Glen Nevis Youth Hostel — Hotel in Great Britain

Summary: Only stay here for one night if you want to be close to the path going up to Ben Nevis. This hostel had zero atmosphere, it was dead (no one in sight except an outside table of some mates despite it’s mid July), so don’t count on meeting other travels. It’s a 1 hour walk from Fort William, so you’ll need a car. No shops nearby the hostel. And did I mention the rude hostel manager?

Full context for review: I went into the hostel because it was at the foot of the nearest walking route up to Ben Nevis. We’re staying at the nearby caravan site and thought about going there for drinks one night - we won’t be doing that now after our brief experience following our Ben Nevis hike. It was a scorching July day, and so naturally after hiking for 6+ hours we were in desperate need of drinks + some sugar. I went into the hostel with my brother, bought 2 waters, 4 cokes and 6 ice creams as the rest of my family was coming down behind us. Steve, the hostel manager was really rude, it took him forever to tell me prices of the items before I could even tell him what we wanted (despite various menus being printed out and in sight), and his whole demeanour throughout this encounter was generally very unpleasant. A few hours later we were still waiting for my parents at the bottom of the mountain as they found the hike tough on such a hot day and were taking their time to come down. As they ran out of water, I went back to the hostel reception to get a couple more waters so we could take them up to my parents. Before I even had a chance to order Steve rudely welcomed me be saying “You again. Sadly I won’t be able to sell you any drinks as my delivery didn’t arrive today and I have a group of visitors arriving”. I understand the need to hold stock for residents, but I was taken aback by his unfriendliness and #sorrynotsorry attitude. I asked if there are any other shops nearby, he said no. Surely if you’re at the bottom of the country’s highest mountain with hikers passing by frequently, you’d stock up enough and want to make some sales from any passers by. He made me feel like I was trying to get into a VIP section at some exclusive nightclub and my name wasn’t on the list - I’m just trying to get some water here and you were the nearest shop in sight... To anyone staying nearby like us, don’t bother with this place, and make sure to pack lots of extra drinks going up the mountain as sadly this hostel will not be nice stop on your way down as we thought...

Fantastic budget hostel. With great service for the price.

Right across from the start of the mountain path up to Nevis.

Clean facilities overall but with the amount of costumers walking around with muddy boots the place gets dirty in no time. Still the staff manage to keep to a good standard. Which is very impressive.

Incredibly friendly and helpful staff. Special shout out to the very gorgeous Izzy. She was very sympathetic to my blunder with the food.

Speaking of food. They have a self catering facility with a large pantry/food shelf. Don't make the mistake of thinking everything on the shelf is free to consume. Most of it belongs to a fellow guest. There is a specific shelf of food that is for every one; and then the rest is private property.

Do your best to leave the place the way you found it. It's very communal.

There is also a nice restaurant & bar about 200 meters away from the hostel. They serve one amazing grilled salmon and bok-choi dish and many classic Scottish dish along with a few interesting selection of drinks among the usual. They serve a unique rum. (The only Scottish rum currently in production I am told) called 'dark matter'. I highly recommend it. It's quite aromatic and deep.

The showers are pretty powerful....

OK so I am a snob. I'm not used to hostels.

But hear me out...

I rented a private room for the night. Bunkbeds squeezed into the corner of a huge room. I'm 6ft6in. Bed is 6ft3in.

At 5am my upstairs neighbour wedges open their room door, setting off a local alarm which wakes me up. Then they proceed to tap dance and set off the alarm another 2 times. The only thing that prohibited the bloodshed was the pain to my feet that would have occurred, should I have had to decent the ladder from my upper bunk.

Also at some point around 6am, an annoying LED light lit up on the ceiling of the room. Now I've had a good think about it and I have NO IDEA why a random little LED would go on for no reason. Other than to torture guests.

Other than the above, you have to wash, dry and put away your own plates - like I said I am a snob. I'm working on myself.

The Receptionist Guy clearly needs to be a little more on top of his game regarding the nocturnal tap dancing and alarms.

But it's clean and the location is spot on. 👌🏻 if you stay here, visit the Ben Nevis Inn. Lovely walk and great...