinner?). Giudecca is worth exploring on foot for a few hours. The nearby grocery has a very nice prosecco for couple of Euro, sparkling water for about .39/1.5L, and the deli people all down the island are very exited to help you pick out italian cold cuts and cheeses and breads. Venetians are very warm friendly people (even if you don't speak Italian) which is a welcome contrast to sour faced, high crime parts of Italy. I checked into the top floor of the hostel, top bunk and from that bunk had a great view of Venice as well as the beautiful exposed rafters holding up the roof. Be sure to take your Deep Woods Off, though, and wear it to bed ... the mosquitos have a nasty bite that swells into large painful hard lumps that take forever to get rid of - and I have no allergies. Prevention is good medicine. Count in the budget 10 euro a day for the unlimited day water taxi ticket and buy one as soon as you get off the train. The ticket checking system is rather lax but you DONT want to get caught without one and risk a hefty 60 euro fine or more. Its good to have the freedom to Island hop as you please and if you don't go to both Murano for the Venetian glass, and Burano for the colourful houses you are missing a big chunk of the point. Venice, especially St. Marks, is overrun with tourists at any time of year (I was there sept oct) and it is really nice to retreat to the quiet island. The biggest negative is the curfew which forces you to rush your day, miss evening events and dinner - and I really resented having to shovel-in my 60 euro spaghetti, in order to barely slink by the bolting doors. The hostel is clean and nicely rennovated, good water pressure and there is a very good laundromat just a few doors down. You will find it very hard to leave Venice, but if you are like me, you will probably want to see that part of the country they call Italy too.
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sparkleshine13
Kent, England
Stay somewhere else 8 August 2005
Pros:
n/a
Cons:
n/a
sparkleshine13
saw things this way
Maintenance
(2)
Cleanliness
(2)
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(2)
Atmosphere
(2)
(Review ID: 4372)
Ok, I have to first say that the night we stayed here it was a special festival to celebrate the end of the plague that had gripped Venice in the middle ages or something, so all the waterbuses stopped at 6pm and didn't go all the way to right stop cos there was a temporary bridge they built over the river!! IT was all a little crazy, but yeah it is a long way out of the way. ITs also a really unfriendly place, the boys and girls are on totally separate sides of the building, the restaurant is like a motorway service station, stale, bland and boring. The whole hostel was going for the sterilised look, but it couldn't even pull that off, it wasnt that clean. The showers did have see through doors (the trick is to have a super hot shower then glass door steams up!) My bed still had the previous occupants sheets on, complete with chocolate bar wrapper and crumbs. Curfew is too early, ok the night life in Venice is not the crazy all night wild parties, but midnight, come on! Also there was a crazy gang of french school children when we stayed, they threw a bottle out of the window, and dressed up in a SCREAM mask and ran around all night making noise. You could just say it was a bad experience we had, after all, the water buses normally run more often than when we were there cos of that festival. We stayed there on the 16th July so may be avoid this hostel then. We stayed at a more expensive but infinately nicer guest house 10 mins walk from all the sights in Venice (Baxpax Venice) and it was so much better. I would say, accept the fact that in Venice stuff is more expensive, and go for a nicer place somewhere else, this place was no fun!
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Ellie CallanMonk
England
One of the best; some slight issues 16 June 2005
Pros:
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Ellie CallanMonk
saw things this way
Maintenance
(4)
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(4)
Facilities
(4)
Atmosphere
(4)
(Review ID: 4373)
First of all, I'd like to correct people who said that the hostel was too far away. It is an 8 minute waterbus ride from St Mark's Square, and you can actually see the Basilica from the hostel windows. Aside from actually being in St Mark's Square, surrounded by tourists, you couldn't ask for better.The rooms were clean and nice, the only problem was that the wall partitions didn't go all the way up to the ceiling, so you can hear people talking in the other rooms. However, all the lights are turned out around 11pm (you can still use your own individual bunk light) so this tends to shut people up a bit. The curfew is 12 midnight, I think that's fine. The showers had doors made of glass so you could sort of see through them, but not as much as the muslin shower curtains in Florence! No toilet seats is pretty standard in Italy so this didn't bother me too much; you're generally lucky if you find a toilet with seats.The hostel is fine, it's cheap for Venice and the atmosphere is nice, the restaurant makes it easy to find people to talk to.
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Amy
Lancashire, England
I wouldn't go mad 15 June 2005
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Amy
saw things this way
Maintenance
(3)
Cleanliness
(3)
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(3)
Atmosphere
(3)
(Review ID: 4374)
Ok to find. Whilst i was there, building work going on inside so the reception is confusing. Dorms on single sex floors, with 16 to a room. Beds were ok, but noisy and had no plugs which was a pain. Dodgy bathrooms with see through showers and no bins. Breakfast was ok. It was ok but i wouldn't go mad
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Anonymous
Leme, Brazil
Far, poor breakfast e too early curfew 5 June 2005
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Anonymous
saw things this way
Maintenance
(3)
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(3)
Facilities
(3)
Atmosphere
(3)
(Review ID: 4375)
The place is not excelent, but you can stay your nights there without problem... the hostel is located in the Giudecca Island, it means a little far... the brakfast is just a capuccino and a bread. But you can find a lot of people!
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Sunny M
U.S.A.
