Hostel Piero — Hotel in Upravna Enota Ljubljana

Don't expect the chain hostel experience, Hostel Piero is a family affair. The hosts are warm and friendly, and the food at the attached restaurant has a homey feel just like the rooms.

Reception is open during the same hours as the restaurant, so I wouldn't recommend arriving on a Sunday if possible. Also note that it's only possible to pay with cash.

I was pleased at the option to book a bed in a room without bunks. Weeks into a long trip sleeping in cot-sized bunks, a standard twin bed was a treat! The terrace is a nice place to unwind at the end of the day. It's also a nice touch that the rooms have mini fridges inside. The showers are in individual, locking rooms with sinks and hair dryers.

Accessible from the train station in about 20 minutes on foot, or 5 minutes walk from the Viadukt bus stop.

Only a few minor issues- the first is security. It is not possible to lock the door to your room. If the hosts were not close by and/or the hostel was in a more populated area, this would be a major problem. I still felt safe here, however, as the hostel is in a peaceful area.

The second issue is that there are air conditioning units installed in the rooms but no way to turn them on. My stay would have been much more comfortable if my room had been cooler during the night. My only other complaint is that there is a urinal without any privacy barriers in the toilet room, which is not separated by gender.

Long story short, if you know to expect a homey experience rather than a more corporate one, you will enjoy...

Booked online through booking.com months in advance. Requested an early check in of 7am as I would be arriving straight from a night train. The hostel confirmed the early check in through the requests feature and also sent a message which said "I'm not a problem" - which I took to be further confirmation of the early check in request. ||Arrived at 7am and was told that check in was at 12 and I had no early check in request. He opened booking.com website and I pointed out the confirmed request, to which he then decided that it was an "auto generated response from the website" and that it hadn't actually been confirmed by the hostel. ||I explained that computer systems don't auto generate responses in broken english and that there would be no point in a special requests feature which automatically confirmed all requests. - So it couldn't have been an automatic response. ||The proprietor became angry and started to shout at me in Slovenian, before locking me outside. I had to call another hostel at short notice who let me come over and check in for the night. I came back later that day as I had pre-paid my stay at this hostel and knew I wouldn't get a refund from them, I printed out all relevant proof that they had in fact confirmed the early check in and asked that they refund me the cost of the one night stay in the other hostel I had to go to, they wouldn't. Ruined my trip...

My experience was nothing but lovely. €20 (+€3 tourist tax) per night is great (mixed dorm room), I met cool guests throughout my stay, Romana and Peter were sweet and generous, the garden restaurant was simply beautiful (Romana did all that gardening herself!), there were 2 old bikes available to borrow, beds and showers were clean, and the €8 breakfast that Peter made was delicious! Location: less than a 15-min walk from the train/bus station; 30-min walk from the city center.||||The only possible drawbacks were that the wifi was quite unreliable, and the phone was never answered when I tried to call before arriving. The proprietors don't speak much English, but they communciate well, anyway (preferably in person). They're such hard workers! After checking out my last day, I sat in the garden and sipped good coffee; Romana brought me homemade schnapps, a fig from the garden, and štrudel! So kind. Super glad that I...