Kick Ass Grassmarket

I would recommend staying at this hostel but only if you book a small room simply due to the amazing location. We stayed in a 20 bed dorm and it was pod style, the room was extremely hot every night and their was lots of noise (as expected) but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone that’s a light sleeper. The showers were also consistently cold and the floors were always wet in the bathrooms which could easily be fixed with more frequent cleaning. The staff were really friendly and the pool table was awesome.

Kickass Grassmarket Hostel truly offers a fantastic experience! The staff are warm and welcoming, the beds are clean and comfortable, and the overall ambience is cool and relaxing. The restrooms and shower areas are generally very clean, and the locker facility adds great convenience. The small café near the entrance is also a nice touch for quick snacks and coffee. Plus, the location is amazing—most attractions are within walking distance. Just a couple of suggestions to make the stay even better: The restroom could use a quick check for spider webs to keep it spotless. Soundproof windows would be a great improvement, as street noise at night can be clearly heard in the rooms.

Me and my friend stayed here 4 nights in a double room. The room was spacious and beds were comfortable. I was a bit worried about the towels they were going to provide us but they were high quality cotton ones, so I was very pleased with that. Other room amenities included clothes rack, hairdryer, desk, sockets at both ends of the bed, and amazing heating system. The shared toilets were cleaner regularly and the one we were closest to was not as used because of the room location in the hostel, but the more populated toilets had a strong smell every time we walked past them, despite the fact they were cleaned every day. |For these reasons and for the obvious one, being the excellent location near old town, I would recommend this place for anyone looking for a safe, affordable and reliable hostel.

Good experience for a first time in a hostel. The location is excellent and staff friendly. I stayed in a pod room. The pod was ok, pretty comfortable and nice privacy. The ventilation is pretty bad tho, so at night you get sweaty if the curtain is closed. First night people were quite noisy at night, you hear every little thing so people coming back from bars at night is noticeable. Second night was a lot more calm, so depends on the people staying there with you. The corridor with the toilets does smell, but otherwise they were quite clean. Overall good value for money!

While the hostel’s facilities are good and the location is excellent, our experience was unfortunately ruined by the receptionist who was working on Tuesday 7th afternoon. When we arrived, we were informed that not only would we not be staying in the same room, but that we would both have to check out and check back in again in the middle of our stay. This meant packing all our things, leaving the room, and being "roomless" for around four hours — even though we were paying for three consecutive nights. Needless to say, this was very inconvenient since we had an early morning (7am) tour the next day. We found the situation quite unusual, so we asked if there might have been an error in the reservation system. The receptionist responded that this was “very common in hostels.” What followed escalated quickly and became a very unpleasant exchange. He called us inflexible, questioned whether we had ever stayed in a hostel before (I’ve been staying in hostels since I was 18 and I’m 36 now), and even asked personal questions like “what do you do for work?”, also he stated that "they assume we would use those 4 hours to explore the city, not sleep." He tried to have us go round the desk and "organize" the rooms ourselves. His tone throughout was arrogant and condescending, even after we had already accepted the situation, and said SEVERAL TIMES: "It's OK, just give us the rooms, because we need to leave in a few minutes" — it genuinely felt like he wanted to pick a fight. It wasn’t until we told him he was being rude that he finally stopped arguing. Because of this incident, we had to rush to accommodate in the rooms and ended up missing the first part of a tour we had already booked for the day. We were really excited about visiting Edinburgh, but this experience completely spoiled the beginning of our stay.

If you are travelling on a budget and want a reasonable hostel to live in - Kick Ass Grassmarket should be your choice. This was my first time staying at a hostel and the stay was fairly decent. The management and staff were really kind and proactive. Internet (free WiFi) was really slow, though. Maybe that's something the management can work towards.

Solid 4/5, very good for a short trip. I was staying 3 nights and met some very nice and friendly people during my stay. The stuff was also very helpful and positive. Thanks a lot to Darren for helping me with my bag when I was moving to another room! (It was how I booked it, so no mistake on hostel's side 😊) I was not facing any problems or issues with people or stuff. Everybody was respectful. I wish I could have a bit more time so I could actually participate in some hostel activities like board games or quizzes. Maybe I'll come back to this specific hostel again some day as I still haven't done all of my Scotland's planned activities

Stayed a couple of days at this hostel last month in December. The rooms were clean and comfortable, the staff were friendly, and the location was perfect. Grassmarket was close by with stunning views of Edinburgh Castle.

Location and staff were lovely. Stayed in the pods, if you're sensitive to heat and air flow I wouldn't recommend them, woke up many times feeling sick from the heat.

Very clean, friendly staff, perfect location (right next to Edinburgh castle & everything), free wifi, attached cafe, quiet, and best priced drinks in town in the hostel bar. Highly recommend.

Really really affordable came here with a group of friends and had no problems at all. Walking distance from the center of Edinburgh and plenty of restaurants and cafes near the hostel. Only complaint would be the draft from one of the windows and the lack of a safe in the room as I had to lock valuables in my suitcase. This is a great place to stay if your just going with a few mates for fun!