YMCA

I stayed here for a week with a group on a research trip. Everyone in and out of the Y (except the cooks... at least to me...) is super friendly and open to chatting. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are available (Breakfast included, paying for lunch and dinner). My room had a decent bed, a fan, a TV, and a mosquito. How much more else do you need? Each floor has a balcony with an amazing view of the city as well! Highly recommended to anyone going to Freetown for affordable and enjoyable lodging.

This is a place that could be much better with a few basic improvements. They have a shared bathroom on each floor but some rooms have their own bathroom. Mine didn't. I don't mind at all, but the bathroom/shower could use a thorough cleaning. The same goes for the room. The windows have a screen but mine was broken so mosquitoes are free to come and go as they please. No mosquito nets so you need to your own precautions. ||||The food was good and fresh. The portions can be small, so if you are hungry, let the cook know ahead of time so a bigger plate can be served as they will cook to order and not prepare big quantities ahead of time. ||||the place is in the heart of Freetown and quite alive at night. A few hundred feet up the street, you will find a vendor by the name of Sule (ask for him by name as everyone there knows him). He and his wife have a small shop there where he also does tailoring and sowing. Really nice guy so use him if you can.

Pros: ||I had to stay at the YMCA for over a week in December 2008 and it was ideally located near Padema road so easy to get to town and the western area of Freetown. They have a website where you can book your rooms in advance and will arrange for people to come and pick you up at the airport or take you to the airport if needed. A single room with shared bathroom begins at 13 dollars and the most expensive double room with bathroom is 25 dollars. There is a good balcony with great views over Freetown and an internet cafe which is very inexpensive and fast.||Breakfast is included and they will also do your laundry for you for a small fee. It is simple but clean and safe. ||Cons:||I would not recommend eating any other meals there and you can get a better breakfast from one of the street venders outside or in town. It is clean but be aware that you need to bring a net or ask for one to protect you from insects and earplugs because on days where football games are shown downstairs or the local nighclub starts up on the weekend - you really need them. The staff are either very accomodating or extremely rude depending on who is at reception. They have not mastered hospitality yet and they also do not mention the rattling of the chains of the people at the 'City of Rest'' next door.

We stayed here as an extended family of 8 adults. Each couple had their own room, and we had to share bathrooms with each other and other guests. Not all bathrooms had toliet seats, and you have to bring your own toilet paper, but all flushed! The showers were cool, but that was welcome in the heat anyway!||||We were very thankful for the generator that supplemented the electricity supplied by the city, so we had electricity through the night to power the fan provided by the YMCA. We brought our own sheets, which are a little softer and breathe easier then the ones provided.||||The food provided downstairs was a little spicy, but alright. Nothing exceptional, but it was alright! We were excited to use the interent cafe downstairs, even though the interent worked on & off through the day.

The Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) hostel in Freetown, Sierra Leone is located on Fort Street and wedged between a mosque and a number of churches. If you are a church goer you will enjoy some all-night services and if you are a Moslem, you will not miss your dawn time call to prayer nor your after and evening prayers. The hostel has a gym, a cafeteria and provides a good view of Freetown from the balcony. It is a bed and breakfast and provides you the basic English breakfast of tea, bread with an egg. You may find a few coacroaches in your room. Just allow them to escape or kill if you can ha ha ha. If you want dinner, you have to pre-order. You will get rice with potato or cassava leaves sauce. I advice you to opt for the self contained room otherwise you will be sharing toilet and bath with other guests. The location is ok because a few minutes walk down the road and you will be on the Siaka Stevens street where you have lots of shops and very busy. Internet works only on the first floor.

Home away from Home. I stayed here for 6 weeks. Central location, extremely friendly and helpful staff, free break fast, restaurant with lunch and dinner, Gym. Meeting room. Men and women can stay. Central location. Clean rooms. Tv in each room. Power most of the day. Funds from the Guest House get used for development projects for the poor. Down the road closer to the cotton tree is a nice small restaurant well priced,  friendly and quiet

The staffs at the hostel are so helpful and accommodating especially the receptionist. .. The first phase of renovation is complete, the hostel has WIFI and DSTV facility and its bed a breakfast. All the self contain rooms are now fully air-con. The New Prices are: LE 300, 000 for the Self-contained rooms, LE 200,000 for the Rooms with double beds and LE 150,000 for the Rooms with single beds. we have a Hall which can accommodate 100people for conference, workshops, seminal, Meetings and training. The Hostels is a Home away from home. We also provide City TOUR for those interested in Tourism.

I stayed here with 2 other friends on a backpacking trip around West Africa this past summer. It was a great accommodation for us in Freetown. We were looking for something affordable, but also safe, clean and in a good location. The YMCA satisfied all of these, and more! The staff were extremely kind and helpful. The YMCA isn't luxury, but a very good place to stay if you want to integrate more into Freetown. My favorite place in the hostel- the porch on the second floor. Check it out!