YHA York Hostel

We stayed for 4 nights over the new year. We are a family of 4, two boys ages 10 and 8. We had a self catering room and paid for breakfast each morning of our stay. Breakfast was ideal, Cereal, pastries, toast, fruit and yoghurt as well as cooked. Room was warm, clean and perfect for our stay. Main area clean and tidy, great place to chill in the evenings, we enjoyed playing games. We ate once there in the evening and the food was good, good value too. There was a lovely walk along the river to the city center which we enjoyed each day We did the three walk sheets for the hostel and particularly enjoyed the 22k walk! Would recommend a stay here, staff super friendly and helpful. Thanks for a great stay.

YHA York is the perfect stay for a trip to beautiful York. Just a 15 minutes walk from city center (nice riverside walk) and other attractions like the National Railway Museum. We stayed in private room for 2 persons with our own ensuite bathroom. Adequate spacious room with bunk bed. Free parking. Good coffee's, drinks and honest food for friendly prices. Friendly and helpful staff. Pleasant relaxed atmosphere. Overall nice stay.

Great hostel - family friendly. We stayed in a 5 bed private room. Very clean and comfortable. Affordable too. We ate in the cafe in the evening and the food was of a good standard and value for money. We also had breakfast and this was good value too.

Positive experience with the rooms and facilities. The hostel was clean and welcoming with clean bathrooms and bedding. Only negative aspect of the experience was school groups at the hostel. Upon arriving we were informed we were upgraded to a larger bunk room than the double we had booked. This was because school groups had booked the upper floors. Though we were happy with the room, we found that the school groups were in the room across from us which resulted in continuous yelling and noise throughout the night. Anytime we had to get into the room we had to walk through a huddle of school kids. The breakfast was also impacted by this, having already paid for the meal, being informed that the school groups were using the breakfast bay and we could tag along. Experience was incredibly awkward. Staff of the schools were confused as to why we were there and we felt uncomfortable being in common spaces (both because of the noise and poor behaviour as well as general weirdness of being surrounded by kids) felt that the hostel did not cater well to having both the public and multiple groups checked in. Was not comfortable having to work around these groups and I imagine it was not pleasant for the schools having members of the public share facilities.

A busy youth hostel close to the river and with easy access to riverside walks into town, quick access onto cycle paths, and to public transport. I visit regularly the cafe, value for money food, a relaxing place to spend time. The staff are always helpful and polite.

What we liked:||My 10 year old and I stayed here for 4 nights. It was good value - one of the cheapest places we found jn York. We had a private bunkbed room with en suite. It was small but totally adequate as we weren't in the rooms much other than for sleeping. Beds are ok, not the comfiest but that was to be expected. Bed linen provided and already made up. Shower was great! It stayed hot and had great water pressure. Bathroom a bit small but for the price, I can't grumble. We had a radiator in the room we could fully control (takes ages to cool down so remember to turn it down well before you think otherwise its too hot to sleep!). Our room had a window (but tricky to properly close as its old with wood frames that has possibly warped). Lovely communal spaces. We ate from the restaurant twice. Its a bit pricey for adult meals than what I was expecting, but kids 10 and under can have a kids meal for £1 when an adult buys a meal. With drinks, one adult meal and one kids meal, the total cost was under £17. Kids meals are very limited but it was ok. Good facilities in the communal kitchen. 3 ovens and 3 lots of hobs. Several fridges and a freezer. Plenty of plates, cups, saucepans, utensils, chopping boards etc. We cooked one evening, and brought our own items for breakfast, lunch and snacks. Three dining tables in the kitchen but lots of space in the lounge / bar area where you can eat. There is a pool table and a table football game in the lounge areas. Staff have all been lovely. Free parking and decent amount of parking spaces. Good amount of outdoor space including seating. Good location. River was very high when we stayed so we couldn't walk along that path so it took 25-30 mins to walk to the city centre - about 3500 steps! An Uber from the city centre ti the hostel mid week cost around £8 (we chose the cheaper option of waiting for an uber and not the quickest - premium/ quickest uber was £12+, and normal uber was around £10). We walked most days.||What we didn't like: Nothing major. A few small niggles. Beds are a bit too firm, as are pillows. Only one pillow. Kitchen very cold/ not heated. Floorboards in the room were ridiculously creaky but I know its an old building. Noise from outside the room as people walked past - again we expected it, and I brought my loop ear plugs which really helped. Light comes under the door from the corridor, and from outside but not too bad. The buffet breakfast is 7.30-9.30am which is ok but would have been nice to have it a bit later. One of the bathroom lights didn't work but not a problem. Checkout is 10am and could be later.

So cheap without any compromise on comfort and service. Very friendly staff. From room to communal area to menu to discounts : we enjoyed our stay. Suggestions:- Please nail in a peg in communal bathrooms for ladies to hang their purses or coats😀 Please fry/cook chicken in separate oil than pork. Halal chicken if fried or cooked in oil that has been used for frying/cooking pork or any non-halal meat is no more edible for halal-consumers.

My son has just returned from the most amazing school trip to the YHA York. I had the pleasure of accompanying them on the trip and cannot speak highly enough of the staff. All the staff were beyond fantastic especially Hollie, Michael and Tempest. Their care and attention to detail with the children was incredible. The other staff members who worked the front desk and cafe couldn’t be faulted. Nothing was too much trouble and they all worked so hard to keep the entire place running smoothly and clean. We had fantastic food which was great value for money and the coffee was as good as any coffee house. Thank you all for giving us a wonderful few days.