Selfoss Hostel — Hotel in Iceland

Selfoss Hostel was the first place we stayed in on our trip to Iceland in March 2019, and we stayed there for two nights, the hostel working as a base for our Golden circle day trip.||||The hostel is very easy to find, as it is just along one of the main streets in Selfoss (yes, I can hear someone asking whether it really would be hard to find anything in a town of the size that Selfoss is, but I stay to my statement here). The hostel is on a walking distance from two grocery stores/markets, the other off which, Nettó, is almost in the neighbor. This makes buying things like snacks or breakfast materials very convenient.||||We stayed in a three bed room. The room had it's own small sink, a small desk, three beds and a wardrobe. The room was plain, but still very clean. The beds were rather ordinary with a rather thick covers. The pillow surprised me positively, as on the first appearance it seemed like a formless sack with minimal amount of fillings, but I actually did not have anything to complain about after the two nights of good sleep. The ventilation in the room was a bit sub-optimal, mostly dependent on opening a small window in the room, making, for example, drying one's clothes or swimming gear a bit difficult.||||The hostel had two showers on the second floor, both of them clean and new-ish, together with several toilets. The common kitchen space in the first floor was spacious and seemed to be well equipped (this with a pinch of salt, as we did not use anything but the fridge in the end). ||||We bought the breakfast for both of the mornings and while it may not have been the most lavish I found it to be very adequate to fill one up for the day's adventure and, in hindsight, the cheapest breakfast on our whole trip.||||The staff, the little we saw them, was friendly and spoke fluent English. ||||The hostel really has a small hot tub on their backyard, free to use for all of the guests, which to me was a nice little detail in the available services. As it seemed to be quite popular, I would believe it is a nice place to meet fellow travelers, if that is something one wants from their trip.||||All in all, I had a few good night's sleeps in this nice place and would not hesitate to go...

Based on my experience, I would not recommend Selfoss Hostel to anyone looking for a safe and comfortable stay in Iceland. As a female solo traveler, it was the only time during my entire trip that I did not feel safe. The hostel is run-down, with poorly maintained bathrooms and paper-thin walls that make it difficult to get a good night's sleep.

To add to the discomfort, there is no receptionist at the hostel, and you are given a code to open the front door 24 hours before your reservation. Once inside, you have to go behind the desk and pick a random key and room that you want, then wander around the poorly lit hallway to find your room.

Every single light was turned off in the place, making it difficult to see where I was going. There was one other person in the hostel, and I could hear every sound they made due to the thin walls. To top it off, there was black stuff on the ceiling of the room, which was a concern.

On a positive note, there was a sink in the room, which was nice to have. However, considering the overall state of the hostel and the lack of safety measures, I would not recommend this place for the cost. Overall, I was disappointed with my stay at Selfoss Hostel and would not stay...

The hostel is self check in and sends instructions prior. We had a twin room which was small but clean. The bathrooms were ok - they did not look overly clean and being joined shower/toilet in one room meant that you had to wait twice as long to use either facility.|Our room was located accross the hall which meant we heard every time someone went to the bathroom. I don't think it would've made a difference being at the end of the hall - the walls are thin and the hall echoes. We could hear everything from outside the room - anytime someone spoke (espcially lots of people forgetting their etiquette and having very loud phone calls in the hallway instead of the common areas).|The kitchen has good cooking facilities and basic supplies (salt, pepper, oil, coffee) and plenty of space to make meals.|During our stay it was being used by a tour group which meant that the kitchen was mostly taken over by them and their supplies and although they were friendly it was a little uncomfortable as they were taking over the...