What an experience! Beautiful location, close to the sub, and pretty clean. They will give you a free pint of beer at 2000 and cheap dinner (which is good if you are solo traveling to Spain). Met lots of cool people from all across the world and they have a pretty decent party scene at night if you are into that kind of thing.
I stayed in a 14 bed coed dorm. It was cleaned twice a day by a very friendly staff. Make sure to bring your own locks and use your cubby. They do provide a pillow and sheets but no blanket. Key card access to rooms and two elevators that worked well. Women's and men's bathrooms are separate. There is a nice outdoor terrace and bar (only wine and beer).
Cool side note, a girl with like six wigs that wore a tutu left me a book we had talked about when she left early in the AM. I swear, Australians are the neatest people.
Some downsides:
1) I did have some small items stolen from me that I forgot to lock up one morning, but that was my own fault and is pretty typical for a hostel. My swim suit was stolen from the bathroom (left to hang and dry) and that was pretty weird cause I'm a strange shape. Whatever. It was a cheap Amazon find.
2) Some of the kids (I repeat KIDS) like to party hard. Lights sometimes came on at two in the morning. I am a light sleeper and witnessed three people who slept walk (why would you share a room?), a high guy butt naked that peed in a corner, a woman who spun in circles eating potato chips at three AM, and one impressive man who got up every 45 minutes and would wipe his faces on the sheets of the empty beds and then unlocked the padlock on the balcony door (dude was Houdini). For me, it was like living in a reality TV show and overall I felt safe enough, BUT if experiencing life with a bunch of young people is not your cup of tea.... I would go ahead and banana split right on outta there.
3) WiFi only worked in the common room, terrace, and stair well. I REPEAT, the WiFi only worked in the COMMON room, TERRACE, and STAIRWELL. If you are expecting a sweet goodnight FaceTime with the hubster in your room, ain't gonna happen. Netflix? Nope. You better download some movies honey. Not the end of the world for me overall, I did a lot of chilling in the stairwell.
4) Cheap but not very filling breakfast. It's so dainty and cute. For tiny people maybe toast and cereal is enough. Not me. The Golden Arches of McDonald's are right across the street and they sell beer....so yeah, you're welcome.
Overall, super cheap and clean. Would stay again. Can't beat the price or location. Some of the other hostels were legit in alleyways and very shady. Stick with SafeStay! What I would do differently? I wouldn't spend a whole week there. I really missed my privacy by the end of the trip. Should have gotten a private room at some point.
Note to society: please, PLEASE, if you are going for a big solo adventure to Barcelona be safe and smart. Don't go to some random party the cute British guy in bed A1 told you about, or smoke the freshly rolled whatever from the guys that's traveling from Turkey. It might work out for you now but you might wind up chopped up in the back of a trunk. Please be safe and make good choices. read more