Viajero CDMX Centro Hostel — Hotel in Mexico City

I stayed at this hostel for FOUR weeks. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

ROOM - I stayed in a private ensuite room. I had a spacious bedroom with a very large, comfortable bed, & a private restroom. The shower always had nice hot water. I was able to meet people & make new friends quickly regardless of having my own room. I enjoyed having my private space. Private room also comes with free breakfast.

LOCATION - The hostel is in El Centro, a 5 min walk from El Zocalo. The entrance to the hostel is in a wide walkable-only street. I learned the hard way that there is SO MUCH traffic during the day & early evening. Luckily subway is very close! The area is also very dark at night & does not feel safe. I recommend walking in a pack or taking a ride share out for dinner. Otherwise, there is a lot to see in the area in the day & it makes it easy to get to other places by public transportation or bus.

FOOD - The drinks in the hostel are free in the mornings. There is free water, tea, coffee, juice & atole. I found the juice always delicious. The atole was a hit or miss. I did not try the other drinks but it is nice that they are free for us. For breakfast, i personally did not enjoy the avocado toast. However, the chilaquiles were so delicious. I enjoyed every. single. breakfast. It was honestly always so delicious & I highly recommend! The hostel also has a menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner where the staff kindly took my orders, brought my food & picked up after me. I never had lunch here, but I did have dinner & really enjoyed the quesadillas.

AMBIENCE/ HOLIDAYS - I spent Christmas, New Year & Kings Day at the hostel. The front desk has a sign up sheet for activities to join. We had a beautiful CHRISTMAS EVE dinner. One feedback is that we did not have traditional meals. I wish we had, for example: tamales, bocadillos & pan dulce/ chocolate. The food was still good though. Another thing is we had one small piñata to break & for a lot of people, this was their first piñata opportunity. Unfortunately, it was broken by the 4th person & a lot of people were disappointed to not have experienced hitting a pinata. I also joined the NEW YEAR'S EVE celebrations, it was another 3 course meal. There was also a table with crows, hats and glasses for 2024. There was glitter and a lot of the girls and I had so much fun putting glitter on each other's faces. We also all got undies! Superstition is, wear red undies for love and yellow for wealth for the new year. David, a staff member, also participated as a DJ. On KING'S DAY, the staff had a basket with pieces of Rosca bread for guests to take. Which was really fun!

There are SO many activities and ways to be involved to make it easy to socialize. The hostel offers day trips and although they are pricier than paying them on your own, it is so fun to share the experiences with new friends. There are also free activities like Loteria and Karaoke.

STAFF - EVERY SINGLE STAFF member was very kind to me. I wish I remembered the front desk staff because they would see me walk in every morning and immediately give me the breakfast token and knew me by my name after a few days & they also took care of me when I was ill, they brought me medicine. Checking in was easy, checking out was hard as i was sad to say bye to everyone. The kitchen and bar staff was always nice to me as well with amazing service. I also requested cleaning service half way during my stay and the cleaning staff did a good job at cleaning, making my bed and replacing my toilet paper roll. I hope they all know how grateful I am for every staff member i encountered and know how much I appreciate them.

SAFETY - I felt safe at all times except for 2 instances. 1. The front door was open one day and I witnessed a family of 3 walk in and around the hostel. NOT guests! 2. One night, a male staff member made out with a guest in front of us all, my friend said she also saw him give her a pill and then we all saw him take her upstairs in a hostel room where everyone was aware of what they did. How often does this happen? Super...

