Vík HI Hostel — Hotel in Iceland

I’m writing this right from the hostel sitting on my bed (bench with a thin mattress on it)|We had booked 2 nights but I have booked another hotel for the 2nd night as we will not be staying here another night.|On arrival it looked ok, except noticed constant buzzing noise from air conditioning unit on wall in reception area. |No one around to greet us just a note stuck to the reception window telling you to pick up a letter from the basket, this had details about room number etc. we were asked to remove outdoor shoes and leave in reception, there were flip flops /slippers available if you wanted||We were in room 2 which was down some stairs into the basement. The room is tiny stuffy and smells damp. There are 2 very narrow beds which are more like benches with mattresses, you have to make your own beds up with bed linen that has seen better days a very long time ago. No towels have been left so we can’t shower, not that I’d want to as shower room is grimy and shower full of black hairs. ||Apparently there are only 2 bathrooms with integrated toilet so if they are in use and you need the loo you have to wait…a long time….because it seems they are constantly in use. This is in a building that can accommodate 20+ guests!|The walls are paper thin so you can hear every movement and conversation from your neighbours and the constant comings and going’s from the bathroom by people clumping up and down the steps make it near on impossible to sleep. ||In fact take into account the smell of damp, old grey bed linen, blinds and door that don’t fit properly so the light seeps in, uncomfortable bed and pillow, dirty bathroom constantly in use, noise from neighbours next door and above, constant buzzing from air con unit (yes it can be heard from bedroom) a room so stuffy it’s making me cough I can’t wait for the morning so we can leave|If it hadn’t been for the fact we have an activity booked in the area for tomorrow we would not have stayed tonight||On top of this there is no one available to speak to about these issues so no chance of being refunded for a sleepless night. Oh well it’s now nearly 1:30am only 5 more hours to go||Apparently the breakfast is good, we won’t be...

All in all, it is a good hostel. The staff/owner is very friendly and helpful, the kitchen is clean and tidy, so are the dining rooms, which also offer a great view onto Vík and the beach.

I also like the design of the lobby, it's very cozy and kinda makes you feel like home.

Regarding the bedrooms...Well, after all, it is a hostel, so as usual you have bunk beds and you're going to sleep in a room with 6 other people, so your sleep quality will depend on those people behaving and being quiet But that's always the risk you have to take when sleeping in a hostel, you get used to it. Be prepared and bring ear plugs.

But you have lockers in the room where you can put your valuables in. I liked that.

There are some minor aspects that might be bothersome:

Only 2 bathrooms for the entire hostel. I was staying there in winter, with only 8 other people staying there, so it was no problem, but I can imagine that this might cause some inconveniences during busy times.

For a hostel the price for one night is high, even for Iceland. But after all, Vík is a tourist spot and is perfectly located halfway between Reykjavík and Jökulsárlon, so it's legitimate to charge higher prices. Then again, bed linen (cushion etc.) was included - I appreciated it.

The windows are old, so you have bad insulation, meaning that the rooms tend to either overheat or...

The permanent feeling that i had was more like being inside someone house than being in an hostel. The funny fact was that I saw light inside and I asked to someone who was drinking a tea in the couch if he could give me indication for the hostel, then he laugh and said..well THIS is the hostel.||The other fact that really surprised me (and then discovered that is normal routine in Iceland) is that you have to remove your shoes and leave that in an apposite place in reception. That's really smart and igienic!||The same feeling I had in the 6 beds room, the most cleaned one that i have ever seen in an hostel, also there was no bad smell at all.||Each bed had three usb port so no problem to charge devices, another smart tought!||Customer service was really good too, I asked info for what to see around,how to spot Northern light etc and the guy at reception (I apologize, I forgot your name) really helped me!||last but not last....the breakfast..oh my god what a lovely one! continental and cooked too with some speciality like waffles or salmon trout.||||Just be aware that if you are not driving could be a bit tricky to reach, if you are driving there' s a free parking just in front of...