Owls Hostel Ildefonso

The place is a bit small, but the staff is very nice and accommodating. Upon arrival, eventhough I booked a mixed dormitory room, I requested to be put into a room with only girls, and the staff understood immediately. Cleanliness was okay. The place also has kitchen, laundary, TV room type common areas, and also a backyard (with a cute cat :))

For what they charge you, you get everything. Amazing reception service, unbelievable location (practically in the centre) for such a price. Spacious rooms and showers, you have a terrace and a living room. Obviously, it's a hostel, not all-inclusive, but they offer more than a hostel would normally do.

My mother and I stayed at this hostel for about a week. While the overall experience was decent, there were a couple of things that could definitely be improved. When we arrived, we had to ask the staff to change the duvet cover because it looked dirty or at least not freshly replaced after the previous guests. It wasn't a great first impression, but they did respond to our request promptly. Another issue we encountered was with the entrance code. To get into the hostel, you need a numeric code at the front door. At some point during our stay, the code was changed without any message or email being sent to guests. The only update was a new piece of paper behind on the door, so if you're not paying attention daily, you could easily miss it and end up locked out (the staff however opens the door if you ring the bell). That said, the location of the hostel is very central and well connected. The area felt safe and I was even able to work there for a couple of days thanks to a common area/lounge, which was a big plus. Overall, it’s a decent place to stay if you’re in Porto, but a bit more attention to communication and cleanliness would make a real difference.

Must have been the worst night I spend in a hostel so far. My bed was placed next to a window to the staircase, said window could not be opened and the staircase was fully lit all night. I couldn't really sleep, the dorm was extremely smelly, either from sweat or from the smell of people smoking in the courtyard - the only window is placed in that direction - that night someone checked in that was clearly sick, coughing all night. The dorm is underneath the roof, pretty small - way too small for 8 beds. Why would you place 8 beds in a room with one small window on just one side of the L-shaped room? Terrible experience, glad we decided to change to another hostel for the next night.

The receptionist, named Omar, treats us with racism and has no respect. The manager should replace him with someone polite.