I've been visiting the Hostel in the Forest a couple times a year for the last decade, and let me tell you--this place is like a magical fairy portal with slightly more mosquitoes. From the moment you step out of your car, a transformation begins. Your GPS signal vanishes, your hair frizzes in the humidity, and you suddenly find yourself saying things like, "I feel so aligned with the Earth." It's not you--it's the hostel. She's a siren in the woods, crooning with wind chimes and the scent of patchouli. Yes, the lake is no longer clothing-optional (tiny violin plays) but the spirit of the place remains intact. 50 years of showers that feel like you're auditioning for Survivor: Zen Edition, a soundtrack of chicken gossip and crickets, and a communal energy that makes even your introverted side say, "Okay fine, I'll make eye contact." If you hate dirt, bugs, or conversations that start with "What's your moon sign?"--run. Run far. This ain't your place. But if your soul sings at the idea of stargazing from a floating dock, barefoot walks that feel like forest therapy, and mornings that start with the sun (and possibly a rooster), then honey... welcome home. Bring biodegradable soap, a sense of wonder, and maybe a spare sarong. You're gonna love it. read more

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Love this place. Very therapeutic and just a great place to go to unwind and take in nature

Greeting To All, I became a member of The Forest a few years ago .. at which time after renting for a week, I was invited to stay a month to: teach music, repair instruments .. and any other broken thing .. which was pretty much everything. But, I was seen as an upstart who professed that some reasonable level of order and cleanliness were good measures. Alas, the "dope-smokers club" per the dicta of then manager, Jen, decided I was being TOO helpful and taking up too much room in the work-shed (hidey-hole) ... and I was ejected when I declined to "be hugged" by said mgr., not making peace really .. just ignoring the obvious. I was an actual Hippie back in the day; I have long been a music instructor and school teacher .. educated in engineering .. giving me a "good mind". Five years passed .. I kept in touch with the friend, Ed C. who'd introduced me there. HE is now a big deal there .. and asked me, with my "good mind" to return, stay .. at least three months .. and assist him in attaining new heights in "the lifestyle", so to speak. ******* It was a heartwarming reunion with my friend/now land mgr. Yet, disorganization, hoarding kitchen pots, filth, huge roaches and vermin, a plethora of huge spiders (of unrealized genus) were INSIDE, and I could not bring myself even to use a coffee maker ! I saw the same spider dwellings five years earlier .. the kitchen was web-central .. and quite disgusting, literally ! I communed happily for group dinner and universal peace wishes, per usual for a couple of nights. At 7pm, on the third night, I dined and help with the wash/up .. then just decided to start cleaning and removing the many redundant, unusable pots & pans. Tim, then mgr. (on probation) mocked my efforts, he and two other interns never offering to help. Fine .. 10 hours later, my "friend", the land foundation's mgr. was as displeased by my efforts as all the lazy young white kids who go there to act like they know something .. despite doing nothing perfunctory and normal in ANY CIVILIZED HUMAN DWELLING ! Tim ignored me that morning .. and summarily resigned ! Wow .. cut n run! The insults, insinuations .. even "head-injured Robert", who shouted, "You're an angry FUCK" .. the place had thrust itself, by dishonesty, supreme laziness and utter resistance to my "good mind" into complete disarray and contact-anger and blame. I was told that these dweeeby-baby's felt unsafe .. even by my friend, Ed C. .. and that again, I must GO .. that I am not "with" the (disturbing) spirit of the place ! You're damned right I'm not ! Thus, their broken piano was left disassembled, broken guitars everywhere once again, no one to teach actual music lessons .. and Ed's second Martin guitar destroyed by his neglect !! Talk about not seeing the Forest for the trees ! Unkept walking paths and sitting areas .. not serving the guests !! What ? HITF is a great land-rescue operation, lovingly conceived and ongoing. The hostel manager, land mgr. etc, program .. is a total subterfuge. Today's Twenty-something kids DO NOT have brains sufficiently capable of WORK .. at all, nor the negotiating skills by which to give a shit about someone who came to help to teach by example. I had done it all as Victoria, the Sweat Lodge officiant would be the more relaxed, spiritually, to prepare with patrons for that beautiful ritual ! Standing with Ed and me, Victoria said, "Thanks for 'helping' clean the kitchen." J said, no, "I did it alone .. no one offered help .. while they walked around after dark with a jug of wine !" Ed argued, "Maybe if you hadn't started at midnight ?" THAT's the friend who begged me to return ! I reminded him I'd begun right after dinner .. and nobody included themselves. Our friendship/brothership ended angrily on my part ... obsequiously on Ed's part .. he preferred, as a "proud" native-American to continue taking shit from white peckerhead kids .. and THEIR parents who also "run the place" .. into disarray .. damn the leaves covering foot paths, the labyrinth .. the broken furniture and unusable sitting areas. One such obese mom-mgr defended her obese son and another little girl collecting eggs w/o staff present. The kids weren't hurt of course, but every egg they grabbed was broken on the ground a second later, in front of me and the well-meaning obese-mom-manager .. who's sneaky purpose was to inform me that "the staff felt unsafe", my being around. As a teacher, I know their feeling .. it's called the Fear of Caring and/or being useful .. and, mostly, of learning .. away from their "digitalia". So, every goodness that may come from such a place is undone by laziness, self-centeredness .. and a special kind of elective STUPIDITY .. I opine selfishly, with my "good mind". HITH IS DISHONEST CRAP .. but the Forest is lovely .. so they saved THAT. Lawri PS: composting commodes, open-air showers .. WONDERFUL .. but anybody can do those things peace, sincerely read more

