I absolutely loved my stay at castle rock. I would absolutely come back every time I visit…read moreEdinburgh. It's close to Waverly station and you can get lots of places from there. The hostel is just in the shadow of Edinburgh castle (I included a photo I took from the sidewalk). Couldn't ask for a better location. The staff was kind and hospitable, and the vibe was very chill. I WILL SAY THIS. the bathrooms are not gendered, so you'll be showering/pooping (in private stalls of course) with both sexes, so if that's not your tea, be aware of that--but it didn't bother me. LOVE LOVE LOVE CASTLE ROCK!!!!!!

The location is amazing, the staff is so helpful and so kind. The rooms are fine, very small. My…read more"roommates" were extraordinarily messy so if I got up during the night I tripped over all their crap. I ended up leaving a couple days early because I hardly slept a wink. The building is old and very creaky with every step someone takes. Doors slam at all hours. I could hear someone snoring so loudly from next door the last two nights. It would be nice if halls lights dimmed at night so that when people come in at 4am it isn't so bright. Take earplugs and an eye mask. I mean, there is nothing staff can do about the many guests always coming through. It's just if you want a good night's sleep I wouldn't stay here. The showers are fine, hot water and mostly clean. There were contacts in one of the showers for four days so I don't know often they are cleaned. But I felt very safe and the location cannot be beat. Lots of great activities offered.

This was one of the better hostels I've stayed in! The rooms were smaller, only 6 beds, and the…read morebeds were more comfortable than many. The downstairs room was fun. I would stay here again.

There were many things we loved about High Street…read more The location is amazing. You truly can't get better. You are right off the Royal Mile, which makes your stay quiet, but close enough to everything you want to see! The building is gorgeous. It is over 400 years old and it is beautiful with stone and rustic lodging. This makes the stay so special. There are many stairs, but you know that before booking. The wifi is great, and everything is clean! You can rent a towel for only 1 pound. The hostel offers events and breakfast, though we didn't get to try either. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The only reason I'm taking off a star is that our room was TINY. There are bigger private rooms, so I'm not sure how we got unlucky and got the small private room. Overall, I would definitely tell people to stay here!

We stopped by the back garden area to sit outside and distance, slightly, from the throngs of…read morepeople. This was a pay at your table and have drinks brought to you. Cool vibe, nice crowd, good drinks including a non alcoholic cider.

Cant think of anything i didnt like, really. My boyfriend and I were in a six person mixed-sex…read moreroom. Most of the bathrooms are also unisex which is fine because the doors are full length. One shower had only a curtain but the rest also had doors. The water was hot and pressure was good. The food was filling and cheap. It was centered right in the middle of town, right by the castle and shops. There is laundry on site but only two washer dryers so gotta get there early. I guess it kinda sucked going up to the top floor because there was no elevator but exercise is always good. In the rooms there were lockers if you brought your own lock but i just left my stuff on the bed and it was fine. On the bottom floor there is a 1£/day luggage storage. We fit all of our bags in one. Though we wasted one pound fiddling with the lock at first haha. The card keys were a bit iffy sometimes is the only thing i found annoying i guess. But i had a somewhat negative idea of what hostels were so this was my first one and it was great!

Over the weekend in Edinburgh, I stayed over at a rather fancy looking hostel, solely so I can…read morepretend that I'm living the life of luxury *twirls curly moustache* The Baxter is a really nice hostel located smack in the middle of the city centre, just behind the Apple Store on Princes St. Based on location, it's pretty damn perfect! The hostel itself is smaller than I expected. Those wide angle shots on Hostelworld could easily fool you! But regardless it was a pretty nice and comfy place, with shiny equipment and deco in the kitchen, which I loved! They have the best stove and ovens. Best you utilise it for dinner when you're there!! The dorms have nice comfy beds, with plug points and reading lamps at every bedside, though I wish they had brighter lighting because it was like a cave! The bathrooms were clean but could use a bit more TLC because the soap dispenser kept leaking and the showers sometimes drain slowly lol (these are the only things I have to complain about really) They make free breakfast for you everyday which is a life saver for those on a budget, and they have really fast free wifi!!! Yipeeee!!! Their staff members are available 24hours a day so feel free to ask for any help or just have a chat with them when you're feeling bored lol I like The Baxter! Would def recommend anyone to stay here if they wanna visit Edinburgh!

Perfect location, right off the Royal Mile! The rooms had lockers (so bring a lock if you're not…read moresure who will be in your room), and our room had a bathroom and shower. The shower was kind of gross, so definitely bring flip flops. The beds had privacy curtains, which is big, because a lot of hostels don't. The breakfast is very average, but the bar is fun and has great options! I will definitely stay here again when I come bacK to Edinburgh.