What an Improvement! Nice Hostel! 16 May 2005
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Cons:
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Sunny M
saw things this way
Maintenance
(4)
Cleanliness
(4)
Facilities
(4)
Atmosphere
(4)
(Review ID: 4376)
Since I have read all the reviews about this hostel, I was very guarded and cautious on the day of arrival. Exposed shower unit, noise, mean staff, inconvenient location, etc. I thought one night at this hostel would be a survival game for me. To my surprise, the night turned out to be one of the most restful nights that I had in Europe. With an important note. My comments are for Ostello Venezia, which I believe is the same hostel as Hostello della Gioventu (the phone numbers are the same). Let's start with the shower room situation. Based on the reviews that I read, I was preparing to take a shower with no curtain. Whola! The shower units now have doors. Probably this was an improvement that they made after everyone's negative comments. The shower unit was clean, so I kicked off my beach sandals. The bathroom was overall very clean and bright.However, there was no seat on toilets. I hope this is on their to-do-list for future. The sleeping quarter was also clean. The other reviewers were right. The walls between rooms do not go up all the way to the ceiling, and therefore, you can hear noises coming from other rooms. I did not have a problem with it since there were no school groups on the day. However, I can imagine you having a problem with noise if less-matured-people ended up in the hostel with you. The hostel gives you a key to your own locker located in your bedroom with no additional charge. So your bags will be safe during the day and night. Also, many lockers are available in the living room area (where the office and entrance is). You will use those lockers if you arrive at the hostel before 9:30am for the first day (because your room is not ready for you). You will also use those lockers if you want to leave your bag after check-out. For those lockers in the living room area, you will pay additional to your stay. I think that the breakfast was coffee/tea/hotchocolate and bread. Depending on the person in the kitchen, you can get the second cup of coffee free, but if you get a wrong person, you would have to pay additional. The kitchen provides dinner as well, however, I remember it was rather expensive (9 Euro, I think). So I did not order it. The location was nothing but convenient. Yes, you will have to take a waterbus to all the sightseeing spots as the hostel is on a different island. However, the waterbus runs quite frequently during the day and night (I have never waited more than 15 minutes) , and if you buy a ticket at a small store near the hostel and waterbus stop, it will be 1 Euro to get to San Marco, which is only three minutes away. If you wait to buy a ticket from a waterbus attendant, it will be 3.5 Euro, so do buy the ticket before riding the bus. From/to the main train station, however, since you will go a distance, you will pay 3.5 Euro for a ticket no matter where you buy it.The staff was not exactly the kindest people although not mean. I think they are overworked and tired of entertaining same questions everyday. With that, I decided to minimize my questions for them and get more information from other hostel guests. You should do the same. Overall, I don't think this is a bad hostel. Actually, this is a good hostel with some bad reputations from the past. I think you should give it a try. Venice is one of the most expensive tourist destinations in Europe, and using this hostel will help you justify a nice sit-down pasta/pizza dinner in the city.
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cheeseandegg
Isle of Man
Bit too noisy but conveniently located 6 June 2004
Pros:
n/a
Cons:
n/a
cheeseandegg
saw things this way
Maintenance
(4)
Cleanliness
(4)
Facilities
(4)
Atmosphere
(4)
(Review ID: 4377)
I'll accept that the hostel is a bit too open and so noises can travel but the staff were generally friendly and there was food and drink available at the shop. I felt the hostel was in a perfect location because it overlooked San Marco, albeit from the opposite island. It's very simple to reach the main island by vaparetto and takes less than 5 minutes. Unfortunately when I arrived there was a waterbus strike so only one boat per hour which made the experience a bit cramped. The island is beautiful and the hostel not too bad. The curfew is ofcourse stupid but most Italian hostels seem to have them for some reason. i would recommend this hostel for all except those who have a lot of difficulty sleeping with noise.
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Anonymous
Melbourne, Australia
Terrible hostel 23 January 2004
Pros:
n/a
Cons:
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Anonymous
saw things this way
Maintenance
(1)
Cleanliness
(1)
Facilities
(1)
Atmosphere
(1)
(Review ID: 4378)
Positives - cheap accommodation in Venice; small breakfast included; luggage lockers available.Negatives - need to catch a ferry every time you need to go to & from the hostel to the main part of Venice; rooms are all joined together with no partitions to the ceiling so you can hear other people as well as noise from the bathrooms; the bathrooms are very institutional & not very clean; if you want to leave your luggage & drop the key back later on in the day you have to join the same queue as the one for people trying to get in; staff are not particularly friendly.
8 of
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ines
uruguay
The worst hostel 8 November 2003
Pros:
n/a
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ines
saw things this way
Maintenance
(1)
Cleanliness
(1)
Facilities
(1)
Atmosphere
(1)
(Review ID: 4379)
This is the worst hostel I ever stayed. The walls were thin and short, and all rooms were connected. At midnite some girls were laughing and singing very loud in the room next to mine, and it was impossible to sleep. Its imposible to sleep well if you are rounded by so many ppl. Always is gonna be someone making noise.I couldnt take a shower there cos there was no courtains or doors in the showers, and they r in the same room as the toilets and the sinks. So there was always ppl there, and I dont feel confortable taking a shower there.And neither was nice that each time I went to wash my theet or to the toilet I was rounded by naked ppl.The curfew its at 11 pm. I was talking to some ppl I met there during the diner, but at 11 the stuff said us that we had to go to the room or sleep outside.And to go everywhere you had to take the waterbus.Luckily I spent just a day in Venice. Its a nice city but I hate this hostel.