I recently embarked on a much-needed mini-vacation and ended up at The Hostel in the Forest with one of my oldest friends. I knew the establishment would be...interesting...and that it was. The hostel property spans a piece of beautiful forested land in Brunswick, not too far off the highway. However, to access the campus, you have to drive on a bumping, wooded road. A night's stay in a treehouse costs $25--and that includes all of the natural amenities the hostel offers, including dinner, a lake with canoes, hiking trails, a glass yoga house, boardwalks, a pool and probably some other stuff I didn't have time to discover. My friend and I stayed in the bamboo hut for two nights--it overlooks the labyrinth and sits high off the ground. The treehouses do have electricity (much to my surprise) as well as ceiling fans. Because the hostel is run by hippies, the entire office and bed linens (that are provided) smell like mildew. While the staff does a great job of carrying out new projects (such as building a new library), hostel maintenance and taking care of current visitors seem to be a problem. However, the dinner I ate there was delicious: a pomegranate vinaigrette salad, miso soup, creamy polenta with roasted red peppers and tomatoes, zucchini patties and watermelon. Note that this produce is grown on the hostel property. In addition, the chickens who roam the woods provide eggs for breakfast. I also was glad to find a couple showers: one indoor hut and another outdoor facility. The hostel's vibrance depends on the current staff and visitors, I think. During my stay, the group was rather incoherent and spacey, but that's all right. I had fun wandering around in the sun anyway. read more

Hostel In the Forest - the bamboo hut - Hostels Near Me - Brunswick, Georgia

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I had an incredible experience here! The treehouse was awesome, there was a beautiful art room above where we stayed filled with all sorts of cool stuff. The lake was incredible (although a fish did bite my nipple). The staff was super friendly and made me feel at home. Can't wait to go back. read more

My favorite place in Brunswick! ...well, my only reason to go to Brunswick... My first time there, I was 18 and on a solo road trip through the South-East. This was my first stop out of Florida, and I thought I would only spend a night or two. Once I got there, I loved it so much that I didn't want to leave! I stayed a week, and wanted to stay longer, but dwindling funds encouraged me to move along. The place is cheap and interesting. All of the rooms are scattered throughout the forest, and they're treehouses!! The rooms have mesh windows so you get an unobstructed view of the forest; but so far from one another that people don't really get a view of you. There are some ground-level rooms, but they often have another room upstairs. Accommodations are very simple, but pretty much everything you need. There are clean sheets to sleep on, natural and chemical bug spray (the mosquitoes are monstrous), vegetarian food every day, a library, a glass yoga studio, instruments, swimming ponds, forest, serenity, community... I grew very close to the people there. Everyone fell in to a time-warp, and 4 other people who had also only intended to stay a few nights ended up staying longer because we didn't want to say good-bye. I had many firsts in this wonderful place =) Oh, and their outdoor shower is incredible! It's a really nice bamboo design, with a great view. Unfortunately, I developed a funk before I grew the ovaries to shower out in the open (1 wall is missing, and it faces the forest area away from the cabins & gathering spaces)...but once I took my first outdoor shower, I didn't want to stop! The view and the feeling of hot water running on you as you look at sunlight dancing through the forest canopy is INCREDIBLE. I was taking like 2 showers a day! (it was summer, and quite muggy) I've done a good bit of hostelling and retreating. This is a retreat for the price of a hostel. read more

