Reviews of Sitting on the City Walls Courtyard House

12 November 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Great location in terms of walking to and from shopping and sights. Nice authentic hutong area. It was clean, homely and had great food (not inc in price). They also do laundry, organise well priced, legit tours to great wall etc, that dont stop off at shops on the way! They also allowed early check in (our flight arrived in Beijing at 5:30am!)

Disliked: Despite the staff all being extremely knowledgeable and helpful, it wasn't with a smile. Far from a subway station (about 30min walk), and lot of taxis would refuse to take us there (from what I gather, because the business card lists the address within the hutong, rather than just the main street taxis would drop you off at. Meant we walked a few times when really it was a taxi distance we were travelling.

10 August 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Decoration

Disliked: location

03 July 2011 Haley would recommend this property

Liked: The atmosphere was great, they also had fair priced food and drinks. The water was only 2RMB and the beers were 4RMB! They had a wonderful American Breakfast for only 25RMB that I ate and enjoyed everyday!

Disliked: Be careful with the dog! It was very sweet to us for the first hour we were playing with it, then, all of a sudden it bit my friend! Besides a little blood he was fine, just be warned!

07 June 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Great place, great food there too. Very nice staff who speaks very good english and there if you have any question they will help you.

Disliked: It was a little hard to find the first time but it was TOTALLY worth it!

31 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Rick and Rachel went out of their way to be helpful, directive and friendly to guests especially me. The rooms were cleaned daily, flushing western loos, plenty of hot water, relaxed atmosphere and soo close to fobidden city etc.. staying in a hutong is better than being on anoisy main beijing street, loads of character.

Disliked: The 4 bed dorm is a little small, not really any room for large backpacks ie 4 backpacks and it is standing room only. Not really a place to party, not that i was looking to, but if you want a party hostel this is not for you!

30 March 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Helpful and honest staffs give many useful tips about city,extremely useful for me first time Beijing.Clean room, cosy common area easy meet other traveler.Cheep beer and food.It's in the real Hutong and walking distance to many famouse sits downtowm.Will be back for sure.

Disliked: None

26 September 2010 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: patio

Disliked: far from city center far from Tiananmen Square always have to get a taxi to go out Air Conditioning is not working very well and it s very noisy

27 August 2010 Richard would recommend this property

Liked: Good atmosphere, service, food

Disliked: Location is not near any metro stops. Bus service is good, though.

18 July 2010 hannah would recommend this property

Liked: It had a hotel feel which was great for my parents who had never stayed in a hostel.

Disliked: the location was out of the way. Not really good for taking a walk at night

10 June 2010 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: great place we loved it!

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

06 June 2010 joanna would recommend this property

Liked: Staff is absolutely the best. Three cheers, five stars and copious kudos. Great food on premises at great prices and the coffee is terrific. Beds are hard and the hostel would have been difficult to find if a staff member hadn't come out to get us, but those are the only less-that-complimentary comments I can make.

Disliked: joanna left no negative feedback.

06 June 2010 scott would recommend this property

Liked: Traditional looks of an old hutong and a very peaceful haven from the madness of Beijing.

Disliked: scott left no negative feedback.

02 June 2010 Kevin would recommend this property

Liked: Everything!!!

Disliked: Kevin left no negative feedback.

27 March 2010 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Very pretty hostel and really quite location. Staff really friendly and the small hostel makes a lovely place to stay compared to large and noisy hostels.

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

22 February 2010 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: The staff at this hostel were really friendly and helpful. As soon as I got there they gave me a free map and a guide to main attractions with English and Mandarin translations. This was extremely useful as the hostel is very central but still a short taxi ride from most of the main attractions (Beijing is a huge city!!!) As the hostel is in a hutong it can be tricky to find on your own, I had to get the cab driver to ring the reception for more directions to find the street. The locals are well used to backpackers wandering the hutong and kindly pointed me in the direction of the hostel. The interior of the hostel is fantastic, really cosy atmosphere and I found it easy to meet other travellers. The dorm was clean and comfortable but a bit smaller than some of the other hostels I'd stayed in and the lockers provided were only big enough to hold your valuables not your backpack and are outside the dorm in the communal area. You can book trips to the great wall etc at discount prices (good value) and the food was lovely with a western menu available. One downside, there are no street lights in the hutong itself so it's really dark if you're returning to the hostel at night even so I felt pretty safe and I was travelling alone.Overall I'd recommend this hostel for the character, atmosphere and friendly staff.

