Hostel Mundo — Hotel in Kyoto

Hostel Mundo is a really cool cosy place that's actually a traditional Japanese wooden house. My friend and I had the Japanese-style room with comfy bedding for three nights, after which we switched to the six-bed female-only dorm. We got a discount for the female dorm because we booked directly through the website (and probably also because it was low season).||||The friendly receptionist lady - whose name I've forgotten, to my embarrassment - was fluent in English and very helpful, recommending us better routes to attractions than the ones we had mapped out on our own - buses instead of the metro or trains, for example.||||One thing we found is that it's easier to get around using the buses. It's also often more worth it to buy one-day kyoto city bus passes for 500, considering one bus ride costs 200 and it's easy to rack up at least three bus rides in a day. ||||The slight cons of this place: It's a little inconvenient if you're on the upper floor to use the toilets and showers, which are on the ground floor, because of the steep staircase. Otherwise, the showers are very, very clean if a little narrow, the toilet seat covers are changed daily, and there's shampoo, conditioner and soap provided. The walls are also very thin and you can hear people moving around in other parts of the house, so definitely bring ear plugs if you're a light sleeper.||||Would recommend if you're on a budget and looking for somewhere with a more traditional feel, that's welcoming and friendly and also with a more...

I stayed there for 5 nights. The hostel is located around an hour (by foot) from kyoto station. The street was calm, quiet and dark at night perfect for sleeping. Every bed has its own curtains for privacy:) the walls are very thin and it's not very big but the "living room" area was a perfect spot for meeting your fellow travelers and have the best talks)

When I arrived my bed was very very uncomfortable though.. it was the 6 bunkbed dorm room.. my bed (it was the only bed left ) didn't had a bamboo mat under this thin futon? matrass.. I was basically just lying on wood panels. I hate complaining but I could have not slept on that for 5 nights!not even one... I had to mention it to the young receptionist three times until she realized how serious I was.. but then she tried everything to make my bed more comfortable and gave me two more thinner foldable matrasses and blankets to put under and the next day I got another.. it was quite comfortable in the end. Another downside.. but I don't think I can blame the hostel for it??! After the 2nd night my towel went missing!!!?! It was hanging on the edge of my bed and when I got "home after a long day it was just gone and hasn't been found since..:((

The washing machine is outside and it's cool..because you don't have to add any laundry detergent to it.. it gets automatically added in by the machine.. costs 300yen. No dryer but...

The hostel is 20min bus from Kyoto station and about 10min walk from Nijo castle (which I highly recommend). From the bus stop it's a 7min walk and most of it is down a straight street so it's not too hard to find. They email you great instructions when you book. The cheapest way to book for us was directly via their website. ||When you enter you take your shoes off and we were greeted by very friendly staff who all spoke quite good English. Beware if you're in the upstairs the stairs are super steep. However the staff were really nice and helped up take our suitcases up. We were in the smallest room that just fit two futons and had a space to fit our suitcases. Since the room was so small it was really easily heated up the air con and was quite cosy. ||Downstairs there's a common lounge area, a kitchen that has complimentary (and delicious) tea. The showers and toilets were also downstairs. Even though it was very cold the toilet seats have covers and the shower rooms had heated. So it wasn't unpleasant at all. ||Overall I would highly recommend this place. It was very well inexpensive, in a relatively convinient location and the staff were very friendly...