Hostel Galeria 13

Fantastic hostel in a perfect location. The owner is super nice, an adventurous British guy who makes you feel instantly at home. Great breakfast, a wonderful caipirinha happy hour, and overall amazing value for money. Absolutely worth it!

We really loved our stay at Hostel Galeria 13. It's clean, has hot showers, good aircon, and everything you need and would expect from a hostel. The real highlights are the excellent breakfasts, which include almost unlimited freshly squeezed juice; and the happy hour with free and excellent caipirinhas, which provide a great opportunity to meet other guests. The breakfast and happy hour overall make the hostel excellent value. The owner was also great. He's very helpful and accommodating, provided really good recommendations, and was an interesting bloke to talk to.

While it is located close to the heart of the historic centre, the hostel wasn't the best experience as a digital nomad visiting Salvador for a week. First, there are no comfortable chairs for a 2-meter tall guy to work on without feeling back pain in 20 minutes. The beds in the shared mixed dormitory were absolutely horrendous for my height, I couldn't sleep the first night, and the second I came back from the party so I didn't feel the pains associated with these beds. The communal areas are very nice, and there is a swimming pool. The views from the hostel are nice as well. Now the things that lowered the stars drastically along the aforementioned things: 1. First night, the lady that was working was really verbally aggressive and was moving us from the smoking area near the door. Felt more like an intruder than a guest. Then, a couple of drugged out homeless guys started bashing on the doors and asking for money for another shot. 2. The bathroom that looks on the street is very close to the street. I had to take a big round at the bathroom in early morning and a couple of street dwellers noticed me and started crying at me. 3. Cannot put up the toilet boards, if you are a man, you will feel that one. 4. Need to pay with cash only so make sure to take out cash in the late morning or early afternoon, because other times will be sketchy. 5. Too expensive for what you get, which I already described very vividly. Maybe it's because of the location, but the hostel doesn't look well-maintained either, and you get a look at the dark side of the city here as well. To end at at the positive note, the cooking lady was extra nice, as well as the girls from the reception during the day. The breakfast was tasty and up to 12 am. Met some awesome travelers in the hostel as well. Still, the severity of the cons drop my rating to two stars. Hopefully it can improve in the future, because of the location, the hostel has tons of future potential.

Very good hostel option in the historic centre! Service and recommendations are amazing, breakfast is simple but of high quality! The staff is very helpful and friendly! Rooms and bathrooms were clean. Common areas are small and a bit dark because of the old building.

Galeria 13 is the perfect example of how to run an excellent hostel. We loved our stay here and met loads of great people through the free caipirinha happy hour every day on the deck by the pool. Our private room was spacious and got a lot of natural light. Breakfast was plentiful and generous with lots of options including a huge plate of eggs and sausage. Majority of guests spoke English. I was unwell on our day of checkout and the owner kindly let me sleep past checkout in the room. Plenty of recommendations for things to do in the area. Great location. Highly recommended!

Great hostel with a central location in Salvador. Kind staff and incredibly clean. The included breakfast goes until noon with lots of options. Areas to socialize as well as space to be quiet and relax. The staff puts up a board with activities in the city every evening and are more than happy to recommend areas to visit. All around exceptional hostel with a social vibe.

Don't go there unless you want to travel back to the Middle Ages. Seeing the pitiful state of the "hostel" we wanted to leave after one night instead of the two planned. The manager forced us to pay for both nights anyway... Long live business!

Very overrated hostel. If you like to have a European experience then maybe you will like it, because you will mostly find brits and other europeans here of which 90% are men. This is not why I come to Brazil. The owner had a pushy way to talk, which made me not feel welcome at all. The rooms don’t have lockers for your bag, the doors are unlocked and people walk in and out all the time. They don’t put the AC low enough so can get very hot at night. There is a cat in the hostel so be aware if you have a cat hair allergy. They dont provide free cold water. Instead they sell overpriced cold water and drinks. The room prices are higher than other hostels, so the overall value is pretty bad. Can’t recommend.