I want to start by saying I should have known better. I was once a dirty hippie plus I had been to the hostel once before (in 2012), so I really should have known better. Here's my story: I decided to take my wife to the hostel for our wedding anniversary. I knew she wouldn't be into the hugging strangers part of it, but I figured she would enjoy the woods, gardening, lake, nature, and especially the treehouses. When we arrived at 10pm after a long drive from atlanta, I could see just how much variability there is between staff groups. Since the staff is always changing, there are big differences in how well the place is maintained. This was probably (hopefully) a low point. Everything was dirty. The entire kitchen was covered in mildew. The "clean" sheets smelled like mildew. There were cigarette butts everywhere. But, you know, all good! That is until the end of our tour when our "wizard" guide quietly slipped in that we were not sleeping in a private treehouse at all, but instead in the dirty communal cabin they call the "dumpster" (that's probably not the name but that's what it was). We walked in and realized that we would be sleeping together in a bunk bed surrounded by many many other smelly folks. So even though I specifically asked on the phone to make sure we would have our own private treehouse, we were told only when we arrived and paid for 2 nights that we were shit out of luck. Look, I get that this is an "intentional community" and it shouldn't be held to the same standards as other businesses or hotels or even hostels. But charging us the same price for a disgusting communal bunk as for a beautiful private treehouse is pretty crappy. Not telling us about it ahead of time is what really gets me, though. That's intentionally misleading. Anyway we woke up early and walked around a little to see that all the gardens were dying, the labyrinth was overgrown and unkept, the pool was closed and out of order, and all the boats in the "lake" had cracks in them. That was quite enough. We left and ended up having a great weekend bopping from island to island in coastal GA. My point is this: The hostel in the forest is a great idea and a great vision that is sometimes actualized in beautiful ways and sometimes falls very far short. Be prepared for either version - and make sure to ask if you're actually sleeping in a private treehouse. read more

This is one of my favorite natural settings. It is best in the fall or spring due to bugs. The walking trails are amazing with boardwalks. I find it interesting to stay in a tree house and eat a homemade vegetarian meal. read more

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I've had a different hostel experience everywhere I go. This is the only hostel in Georgia so kudos to the owner for making it happen! Here there are outdoor showers complete with eco friendly soap (Dr.Bronners) so it will break down, the water is if I am not mistaken artesian, as in it flows up under pressure, I could be wrong, maybe it's a well. I would have felt more comfortable if there were doors on the shower area or a curtain (I'm not as free hippie as I'd like to think). There are composing toilets as well so you are encouraged to "water a tree". Staff is warm and friendly and gives you the lay of the land. Free communal, vegetarian meal every night, if you have food to add or give it's welcome. As thier website states, BRING BUG SPRAY, it is necessary. It wasn't my scene, but there are others that would LOVE it, you have to know what you want and what you're are getting. I think what turned me off is watering a tree, I'm a girl and while I love backpacking, I'm not a fan of paying to pee on the ground. Maybe if I had brought friends with me it would have been more comfortable. read more

This place is great for open minded individuals who enjoy nature and aren't afraid of hugs. My boyfriend and I just spent a wonderful weekend there. It was very relaxing, quiet and quite romantic. This is not a fancy place by any means. The tree houses do not have any electricity and are pretty much open (if it weren't for the screens). They use compost bathrooms (which were not as bad as I thought they would be) and the showers are outdoors. It is very hippy and the people are very friendly. It's all hugs and openness here. If you enjoy nature, you will love the trails and waking up to the birds, sleeping to the sounds of rain, etc. My bf and I enjoyed our stay there very much and will more than likely return. read more

