HI Hostel Pula — Hotel in Grad Pula

Beautifully located with a (pebble) beach on a bay in the Adriatic immediately in front of you when you walk down the stairs from your room, you'd be forgiven for thinking everything would be perfect.||||Unfortunately that's not quite the case. This was my second stay at the YH Pula, the last time in 2004. In the intervening years the beds and sheets have been replaced, but no other maintainance seems to have been done. The hallway is grotty and smells of onions (assumedly because the caretaker shuts off all other ventilation when it's cold so all his cooking smells end up in the hostel). The rooms are clean, but paint is flaking and windows and shutters are held together with bits of string. No breakfast was available because it was winter (not even onions). Fortunately 500m up the road there's an excellent bakery so not such a disaster. Hot water was. The basin taps are fed from some central system that is slow to heat up but works. The showers run off a seperate boiler over the men's shower. It contains enough hot water for at most three showers. After that you have to choose between stinking or freezing. In fact I took a dive in the sea instead of a cold shower. The sea was warmer.||||The terrace outside by the beach is also a mix of crumbling concrete and rusting steel, although the view is still so stunning that local wedding couples come here for photographs (I was visiting for a wedding, this was one of three locations for pictures, the other two being the Roman amphitheater and the forum with Roman temple and City Hall).||||Also no WiFi available (or the winter staff did not know we could access it).||||All in all this is a great place in summer when facilities are open and you can lounge on the beach, but in the winter you have the feeling they only halfheartedly keep it open, and - at least the main building - is in urgent need of renovation (and of better ventilation for the caretaker's kitchen). Apparently a new hostel (Pipistrelo) has opened right in the center of town and it's highly recommended by the locals at least. In summer I'd recommend YH despite it's shortcomings because it gets hot here and the beach is great, but at other times Pipistrelo is probably a better bet even if it is a bit more expensive. Unfortunately it was closed...

There's two bars preasent on site, both of which have a pleasant vibe to them. The food while a little too salty is filling and varied enough to keep you interested; apart from the breakfast which was the same each day, a slight disappointed, it would be a lot better had there been more options available. The alcohol is cheap and varied. Plenty of different coffees on offer; I'd recommend the cappuccino. Whilst the aesthetic of the hostel is comfortable one large problem did stand out; whether or not it's the heats fault (the temperature was above 30°C each day for a week) the smell of sewage, of the human variety, did linger day on end. I shouldn't be misunderstood; the bathrooms and washing facility were keep clean. I would instead blame the drainage system. All member of site spoke understandable English and were all rather helpful. However, it may be said that some members on site (especially in the kitchen) could afford to not have the face of a smacked ass. The currency of the country is rather broken, ten Kuna is the equivalent of about £1.24, so you find yourself carrying rather a lot of cash with rather a little spending power. The site is located apon a beach which, even though stony, does allow for a place to lie and enjoy the blissful weather. There's an inflatable present at the beach which although relatively small presents you with quite a lot to do, especially if you have children with you. Given the amount of things to do in the area I would recommend this location if you...

We went to this hostel with our German school. It was horrible. The first thing that came to us was the smell of the toilets...The room was okay but we found little animals in our bed. The bathroom was very very small and you have to share it with other people from your bungalow. There were three sinks,two toilets and one shower. The floor was always very dirty. The personal was sometimes were angry and unkind. Apart from the cleaning lady. The beach and the bar were 10 meters from the rooms away and it was very nice there. The music is playing all the day. That’s cool for young people and it gives you the beach feeling. The food is terrible. I’ve never eaten disgusting food like this. The hostel is relative far away from pula city. You have to go there with the bus. 10 minutes from the hostel is a little supermarket where you can buy food and water. When you are interested in the city,won’t stay in the hostel all the day and you like to meet new people than go there but remember that the living standard is very low. All in all I would give one star for the hostel and three stars for the...