Hostels
 

Has anyone stayed at any of following 3 Hostels in Beijing? I am having a hard tme deciding on which one to stay at in late Oct.for a week.

1.Red Lantern House
2.9 Dragons (Xinmao Hostel)
3.Sitting on City Walls Courtyard House (this one seemed a bit more pricey for solo traveler)

Thanks everyone!

I am staying at Red Lantern
Oct 17 - 22. Have no idea if it is good, bad or indifferent. It seems close to places I want to visit and has received nice reviews on TA

Hello Nywoman, please write a review when you get back.

Lollylo25, I am also looking at Red Lantern House, informative website, and Sitting on the City Walls (no website?)for April 2009. Also cannot make up my mind. Whatever you choose, please write a review when you get back. It will be very helpful. Thank you.

I have decided to stay at Wangfujiang Hostel. The comments were great on hostelbookers.com. The location & prices were also good.And the place is brand new (2007) with the "softest beds in China" according to one review. I will write a review upon return.

It's Wangfujing Hostel, not "Wangfujiang".

This message comes at a great time for me, as I'm waffling among several hostels myself. I'm looking at:

NE Courtyard Hostel, Dongsiliutiao, Yueyahutong

1Hai Inn near the Yong He Gong

Alley Garden beixinqiao Dantiao, dongcheng, also near Yong He Gong

Kelvin's Studio Apartments right near the Chongwenmen subway station. This evidently has kitchenettes and no "Chinese" flavor, but seems to be a good value...?

I'm looking at these particularly as being pretty close to subway stations and centrally located since it probably will be a bit chilly in early November when I'll be there.

If anyone has any comment on them, I'd love to hear it.

One place I stayed last fall is the Jade International Youth Hostel to the west of Wangfujing and toward the north of the Forbidden City. It's a nice place but a little farther from subways than I would like and I'd rather not deal with busses. Difficult to find at first, but take their phone number and let the cabbie call them up when you get close. I'd recommend it and would stay again but their Olympic pricing seems to be in effect still. It's so much more than I paid last year that I'm looking elsewhere.

Also, I've not stayed there but have walked around the area of the Downtown Beijing Backpacker's Hostel in the middle of the Back Lakes hutong/restaurant and bar area. If I were 20- or 30-something, this might be my choice. It doesn't have a lot of character in and of itself, but the location can't be beat and the people there seem friendly.

Incidentally, prices on other hostel Web sites seem less than the one cited above, for what it's worth.

Well, please chime in if you have any suggestions! I need to make up my mind soon to send off for a visa, which requires hotel/hostel reservations.

Thanks, K

"Wangfujing". I stand corrected.

lolly: I hate to do this and refer youto a rival, but go to the Frommer's website and you'll get reviews of the hostels in Beijing (look under "hotels") and find one to your liking.

Good luck! :)

Easytraveler:
I went to Hostelbookers, and researched them all, but found 3-4, ALL which seemed really good. I was just wondering if anyone had stayed at any of these 3, and may have some inisght into one being better located, or cleaner etc. than another. I ended up choosing Wangfujing since the location seemed good & the renovation was in 2007..the private rooms & baths looked very nice!

Stayed at Red Lantern in 2006 and had my own room. I liked it a lot. Friendly people. Only a 5 min walk to a major road to catch a bus; maybe 10 mins more to the nearest metro station.

They serve pretty good food too.

Showers and loos immaculate. Hot water a bit of a lottery but fine 4 times out of 5!!

Cheers.