Cheap, reliable, safe hostel.
This was one of the best hostel experiences I've ever had. I'd highly recommend this to anyone travelling to Amsterdam. Some details:

LOCATION: In the red light district. Above a bar (4-5pm and 8-9pm happy hour) and right next to anything and everything the red light district has to offer. Nice short walk to the Centraal Station. The street outside can get someone loud but nothing that an active day, and extreme tiredness can't fix. The local church gets really annoying really quickly but that's a product of the city planning and affects most hostels.

CLEANLINESS: Beds were cleaned prior to arrival. Other people had to wait a little bit before the cleaner people showed up. Room was occassionally cleaned.

FACILITIES: This hostel does not have a kitchen nor a fridge. The tiled bathroom is beautiful though. Sparkling clean with 4 individual showers on each floor, 4 urinals, and 4 sinks with mirrors. All that you can ask for.

ROOMS: 4-5 bunk beds in each room with a table and a few chairs in the middle. Average. Nothing bad at all.

LOCKERS: 6 tall, 7 foot lockers in each room. Our room had 4 of the 6 lockers working. Key locks were available for rent.

SECURITY: This is probably the most important reason to pick this hostel. In order to get in you first have to ring a doorbell. Then you have to go inside and present a validated card that the hostel gives to you. Upon validation that the card is legit, you are buzzed upstairs. The room to your beds is electronically locked and needs a 6 number combination to unlock. All this coupled with the lockers makes it completely safe from random people.

Oh, and random note. DO NOT eat the breakfast downstairs at the bar. Although the cheap (3.50 euro) price might be tempting, be prepared to wait anywhere from 15-60 minutes for 3 slices of ham, 3 slices of cheese, a slice of cantelope, and an egg on occassion. Not worth it. The 25% discount is for breakfast only; not for drinks.

Reviewed By: Roman Markh
January 2005