Imagine this: You're a 30-something year-old solo traveler who's going on his European backpacking…read moretrip, and that trip is going to be well over three months long. You happen upon Safestay, the first of many hostels you plan to stay at, and you're a bit worried how it's the whole trip is going to shake down. Well, that poor sap was me. However, Safestay Edinburgh easily had one of the best on-site bars of any of the hostels I stayed at. The beer taps were cold, clean and delicious, the staff were attentive and polite, and their Monday night sing-a-long turned out to be one of the most happening spots throughout the entire city. The hostel itself was great, and it's conveniently located between the central part of the city, nightlife area and Holywood Park, a must-do attraction for any nature lover in Edinburgh.

If you have taken the time to read my previous reviews of backpacking hostels in Edinburgh you will…read moresee I'm fairly getting through them and at some point in the future I will be able to say I stayed in them all. Recently I had the pleasure of staying at the Cowgate Tourist Hostel which is just a short distance along from Budget Backpackers, another hostel I reviewed recently. At the Cowgate I was met by very friendly and accommodating staff who processed my booking quickly and efficiently. From there I had to exit the main reception area and walk a few doors further along the street because this hostel is not accessed internally. Instead the dorms are in individual self contained apartments accessed by a common stairwell and each flat has its own shower room and kitchen. My dorm had only four beds which is good because the fewer beds there are the easier it is to get a decent night's kip. Larger dorms will have more people coming and going, more snorers and so on, so these small dorms are quite good from a privacy perspective. To this extent the Cowgate hostel is different from other hostels I've stayed at in Edinburgh or anywhere else. So far so good! Now for the negative aspects none of which should stop you from staying here, at least it wouldn't deter me, but for the hostel management reading this it would be worth noting that suitable upgrades based upon my recommendations will be deserving of further review and more stars. Although 3 out of 5 isn't bad at all! Security is important to the modern backpacker simply because these days we are carrying more expensive electronic goods, computers, i-phones, cameras and so on. So most backpackers like to have a locker to put their stuff while they leave the dorm to cook food or grab a shower, to prevent the opportunist thief from grabbing their stuff and out the door. The lack of personal lockers in the dorms is likely to be a problem for many guests staying at the Cowgate which is further exacerbated by the fact there is no CCTV presence anywhere inside the hostel. So let's say someone does grab your stuff and makes off with the loot, with the presence of CCTV the culprit would possible be caught on camera and easily identified as they exited the building. With no CCTV there isn't even the possibility of alleging who took your stuff should you make a police complaint. Other reasons for having CCTV, especially with mixed sex dorms, is protection from assault or allegations of assault made against you. Let's just say without CCTV and oversight by the central reception area or security room then anything could happen undetected by anyone until well after the event took place. So marks off for security. The showers were fine, everything clean and the water was hot and so to the kitchen. From my observations in hostel kitchens frying pans are very popular cooking utensils especially for Spanish and Italian visitors. The kitchen didn't have a frying pan. It didn't have any cooking utensils apart from cutlery. It only had one large pot, no smaller or medium sized pots and so I had to fry using the base of large soup pot and using a fork to turn the food over. And the reason for this? The lack of CCTV means that some guests are taking the stuff away with them because there is no oversight. You could walk out with the microwave if you wanted and because the flats are accessed from the street the reception area cannot monitor the comings and goings of guests there, After reading this you may wonder why I even gave it 3 stars. Well, backpacking hostels are in many respects about making do and it is very good accommodation for the price but the management should take heed of my recommendations, namely improvements in security, adequate provision of cooking utensils and I would happily give four stars. So not bad but definite room for improvement here.

Give Danusha a raise!!! (Forgive me if I'm spelling her name wrong)…read more This is one of the two locations they have It's very self sufficient, they do not have a full time staff on site though their response time through email is exemplary though if you message through the app they have you download (Goki) you won't get a response. If you would like more of an independent stay, meaning you stick with yourself or your group, this would be a good choice. The kitchen is self-service and full of everything needed (except your own food). There seems to be an unspoken rule to be quiet and not interact down there, more like study hall than a hang out space. No breakfast on site but next door is a Wetherspoon's location with cheap breakfast and unlimited coffee/hot drinks for £1.45. The Hub for Premier Inn is very close with £5 continental breakfast (all you can eat and drink). The location is in the center of what you'd want to do, go over to Calton Hill/Holyrood/Royal Mile, Old Town and the Castle, up and over to Dean's Village or the Botanical Gardens. They have a full-time housekeeper, Danusha, who comes every five days a week which I thought was simply amazing and wonderful. The showers were nice and hot, if not a bit soft. I stayed for two weeks and showered different times in the day and with another occupied stall and I never had to deal with cold or lukewarm water. Since it is more of a self-sufficient stay, people were more prone to clean up after themselves in public spaces (at least on my floor). On Danusha's off days there was a man who came in place of her. I first met him when I went downstairs one morning to ask about laundry. Later on that same morning he came to do the chores but did not knock or announce himself and I only knew he was on my level because my door unlocked and opened he just said "housekeeping" with my door open already and he came into my room, walked right in without asking if it was alright and let the door close with him and myself in the room alone. I'm sorry but I'm from America and this is not a normal or safe situation for me. From then on I try to get out of my room before housekeeping comes. Laundry is a strange deal, there's not a convenient time to do it and there aren't specific hours posted but housekeeping does laundry until about 4/5pm. Once I asked the part-time housekeeper about laundry and where it was and it seemed as if I wasn't allowed to know about the laundry nor do it, though while emailing I was given a code and told it was free on-site. Then that same instance he told me in a very...blunt way that he needs to use the laundry and I could use it in the afternoon when he was done. I understand they need to work alongside the guests, but he was not welcoming or kind at all. What's difficult is there's no sign up, no timetable, and to do one load it takes upwards of 3+ hours because it doesn't dry the clothes the entire way. Also be aware that these walls and floors are very thin, even through earplugs you can hear and feel the vibrations. Hopefully when you stay there are considerate people! They have quiet hours 11pm-8am though no one to enforce those hours. I tried to get in touch with them through the app and never heard back from them. If you want a clean and independent stay, this is your place! If you want more interaction with other travelers, maybe the other location is better!

