BUG review
This basic but very sociable hostel is in an old thatched cottage that is part of a preserved old village. It has stone walls and open roof space. There’s a good-sized common room/kitchen. Bring or hire a sheet sleeping bag. Guests keep the hostel clean. There’s a café on the site, and lovely beach and cliff walks within metres.
About BUG's hostel reviews
This hostel was visited by one of BUG's team of hostel inspectors who write independent reviews and assess a star rating based on an objective assessment criteria.
We show up unannounced at hostels to write honest and unbiased hostel reviews. Many of BUG's reviews now feature videos and photo slideshows. BUG never receives payment for listing any establishment and BUG's researchers never accept free accommodation in exchange for favourable reviews.
Price Dorm bed £9 (£8 HI/SYHA) Prices are in British pounds and are inclusive of all taxes.
Pros:
It's a blackhouse! You're staying in a blackhouse - what else can I say?
Cons:
I left my bag of scarves, hats and mittens there :(
saoghalbeag
saw things this way
Maintenance
(4)
Cleanliness
(4)
Facilities
(4)
Atmosphere
(5)
(Review ID: 5150)
Twas a bitter November and pitch dark by 3 o'clock. We arrived in a raging gale and froze our proverbials off just getting to the door of the manager's house to ask for keys! They were great, really chatty and helpful, and led us over and set everything up for us.Garenin was a proper blackhouse village up until the 1970s, when the council were forced to move the residents into newly built, more modern houses, just up the road. You drive along through a regular Island village and then suddenly you are in the blackhouse village. Some of the blackhouses have been converted into tearooms, and this one into an SYHA hostel, but there are others left fairly much as they were in the 70s so you can check them out. Without troubling the hostel manager there didn't seem to be any way of getting inside these, so we contented ourselves with wandering through the village down to the roaring waves in the bay. The whole village is on a downhill track to a small harbour.The hostel itself was great - modern, renovated bathroom and large kitchen/lounge area with open fire and plenty of wood and etcs. The rooms were at either end and had about 3 sets of bunks in them. They were small and cosy. The whole place reeked of cosiness!! Definitely planning to head back there one day (probably in Summer!!) It was thrilling to hear the wind outside and think about the generations of people who had slept inside the walls...
