Reviews of Ancient Street International Youth Hostel

13 November 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Great people working there. Wonderfully clean.

Disliked: Small bathrooms that are clean but could use a remodeling.

11 November 2011

Liked: nothing

Disliked: toilets, showers and sinks were all horrible (dirty and very old) very cold everywhere (5 to 10 degrees outside), and they tell you that it is not cold enough to turn the heater on! no double blankets in double rooms

11 November 2011

Liked: room size ok

Disliked: Sanitaries are very OLD, quite dirty. Max temperature is 10degrees, we asked the remote control of the air-co (for heater), but they replied to us that it was not cold enough to put heater. They gave us another blanket, but is was very cold and humid in the room… just perfect to get a cold :-) the double bed was without bathroom, and you get 2 separate blankets ! WE DO NOT RECOMMAND (our worst hostel experience in 50 days in China...)

11 November 2011 neil would recommend this property

Liked: Good location and easy to find. Staff speak good English and were friendly. The buildings are very nice and room are large. Washing machine is available for 10RMB for a load but the dryer is an extra 15RMB (can hang clothes in courtyard or your room). All in all an ok hostel for a short stay if you can put up with the bathrooms.

Disliked: Bathrooms are pretty awful!! Very small and dirty. No cubicles lock and the one western toilet in the men's is so small you can't fit your legs in (you would need to use it with the door open!!!) Also only seems to be one block for the whole hotel. Not much of a problem in the winter as the hotel is nearly empty. Rooms are also very cold in the winter and no heating is provided.

15 October 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: it is a very beautiful hostel, one of the best that we have stayed!!it's very quiet but if you want few drinks there are plenty of bars next door to the hostal!and great location, too!!!

Disliked: Internet is not good and also there is no swimming pool!!!

01 October 2011 Melissa would recommend this property

Liked: The building had a traditional chinese architectual design and was well located within the city wall with very friendly, helpful staff.

Disliked: The property was too near a road of bars that would play loud live music throughout the night. Though this is not a criticism of the hostel more of the bars.

28 September 2011

Liked: Hostel is located in charming old building within old city gates.

Disliked: 1.the dust from the sill and windows was not cleaned for years, I believe. 2.there was a sign "non smoking area" but still smoking was allowed somehow, for Chinese people in the living area. 3.Table clothes in the living area were dirty 4.Air-con in our room didn't work 5.No light in shower cabins (staff member said that they would fix it "tomorrow", but this obviously did not happen) 6.Generally shower + toilets + wash handbasin area would need to be updated as it was either a little bit disgusting or difficult to use (European toilet was so small that it would be extremely difficult to use it with the door closed because the knees would not fit to the cabin : )) ... but the Chinese version was OK.

29 August 2011

Liked: The wooden dorm beds look very nice. But actually they are incredibly hard!!!

Disliked: The place is very dirty and stinks. The beds were just wood with a very thin blanket on top.

28 July 2011 stephanie would recommend this property

Liked: Great location. Staff really friendly and helpful. Nice character to the house unlike a lot of other hostels in China. Very cool traditional rooms.

Disliked: Noisy at night until about 3:00am with the club next door.

24 July 2011 Katie would recommend this property

Liked: very good location for bus stops, courtyard is lovely & helpful staff

Disliked: Showers are very small and looking a little worn, plus there are only 2 womens showers for the whole place, common room had no air con so very hot in summer

16 July 2011

Liked: Good location

Disliked: Showers awful, couldn't shower at the same time as anyone else due to extremely low water pressure. Staff were rude! Beds uncomftable

29 June 2011

Liked: the location was good.

Disliked: the staff were not friendly at all and an hour before the check out they began to rush us to pack our stuff and leave (but in a very rude way).

24 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Old building has real character to it. Location next to South Gate is good for transport links

Disliked: Bathrooms need updating, one shower broken and water pressure is very low.

23 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: The 12-bed dorm is great! It's really big and spacious. It feels like a hostel room in Europe. The sheets were the cleanest and softest we've had in China. The staff are helpful and found us public transportation to get to Xi'an South Train Station, which is miles away. Good location next to the South Gate. Cheap beer.

Disliked: No lockers in the dorms, but they do provide them downstairs. The door to the dorm has to be locked from either the inside or outside to stop it swinging open in the breeze, but when locked from the inside it can't be opened from outside and vice versa...if that makes sense. Due to the door being mostly open all the time, there are loads of mosquitoes waiting to feast on you at night!

21 May 2011 Shannon would recommend this property

Liked: Great location, amazing courtyards for lounging, friendly staff, cheap beer

Disliked: Loud music at night, paint peeling

07 May 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: Nice, clean, very spacious room. We got upgraded to a triple room as the double room we had booked was not available. We had even a PC in our room. The staff is very helpful, nice location

Disliked: There was a very noisy party going on till 2 am in front of the hostel, right underneath our window But probably we were unlucky and this does not happen everyday.

28 April 2011 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: nice staff

Disliked: bathrooms, loo

29 March 2011 Andrew would recommend this property

Liked: The location was great. Being so close to the south gate where the bike hire to ride the wall is, is great and the surrounding area with its mini steert market good to explore.

Disliked: Didn't really get a chance to meet anyone else at the hostel. It may have been that we were all too busy out and about town. So it was not a great place to meet people whilst we were there. But on a plus side it is very close to a great bar to meet people about 20m west of the south gate.

06 February 2011 Maarten would recommend this property

Liked: Good location within the city walls. Very friendly staff. We were invited to celebrate the Chinese Newyear with the staff, including making dumplings and lighting their fireworks.

Disliked: n/a

10 September 2010 Gerhard would recommend this property

Liked: The place is very central, only a few meters from the South Gate. Around the hostel there you can buy a lot of food and other things. Very friendly and helpful stuff!

Disliked: -

09 July 2009 Susanne would recommend this property

Liked: being in the hutong and the courtyard atmosphere, sraff were very fruendly and helpful

Disliked: Susanne left no negative feedback.

08 October 2008 Stefanie would recommend this property

Liked: For those looking for quiet backing hostel away from the Neon signs and busy streets of modern Xian, this is the place. It's right, slap bang in the centre of the artist quarter with plenty of delicious, cheap street food nearby.

Disliked: Stefanie left no negative feedback.

09 September 2008 Customer would recommend this property

Liked: The value for money was excellent! Small simple rooms for a cheap price. Just what we were looking for

Disliked: Customer left no negative feedback.