Hostel In the Forest - The dragon's layer - Hostels Near Me - Brunswick, Georgia

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YOU MUST GO!! this place was simply remarkable. driving up 95 from florida we stumbled upon it late at night by searching on our phones. it was a magical find. nestled in the woods it felt like you had entered a hobbit village worlds away from the scary strip mall motel-8's just 10 miles away. everyone was exceedingly kind, chill, interesting. the buildings were beautiful. the surroundings stunning. swam in the lake and ate eggs from their chicken. we had to hit the road again, but i would drive down to georgia just to stay there for a 3 day vacation. if you are into a little crunch-granola, composting-toilet, no-heating, pee-in the woods, clothing optional swimming this is a must stay. to people freaked out by the above things: give it a try anyway, stay for a night and i bet you'll like it, it seems like the place that if you are open to it you will adore or at least see something different by going. but if you don't think you can be open to it, then its not for you. read more

2013, I vowed, would be a birthday to remember. I planned months in advance, researching every "Georgia Bucket List" blog, when I came across a website with the tagline, "May the forest be with you," and my kindred, pun-loving heart skipped a beat. Day of: Got super lost trying to find the hostel, as it doesn't actually exist on the linear space-time continuum. Thus we we arrived too late for a tree house; and were assigned to the "overflow" room, a.k.a the "corral." Down a dirt path, past one of the community's 3 public outhouses, around a bend and there, a two-story building stood, held together by a skeletal wood frame and screened walls. Think: Glorified chicken coop for humans. Inside, the combined stench of pot, (Nog) Champa, body odor, and some indescribable ESSENCE OF Unabomber could be bottled for chemical warfare. When our eyes stopped stinging, they honed in on one glaring detail: the bunkbeds were rickety, 8-foot tall wood lofts... with NO ladders. Not surprisingly, the only beds left were 3 TOP bunks, as nobody but a Harlem Globetrotter could reach them. We tossed up our sleeping bags, changed into our bathing suits, and headed to stop one: the "fresh-water" pool. The Pool: You could have told me that the promise of everlasting youth was at the bottom of that pool and I wouldn't have gone in. A craggy, concrete hole filled with water the color of lime Gatorade choked by a stagnant film of putrefying algae. Large, moss-covered vines crawled out from the sludge, affixing themselves to the stone border like leaches. It felt like the backdrop to some horror noir, where Siamese twin girls in black bikinis danced poolside to a scratchy, skipping record of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." An icy wind crept in. A mysterious red rubber ball rolled up to our feet. We hit the ground running. Communal Dinner: "Please hold the hand of the person standing next to you, as we go around and share three things we're each grateful for." I sized up the room. There were over 50 people. A minimum one minute each, and we're looking at another hour until we can eat. It seemed a kind of hippie Hunger Games. The countdown gong. We the tributes released into a common area in a lethal fight to gather food. But instead of defending ourselves with cross bows and scythes, we're given talking sticks and patchouli. After dinner, work detail: "Every visitor does their part to keep things in tip-top shape," they explained. So... I turned the facts over in my head. The guests pay the staff so that WE can do THEIR work. For a bunch of pot-smoking hippies, these people were f'ing brilliant. Grudgingly, we used the last minutes of moonlight to reach the Corral. There, we rigged belays out of beach towels and climbed to the top of the bunks. And -- that's when I saw it, in my periphery, a dark shadow looming on the screen beside me. "A bat!" I shrieked... only to look back and see with sheer horror my mistake. It wasn't a bat. It was a... Roach? Only what species I had never seen before or since. A "PALM"-etto bug, in the truest sense, for its capacity to grow into the size of an Adult. Human. Palm. I scanned the room. 2, 3, 6 of them, clutched to the screened walls like gargoyles. It was in that moment when I knew one thing to be absolutely true: There HAD been ladders on the lofts before. But the roaches kicked them down and dragged them out of sight. We zipped ourselves into our sleeping bags, leaving a tiny slit for air. I imagined I was a kid again, in art class, breathing through a straw to make a plaster face cast. "It was a game" I told myself. "It was only a game." I drifted in and out of sleep, jarred awake at various intervals by guests spilling in throughout the night. Two college kids engaged in an awkward mating dance which ended in colossal failure when narcissist millennial guy obliviously cock-blocked himself. Then, the guttural death rattle of someone with severe sleep apnea; every inhale sounding as if he swallowed an antique oscillating fan. Next, the low, dull scraping of the roaches sharpening their tiny leg saws. And last, my own need to pee, which meant repelling down the loft in pitch blackness into who knows what kind of Temple of Doom-like pit of slithering life forms. I felt my way to the front door, down the steps, and onto the dirt path towards the outhouse. I knew it was only 30 or so feet away, but the thought of running into some hairy guy's dangling naked bits or the satanic Siamese twin sisters stopped me in my tracks. Instead, I crouched right outside the Corral door and marked the front stoop like the wonderful, feral wolf goddess I had become. In the end, I achieved my mission: Make 2013 a birthday to remember; even though, late at night when the moonlight casts dark, Palm-shaped shadows on my bedroom wall, parts of me long desperately to forget. read more