I was looking forward to my stay at this hostel after much research. Unfortunately, Viajero CDMX was my most disappointing hostel experience in Latin America. To give a bit of context to this review, I am a 40 year old solo traveller who stayed for five nights in a studio private room. It wasn’t all bad. Let me outline my experience in pros and cons. POSITIVES: The hostel is in an excellent location. Very central and easy to access many sights. The restaurant (whilst not the most economical), served great food- I tried two dinners, selecting the local cuisine options. The person who checked me in was very welcoming and did a great job making me feel at home. I did one of their tours (the Lucho Libre visit) - which was entertaining and also a good way to get the hang of using the Metro. CONS: Viajero CDMX has an identity crisis. On their website, they give the impression that the hostel is laidback and a place to base oneself and unwind after full day of exploring. They even try and reach out to people who are wanting to work remotely there. This was just what I was after, and along the lines of the type of hostel I usually like - being able to relax gather myself and meet people of various ages, backgrounds etc. to discuss plans and share ideas. Alarm bells sounded when I spotted ear plugs provided on the bedside table. From the moment I got myself settled in the room, the music started followed by screaming, chanting, more music, banging and the stench of dope drifting up from guests smoking out the front. This occurred on four out of the five nights I was there (although, one of those four nights did get quieter earlier than others). I have nothing against a “party hostel”, there are many younger people who would love that type of place to stay. I am quite upset that what I thought I was getting, was different to the frat house, beer pong, party all night accommodation I got. If this is what the hostel would like to be, then they should own it, become it, and market themselves as a great place for the younger, night-life loving travellers, because they do that well. This is the first and only hostel I have stayed in that has had this issue, but I have stayed away from some others because they were very upfront about what sort of place they are. The room (on the second floor) was VERY stuffy and quite hot. It was hard to sleep. The window was not able to be kept open and there was no fan. The front desk staff seemed very uninterested in helping guests (well at least some of the guests). I felt like an absolute bother to them when asking a simple question (like the closest place that is safe to change currency). The housekeeping staff were exceptionally friendly and very helpful, they went out of their way to help. The prices of things the hostel sells (e.g. drinks, other necessities etc) are exceptionally overpriced - just walk down the corner to get what you need for half the price. OVERALL it is a great hostel for those who are perhaps aged between 18-28 and are looking for a fun nightlife after a day of exploring the city. For those who would like a more relaxed, friendly, down to-earth, traveller friendly hostel, perhaps this is not the place for you. If you need quiet to...

Beautiful hostel ruined by money making obsessed tactics and an identity crisis

Upon first impression this hostel seemed perfect. A beautiful courtyard and friendly reception staff welcoming you to the hostel. But this did not last long. Below I will list some pros and cons.

Pros: The receptionists are mostly very friendly and willing to give you advice. The courtyard is very pretty Varied guests and quiet time from 11pm Centrally located to metro lines and close to the airport. Sadly it is better to take uber rather than walking around at night though. Very comfy beds.

Cons ALL of the bar workers add 10% tip onto every single order for food or drinks. One of them lied saying that this was for using card, but they also charge this when paying with cash. In one of the reviews here, the hostel replied saying they fixed this issue, but every single worker in this area does the same thing and NEVER asks you. Depending on your room, the only fresh air you can get is with your front door open. With how loud the hostel can be before 11 this is not reasonable at all and is not safe either. There is also no AC in any rooms, just dirty fans that end up with you coughing and having a blocked nose. Even though this isnt a party hostel, they sure try to make money by doing party hostel tactics. Beer pong, extremely loud karaoke, wall vibrating sub bass dj sets, half strength “2 for 1” cocktails and much more. Drugs. During our stay there was a group of rowdy guys who openly admitted to being sold drugs by one of the workers. If thats your thing then cool, but this is not my vibe. If you are in a private room they never change your sheets or clean your rooms no matter how long your stay is. The dorms were cleaned often but without requesting it for a private room, expect your room to be untouched. Review boosting. They offer discounted extensions if you leave a review. They have also replied to another review here saying you can review how you wish. But would anyone really leave a negative review and then show it to the workers expecting a discount? So don’t trust all of the reviews here, many were only done to get a discount. Terrible food. Out of pure convenience we ordered food here a few times and each time we were left disappointed. Every time it was cold, overpriced, tip added without asking and in general just poor quality. Police. Also during our stay, Police specifically targeted hostel guests who had a beer whilst standing directly in front of the hostel doors as you cannot smoke inside the hostel courtyard. There is no signs or mention of this from the hostel that this isnt allowed. They were forced to go to an ATM and withdraw 2800 pesos for a bribe. When approached, no hostel worker (who could see it happening from reception) came out to help or communicate with these corrupt police. They appeared out of nowhere on a quiet night and clearly knew who to go for, almost like they knew guests were outside the front gate.

EDIT: The owner replied with Chat GPT, if that doesn’t show how poor their customer service I don’t...