Edinburgh Central Youth Hostel

Everything about my stay was amazing, even though it was short. I truly enjoyed my time there! The location is excellent—close to everything you might need. The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I stayed in a 6-bed room, and it was very spacious and comfortable. The kitchen was also very large and fully equipped with everything you could possibly need. It made the stay even more convenient. Overall, I had a great experience and would definitely come back!

We had a four bedroom - two bunk bed - ensuite room. The room was clean, with two storage wardrobes, and a power shower. Beds were comfortable. Staff was very friendly - we arrived two hours early to store our luggage, and they were able to check us in! We didnt have breakfast or eat in the cafe but it looked warm and inviting. The hostel was very busy with loads of kids. Fantastic location next to tram stop and bus stop.||Really a 5/5 hostel experience. It was better than the hotel we stayed in earlier in the trip. Highly recommended for families or any other travellers on a budget.

It's a Hostel. More quiet and plain than the typical backpackers or party hostels but that's what we needed. We got a private room, 3 beds, toilet, sink and wet room/shower with hot water! Basic but it works. I was not impressed by the breakfast offerings. We pre-ordered the full Scottish Breakfast and also the basic cold breakfast. The only thing we ate from the cold/cereal breakfast was a yogurt. The fruits were over ripe or rotten/ black. The full Scottish breakfast was not what we really liked. The Lorne sausage, haggis, and black pudding were all over cooked. The mushrooms tasted as if they'd been washed with dish soap. It's fine, we just needed a place to rest and shower.

Admittedly disappointed with the quality of this place. Visited Scotland for 10 days, spent the first half of the stay at the Inverness Hostel location and it was fantastic. No complaints at all. Nice facilities, nice/helpful staff. Here? Can't say the same. Rooms are tight and outdated, beds are in poor condition (Support post for ladder to top bunk had a very large crack that noticeably bent and flexed when attempting to climb into the bunk). Beds are definitely more sized for a child however, it was the only bed option provided. I could get over the room quality. My biggest issue was the noise and the lack of cleanliness. There were several very large groups of children staying while we were there that seemed to be unattended at most times, very loud, running up and down the halls past the scheduled "quiet hours." Groups of people sitting in the "cafe" past midnight, drinking, singing, clapping, chanting while the front desk staff had nothing to say about it. The pool room was pretty dramatically damaged. Cracked/chipped drywall, broken pool cues, stains all over the couches, one couch seemed to have had the legs broken off and was just sitting on the floor, trash under and behind the couches, and felt on the table was scratched and dirty. Table is £1 per game which feels steep considering the low quality of the equipment and room. At one point, we used the room to play only to find that children had been in there unattended and had thrown trash everywhere, had trashed the table, and drew a swastika on the wall (No I am not kidding). When the front desk was told about this, they halfheartedly tried to wipe it off with a rag (to no avail.) Nothing was said about it to us other than "well that doesn't look good." Wee Breakfast is scarce. We pre-paid for it for each day we were there and ended up going out to breakfast most days in order to get actual food. Expect toast with no jam and cereal with room temp milk. There was coffee and hot water provided. Self serve kitchen was OK, but only had 2 mugs available to use for the duration of our time there. I heard other guests complain to the front desk about the noise and unattended children. Not much if anything was done to remedy this. Overall, Hostelling Scotland location in Inverness was great and I highly recommend, however in Edinburgh, you're better off to get a hotel.. Comparing old reviews to numerous more recent, it seems to show the quality of this place has greatly diminished.

We stayed at Edinburgh Central Hostel with a large group. Our experience was excellent. There were some marked improvements compared to previous visits, especially the quality of the food and support for special diets. The staff were friendly, supportive and helpful. We felt well looked after throughout.

Pleasant and clean, bathroom and shower in the room as well as secure storage (bring your own padlock), wooden bunks very sturdy, less noise and more comfortable than the newer metallic ones

Stayed there for two nights. Very centrally located. Rooms were ensuite and generously sized. Absolutely okay.

My first stay in a hostel and I wasn't disappointed. A few minutes from Waverley Station and the city cebtre. The hostel is very secure and the staff are very welcoming A full nites sleep was had and my fellow room mates were so nice. Its great to meet people from all over the world and its what I was used to in my job. Definitely give this place a go if you want to do low budget abd very safe accommodation

6 of us stayed here in 3 rooms - the rooms were clean and tidy. Small breakfast worth it but not the big breakfast. Was a bit noisy due to large group of young people staying -but over all would stay here again- was nice place to simply walk And see the sights

I wish I'd found places like this when I was backpacking this time last year! It offers "5 Star Budget Accomodation", if that's not a complete contradiction of itself, or in other words it's just a cross between a very upmarket youth hostel and an ok hotel. I even spotted a conference suite when I was here, which surely isn't something that the majority of youth hostel cientele are going to need, and instead of a bar where you can order food they have a Bistro. Is that really necessary?! In fact, it's so ridiculously high-spec as far as youth hostels go that it's hard to find much to criticise about the place. It was really clean, it was modern yet comfortable, the staff were great and it wasn't expensive. So why only 4 stars? I think to call itself "Central" is a little bit of a claim and not really that accurate. Central would be in the Grassmarket in the Old Town, or around Princes Street like most of the other hostels in the city. Not in Leith.

It's more like a Hotel than a youth Hostel. Adam has it spot on, it's religiously clean. But those things don't really matter to backpackers, only two words can sell this place to you... HOT SHOWERS! The legends are true, they do have warm water in here. The staff are also quick to remove any trouble makers from the building, no junkies floating around the corridors late at night. I know it's subjective, but the people I met while I stayed were amazing. You will make life long friends!

I must start by saying WOW Edinburgh residents are far more friendly than (some) of those in London. As soon as we got off the train, the taxi driver that took us to the hostel was more than happy suggesting places to go out and sights to see. We were then warmly greeted at the door of the Central Youth Hostel and lead up to our spacious, clean and warm 3 bed room. Through out the whole weekend we were all very impressed with the location (very central) service, food at the restaurant and 24 hour reception which was great when we stumbled home at 3am and couldn't find our keys! Would definitely stay here again on my next trip to Edinburgh, beautiful city and we most certainly be returning.

I have stayed in plenty of hostels but this one takes some beating. Really clean, very helpful staff, great facilities and not that far from the main bits in Edinburgh.

Big, smelly and industrial. It is a cheap place to stay in Edinburgh. The dorms are swampy and unpleasant, but the double rooms are functional.