If you're coming here expecting a quiet retreat, this may not be the best place for you. When I visited, there were loud parties/social gatherings every night til midnight, with staff blasting music over loudspeakers. However, when I decided to leave early, the hostel manager was courteous and gave me a refund for the night I didn't stay, and a partial refund for one of the nights I did. I think my experience would have been different had I been assigned to a sleeping space farther from the kitchen/social area, but because of where I was sleeping, volume was a major issue. Pros: -Beautiful property, cool buildings/structures -Lots of happy chickens -Outdoor showers -During the day, pretty chill - easy to have quiet time/low key socialization Cons: -Staff and visitors having really loud at night (blasting music, yelling, etc), "party" vibes -Visitors smoking indoors in eating area - staff were present, did not address -Pillows smell like someone else's BO -Composting toilets close to overflowing -Website says, explicitly, that excessive drinking is not part of the Hostel's culture and that staff will enforce this. As someone who's sober, this was a HUGE draw. However, both nights I was there, multiple guests were noticeably drunk (and drinking in common areas), and staff were drinking right along with them. read more

This place has a lot of potential, but no one seems to have their heart in this project. The land is beautiful, but if seems that whoever is running it is not taking care or caring about the land. First off, they praise the garden so much...but when we walked back there it was in horrible shape. Looked like no one has tended to it in months! Rotten plants, diseased, yellow leaves, horrible shape. It could be such a wonderful garden if every employee dedicated an hour a day. Second, the place is a disgusting mess! You would think for $25 per person + $5 fee that they would take good care of the facilities and the rooms. Our room looked like no one had even tended to it or even just a simple wipe down. We had roaches all under the bed all over, if you're charging so much money at least use that money to keep rooms in good shape! Also, the pool is disgusting. The water is dark green/brown brackish like it's never cleaned with all kinda of bugs in there. All you need is a $50 pump and you can have a nice clear pool: where is all this money going to? For an "organization" that strives on the whole "hippy" way of life...they should have solar powered electricity, not cable lines through the hostels. Rain water can be recycled and used to water the garden . They aren't true to what they "believe" in. Lastly, the worst of it all is the STAFF is SO CLICKY. We were there in august 2014, and the staff just checks you in and then just hangs out amongst themselves: all the guests were hanging together talking and sharing and the staff was stand off ish, hanging on there own like they were better than the rest of us. It was pathetic. I suggest whoever owns this joint to look more into using natural resources and caring/tending more to the buildings. Also, maybe no one cares because they hire new staff every 3-6 months . They're just working there to be CLICKY in there groups. Stay away, I've stayed in several other hostels throughout the world and they are real, this isn't. Also, it should be 5-10$ not 30$!!!! And no hostel should ever turn away a camper or a passer by who wants to camp in their tent or van! A hostel would never turn someone away!!! Bad bad bad bad bad!!! Probably was an epic place when it first opened, not anymore read more

Hostel In the Forest - This is the "pool" ...inviting huh? Only if you could see the critters in those dark dark waters ... - Hostels Near Me - Brunswick, Georgia

A different vacation from the norm. Recommend it if you're not a germaphobe and aren't terrified of bugs. The hippies were weird... and saw a few chicks that really needed to shave their legs. I didn't think hippies still did that, but here we are. We were waken up at 1am by the sounds of drums and howling. They offer a free vegan meal, which was good unless you like meat. Jokes aside, it was really relaxing and would definitely go again. read more

