Stayed here for three nights while in Lagos a few days ago…read more
I found this hostel purely by accident upon searching for hostels in Lagos. I made a tentative booking through booking.com and was fortunate enough that the place was open. Most of the other hostels I encountered during my stay were closed for the low season.
My visit here did not start that well. I got a bit lost on the way to the hostel from the bus station. Thankfully I had the GPS on my smartphone to guide me. When I arrived at the hostel after about a fifteen minute walk, there was a sign on the door informing me that the staff member had stepped away but would return, and left a phone number to contact. As I don´t have phone service here, and am relying on WhatsApp, Magic Jack and a few other services, this was impossible. Luckily, another tenant came along soon after and graciously let me into the reception area and gave me a snack while I waited. We chatted for awhile and I eventually used her cellphone to call the person on duty. Check in was okay, though there was a bit of a language barrier. We got it sorted out soon enough and I was shown to my place.
I shared an eight-bed suite with one other person during my stay. There were three bunk beds in one room and one in another, complete with some small lockers in the room. The suite had a good size kitchen, complete with fridge, microwave, hot plate, kettle, sandwich maker and toaster. There were lots of pots, pans and plates along with some cutlery that desperately needed replacement. Finally there was a small table and two comfy armchairs. It was nicely decorated with small homely touches, as well as a good-sized dresser in the second room. The bathroom was a nice size but needed some TLC. Just outside our suite, we had our own little sundeck with a few sun chairs.
One of my main issues with the suite itself was the lighting. In the bathroom, there was only one small light which was only around the sink area at the entrance. This meant relatively dark showers. Speaking of which, the water pressure was very poor. A new showerhead would have made a world of difference. Another issue was that there was no heating. I got lucky during my stay - every day was 15 to 18C but in the evenings it got quite cold. There were no panel heaters or anything but the sheets and blankets to keep me warm, which I´ll admit they did, but walking around I got a chill quickly.
During my three day stay the suite was not cleaned once. Not a huge deal, as it wasn´t desperately in need of refreshing, but by the time I left the garbage in the kitchen was full, the hand towel could have used washing, etc. I got the feeling that perhaps people stay here for more than a few days at a time, and that perhaps the cleaner will come in once a week or so. One positive of their relaxed treatment was that they were very flexible with regards to check-out. It didn´t seem to matter to them if you told them at 10am or 3pm - though it was hit or (usually) miss that someone would be at the reception area.
The location was a bit of a miss as well. As I said it was about fifteen minutes walk from the bus station, on the other side of the pedestrian bridge. This meant that the town centre and Lagos`amazing beaches were on the other side. Once you crossed the bridge, it was another ten minutes by foot to the main restaurant and business centre. The owners were nice enough to lend me a bike for a few days at no charge, and so I saved some time biking across the bridge all the way to the various beaches. I shouldn´t complain about a free bike, but it was a bit rusty and the brakes were shot. That said, it did the job nicely.
The WIFI was rock solid and never gave me one moment of trouble in the three days. The bunk beds were also pretty comfortable, though a bit creaky. Our view out the door in the morning was fantastic - looking out at a beach in the distance.
As for price, I booked the hostel at E9.5 through booking.com the first night but through the magic of language translation confusion, was able to negotiate a discount for the remaining nights. I understand the other hostels in the city charge a similar rate at this time of year, but once again, they were mostly closed, and in my experience almost impossible to find! I should mention that most of Lagos was very quiet with not a lot of tourists, but is still well worth a visit for a few days of r&r.
