August 14th, 2007 by The Backpackers Team
It’s festival time in Scotland’s capital, and we’ve been checking out the scene.
Now, as we’ve mentioned before, Edinburgh is exceptionally busy at this time of year, and finding accommodation ain’t always easy, especially on weekends. We booked some time in advance, though, so we were sorted.
But, because we weren’t going to be in the city all the time, we’d booked ourselves into a few different hostels, for the different time-frames (before and after our Haggis Adventures Compass Buster Tour – review coming soon!).
The newly opened Smart City Hostel, on Blackfriars Street (seconds away from Edinburgh’s main drag, the Royal Mile), was very close to our early morning pickup point, so we booked ourselves in for the night before the tour (allowing us to make our bleary crack-of-dawn way to the tour without too much hassle).
The plan was to check into another hostel when we got back, but we liked Smart City so much that we decided to try our luck and find out if they had space. They did, perhaps because they’re new, so we booked ourselves some rooms , and cancelled our other bookings forthwith.
So, here’s why we think it’s so great:
- It’s new, so everything is shiny and bright, and virtually unsullied by backpacker hands (so far!).
- There’s free high speed internet, and free wifi that we can access from our bedroom (bonus!)
- The facilities: in our 8-bed dorm, there are two showers, and two toilets (no shuffling down the passage trying to stay vaguely decent). Not only that, but you get a large towel, and there are soap and handcream dispensers and even hairdryers for the girls.
- It’s very well situated, just off the Royal Mile (HIgh St), but somehow manages to be quieter than hostels nearer pubs and clubs (one must get one’s beauty sleep from time to time, wot)
- Multiple power points. Now, this may seem silly, but after having to fight over access to power points for some time now, it’s amazing to have plenty to go around.
- Roomy lockers. There’s plenty of space, and two shelves, so you can safely stash all your goodies when you head out.
You do pay a wee bit more for a room here (our 8-bed dorm is £22 per night) – but once you’ve factored in the free internet, free towels and general facilities, it really is worth it.
Just to give you an idea of how pristine it really is, yesterday a Japanese girl came in to the room, gazed around in amazement, slowly approached her bed, muttering excitedly in her own language. She looked over, wide-eyed and said, “So clean! It’s so clean!”, and caressed her pillow lovingly.
Curious as to where she’d been before that was obviously so very different, we asked. With a wild and fearful look in her eye, she told us: London.
Check out Smart City’s virtual tour of the hostel for more info.
Travel resources backpackers might find useful:
Book hostels – book a hostel in Edinburgh (though you might have to go for walk in bookings at this late stage!
VisitScotland – official website for Scotland’s tourism
Travel Insurance – instant, cheap travel insurance for backpackers
Travel newsletter – sign up for our free monthly travel newsletter ‘From The Road’
Posted in Destinations, Festivals, From The Road, Hostels, Reviews | No Comments »
Accommodation in the UK isn’t always the easiest on one’s budget.
