Cheap and Cheerful; ideal for the budget minded traveller (Stadion Hostel)

Member Name: alexela

Product:	Stadion Hostel
Date:	01/06/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low cost, bright and pleasant

Disadvantages: Bit of a walk to the city centre

I first stayed at Stadion Hostel in June 2007; I was looking somewhere relatively cheap to stay but also close to Helsinki city centre as I was heading there each day for a festival. Stadion Hostel seemed to fit the bill perfectly at around £12 a night for a dorm bed and a twenty minute walk from the central railway station and for those who don't feel like the walk, there are two nearby tram stops.

The hostel itself has various room sizes, from 12 bed dorm rooms (Euro17.50 per night), 4 or 5 bed group rooms (Euro22.50 per person) to single (Euro38) and twin rooms (Euro23.50). Over the past three years I have used the dorm rooms and twin rooms and both have been more than satisfactory.

Firstly the hostel staff, in my experience, are very friendly and welcoming. They are able to give useful directions to all the local amenities and are efficient at solving any problem you may have, my own experience being a problem with my card key, which was sorted for me instantly.

The beds are simple bunk beds and you are provided with sheets when you first arrive. They are comfortable enough, the sort of thing you would expect from a hostel, easy enough to get a good nights sleep on.

The dorm rooms are bright, spacious and airy. Pleasant to stay in and very energising to wake up in with the morning light shining in to the room. There are medium sized lockers in the room, for which you provide your own padlock, to lock away your valuables and in the corridors there are much larger lockers for hire to lock away your luggage if you choose to. The smaller rooms don't quite have the same airy feel, but they are quieter and more private.

The hostel also has several social areas including a TV Lounge, sofas by the reception, a dining room and shared kitchen both of which contain fridges if you choose to self cater, a quiet reading room/library and a cafeteria which serves a buffet breakfast for Euro6 between 7.30am-10am, offering a variety of breakfast food from sausages, bacon and eggs to toast, fruit and cereal - definitely a good way to start the day! Also worth noting is that free Wi-Fi is available in all the social areas and for those who haven't bought along a laptop, there are two computers with free internet access (15 minutes at a time) in the cafeteria.

The bathrooms and toilets are clean and well stocked with toilet roll. Though when the hostel is busy in the mornings it can seem like there aren't enough sinks and showers.

Overall my experiences of this hostel have been fantastic. The only downsides would that you have an uphill walk to reach it and the fact that it is a bit of a walk to the city centre, which whilst very pleasant in the summer, is not quite as leisurely in the winter and nor is waiting for the tram in such chilly temperatures!

Summary: Wonderful place to stay, but definitely not luxurious.