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

16 January 2010 David would recommend this property

Liked: Everything!The staff are extremely friendly and helpful,great location,great reasonably priced food and drinks are available if you are too lazy to drag yourself away from the comfort of the hostel the occasional visit by the hostel dog Tin Tin .Highly recommend this hostel if you are staying in Beijing

Disliked: David left no negative feedback.

27 December 2009 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Nice place to stay!! Friendly staffs!

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

16 November 2009 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: No.6 Winner of "World Top 10 Hostel of 2008" !? I was disappointed as I have seen several better hostels in Asia. Good location & friendly stuff, but very small rooms, problems with hot water...

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

11 November 2009 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: The atmosphere

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

10 November 2009 Johanna would recommend this property

Liked: It was freezing inside the lobby area and in the evenings also the rooms were cold. Beer was cheap but there were no party atmosphere in this hostel. Location was central and made it easy to walk to Tian'anmen Square and to other attractions. Great location to see local people!

Disliked: Johanna left no negative feedback.

05 November 2009 Mitch would recommend this property

Liked: Me and my 7 friends really loved staying at Sitting On The City Walls Couryard House! Rachel and Rick and the rest of the staff were very friendly and helpful, and gave good recommendations on where to go and how to get there, often writing down the Chinese characters when it would be helpful for finding our way. The place has a wonderful atmosphere, the food they had available was quite decent, and our rooms were comfortable and clean. The place is located in a hutong (a local neighborhood, of which there are not all that many left), which was way cooler than staying in a sterile part of town. It is a short walk to The Forbidden City, and across from Jinshang Park (way worth a visit, since it affords a wonderful view of the whole city), and about a 20-minute walk from the closest subway station (Dongsi). There are many busses within a 2-minute walk that are convenient for getting all over town (for 1 RMB, or about 1.5 US cents!). It got pretty cold a few of the nights we were there, but the heat in most of the rooms is really good, and they provided us with plenty of blankets. I would definitely recommend this place, and will stay again next time I go to Beijing.

Disliked: Mitch left no negative feedback.

29 October 2009 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: One of the best hostel I've been to and really helpful staff.

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

21 October 2009 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Rick and Rachel were great. They gave advice on where to go and how to get around without associating themselves with tour groups. Free internet and lovely atmosphere inside.

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

15 October 2009 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: + Really charming inside, not just a standard hostel, but with Chinese flair+ Nice and helpful staff- A bit hard to find the first time, hidden in an alley after some curves- People smoke in the lobby. ok, but the smoke also comes into the rooms then

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.

08 October 2009 Andrew would recommend this property

Liked: Great little hostel hidden deep within a traditional Chines HuTong which can actually seem a bit intimidating at first but the locals are polite and friendly - I feel safer here than in most British cities! The private rooms are small with firm beds and an ensuite wet room / toilet.The staff here are very helpful and always go out of their way to help. They booked our train tickets to Xi'an and a tour of the hiking section of the great wall, which, while tiring was an awesome experience not to be missed and great value for money. If you need to get somewhere by taxi, the staff will write down the address in Chinese so you can give it to the taxi driver.They do some great food onsite but if you want some variety there's a whole bunch of great places to eat and drink within easy walking distance.I think the only fault is that the rooms all face into the central courtyard so if any late night / early morning activities are taking place the noise can be a bit annoying, especially if you are trying to sleep off your jet lag.

Disliked: Andrew left no negative feedback.