I have mixed feelings about this place. There are definitely some good things about it: the views are beautiful; the hike to Ulriken starts very nearby; there’s a supermarket next door; the free breakfast is decent (and they don’t actually mind if you take food away for lunch, even though there are signs saying you’re not allowed to). I also thought the common room was good for a hostel - there is even a piano!

But here are the bad things about it, which wouldn’t necessarily have stopped me from booking it but also which I wish I’d known before deciding to stay here:

• the hostel staff let people check in really late at night. This happened on 2 of my 6 nights: we had all gone to bed and then, after midnight, a new person would arrive in our room. One of these people then put all the lights on and unpacked and had a shower even though it was 1am and the other 3 of us were trying to sleep! I understand that the hostel staff can’t help how guests behave, but I think they could be stricter about not letting people arrive after midnight. I had to get up early the next day and ended up only getting 5 hours sleep.

• the bus only runs twice an hour, takes like 25 minutes into the centre, and it’s a pretty long, steep walk otherwise. Also, if you’re planning to book any fjord tours from companies in Bergen they tend to depart at 7.30, so you have to get the 6.30 bus from the hostel to be there in time.

• you have to pay for everything, even bedsheets, and I had to pay to borrow a padlock for the locker because the padlock I had brought with me was the wrong size for the lockers. Quite stingy.

• the pillows are SO uncomfortable! The worst pillow I’ve ever used

• the lockers are tiny, so you have to leave your stuff out - you can fit things like a laptop in the locker but very little else

• there is hardly any storage space in the rooms. The bottom bunks have space underneath but there’s nowhere for the top bunks to put their stuff, so it ends up feeling messy and awkward

• no extra towel/bath mat in the showers, so the floor gets wet and you have to use your body towel to dry it up (and hope your roommates will do the same)

• the free breakfast is good but once it’s over at 10am there’s no way of getting a coffee

• the breakfast room is a lovely space but they close it for the rest of the day - it doesn’t make sense! It would be the obvious place to let people hang out, especially when it’s raining.

All in all, it was ok - cheaper than the airbnb options and I definitely saved money on food from the breakfasts, but very very basic and not well organised. If I came here again I might consider staying here but I would get a private room and bring my own pillow.