So this hostel is one of the best hostels in the country. It has been around for over 30 years!!! You need to make a reservation. Make sure you tell them you are traveling.... Even if you don't think you have the time or Brunswick just isn't on your list of must see places you shouldn't miss this hostel. It is just way too cool; Tree Houses, totally environmentally friendly, organic gardens, fresh water pool and pond, outdoor showers, awesome dinner every night, great dedicated staff and on and on!! read more

We had high hopes for the Hostel when we booked our trip. When we first arrived and walked into the property it seemed great; nice and quiet with beautiful woods. Upon checking in we realized that customer service is not part of their vocabulary, esp if you don't fit the "look" of the staff and most of the guests. When my fiance and I had checked in, we very much felt like outsiders and were being ignored. We had checked in at the same time as some other couples and were told that we would all be going on a tour together. The "tour-guide" led my fiance and I outside on to the deck and then headed back inside with the other couples. After about 5 minutes my fiance pokes her head around the building and says "they started the tour without us". Awesome, so we missed the kitchen part of the tour. Still have no idea what it looks like. ' So we finally meet up with the tour to see the laundry facilities and the "guide" asks the other couples if they want sheets/blankets for their beds (not us). He spent about 5 minutes getting the supplies for them, then comes out and sees us. "Oh, did you want sheets and blankets too?". Duh. And another 5 minutes... So on we go. Our fellow guests are shown to their own private treehouse. We're then shown to ours. But it's not a treehouse. It's "The Corral". Not as cool as it sounds, unfortunately. The Corral is a ground floor, dark room full of bunkbeds. Our "guide" stops about 30 feet short of the Corral, tells us that's where we're staying and there's an art studio on the second floor, then books it out of there. We breathe deep, and head inside. :(. Ugghhh, So there's 10 twin size beds (5 bunk-beds) set up throughout the room. All but one have stuff on them. There are two of us. We're also 99% sure this is the staff housing and where they put overflow guests. And we're paying the same rate as the treehouses. So, we decided not to stay and high-tailed it out of there. The staff was nice enough to reimburse us all of our money. A suggestion for booking would be to ask if people would want a treehouse only, or if everything is booked up you're willing to spend a lower rate for lesser accommodations. We wanted so badly to like this place. We love to travel and we stay in hostels or camp out whenever we have the chance. We're in our early thirties and while we believe in the ideals that the Hostel shares we don't look very "hippie-ish" and felt like we were written off/ignored. If you are a trustafarian you will find this to be your dream getaway. read more

Amazing place!!! I would stay there forever if I could!!!! Bring some kind of padding for the mattress if you can...it's hard and not great for peeps with bad backs. The environment is divine...the lake, the glass house, the great room....and the dinners they serve are very good!!! If you plan to stay for a few days, bring food to cook for breakfast and lunch!!! :) I'm already missing it. read more

Idea is fantastic but reality is that I didn't stay more that 12 hrs and could have left earlier. The people were moderately friendly though only really nice to those who were return visitors. It was very cliche'. I was excited about having people who know vegetarian preparing dinner, but it was by far the worst meal I've had. I often eat w my vegetarian friend who is a wonderful cook, the hostels was awful. Following my terrible food I went to lay for a bit and found the bed was awful. A mat on the floor would have been better. The outhouses are a whole other awful subject, and I learned that the dishes I ate off of were dried w dirty rags (I had to go wash my hands after "helping" w dishes they smelled so bad). The pool and lake are clothing optional, which was more amusing than anything and also a bit cliche' .They get points for originality of facility, and the actual tree house. I also learned that the man who created and owns the whole thing lives at the beach and has his own secluded treehouse with very nice amenities including a hot tub. read more

My husband and I Love this place , in fact we're planning our 2nd trip . if your not open minded hippie sprited and want all the cushy amenities of a hotel , then this place is not for you . if you love nature and free spirt then this place is awesome .. Love love we'll be back read more

Worse experience I have ever had on a trip. The tree house had holes in the screen in the middle of mosquito season, disgusting bed and the staff didn't seem to care. I called ahead of time to ensure we got a decent hut and they gave us the worse one and refused to offer an alternative. Avoid this place at all costs and go camping literally anywhere else instead. read more

love the hostel !!! great vegan food, great setting, great treehouses !! if you are a 'hostel' type,, you will love it here