I stayed 3 nights here while on vacation in Edinburgh. I really enjoyed it. It was very inexpensive…read moreand a unique experience. My friend and I each had our own "box", it reminded me of the places they have in Japan. There were 4 pods in the room, two lowers with two on top of the lower ones. Inside your pod it is pretty simple. You have a two USB slots, a power outlet, and reading light, a hat hook and a shelf. Bedding was included and the mattress was fine. You basically set yourself up inside and it's very private. You pull your curtain shut and it's lights out. Free WIFI was great and I used it a lot, especially when I was alone in my pod before falling asleep. The bathrooms are shared. Up to 8 people on each floor share the bathroom but it was always clean and open for use. It has a private toilet stall and two private showers with attached changing areas just outside the actual shower. I was always comfortable using these facilities. In the morning they put out free coffee, juice and cereal but there are many cafes around if you want something more. The location was excellent, too. About a block around the corner from the Princes Street stop on the tram, which goes straight to the airport. I highly recommend this place. No real negatives about it. A top-notch hostel for sure.

We came to Edinburgh, Scotland and had to book last minute accommodation, and saw this place online…read moreso decided to give it a shot. Laura checked us in and was so welcoming and helpful. She offered us free wi-fi and even told us we could use the laundry room free of charge! We stayed in a 8 bed mix dorm with our own ensuite. The beds were really comfortable and the heaters worked really well. (You'd be surprised how many hostels have shitty heating systems.) For an 8 bed dorm, the room was really large and roomy. Not like other hostels, with small cramped spaces. The price is totally resonable for such a great place. It was so good we came back again when we came back to Edinburgh to get a flight out! If you are in Edinburg, I highly recommend this place! Great place to stay for a great price. And Laura was awesome!

I only stayed there 2 nights in the beginning of July and it was quiet and clean. I had an 8 bed…read moredorm all for myself! The staff was okay and willing to help, and they had a very cute doge. The kitchen was absolutely wonderful and had comfy sofas. The location is amazing, New Town has a lot of things to go and see, plus there are many many restaurants.. The only negative thing was that doors couldn't be locked although they had a code system to be opened. All in all I think it is a good place to stay when it's not very crowded.

I stayed here with a group of friends on a weekend trip to Edinburgh, and we loved this hostel! The…read morelocation was perfect, right on the Royal Mile and within walking distance of everything we wanted to do, and it was only a 10-minute walk to the Edinburgh Waverly train station. The rooms and bathrooms were clean, and the pods were comfortable. Each pod comes with a locker, hanging rack, a shelf, and USB ports. The staff were friendly, and the lobby has books and games available to borrow, as well as a variety of drinks and snacks to purchase. Breakfast is available for £6. If you are looking for a place to stay in the middle of Old Town, look no further!

Extended my stay here because I loved it so much. Smack middle of Edinburgh. Walking distance to…read moreall the great places. Clean restrooms, laundry facilities, amazing staff and would absolutely come back.

Very basic hostel. No lockers in bedroom and no privacy in the beds. The showers were either super…read morehot or super cold. Common spaces were good. Location could be better. Did not have free luggage storage the day I checked out which was a bummer.

DO NOT BOOK this place. They canceled with no reason given, 2 weeks before our stay. This was our…read morehoneymoon trip; we booked months in advance. Then we get an email that says our booking was canceled due to an "issue with bedding", and to top it off, the stay was during a national holiday, so there were no other affordable options in the area. We stayed in Glasgow instead because of this. I cannot express how angry I am that they can do this to people. I wish nothing but bad luck to this joke of an establishment. Again, DO NOT BOOK HERE. I personally think their "internal issue with beds" was just raising the price and rebooking, which should be illegal.