Ah, Vancouver, the urban city that doesn’t feel overly urban with the surrounding mountains and greenery. A generally spectacular city that has many spectacular sights to see, things to do and hostels to sleep in! One of the hostels to sleep in is the Cambie Hostel – Gastown, situated in Gastown.
Now Gastown isn’t a place that is gassy from smoke swarming in the air or filled with people who have IBS and fluctuate a lot, it’s just the name of the area of Vancouver. Gastown is a decent location downtown where everything is within walking distance and there’s no need to take the public transport system. No complaints can be made about the location of Cambie Hostel – Gastown but there are quite a few that can be made after checking in to the facility.
Upon the walk upstairs to dump your bag in the room, you are quick to see the general aesthetics of the hostel reminiscing of an old worn down Victorian like building, for some this would be charming but for some, the wears and tears aren’t that aesthetically pleasing. But hey, it’s not an issue other than the odd squeaking floorboard, the big issues lay in the room. The rooms are cramped, very cramped. Severe lack of space to put a bag down where people with smaller bags would have theirs laying on their beds to make more space. Inconvenient but manageable.
The next issue with the rooms lay within the beds. The old rule of staying in hostels that don’t assign you to a bed and let you freely choose is that if it looks like it’s been cleaned by the staff and no guest is occupying it then it’s a free bed, if it looks remotely occupied then shame that won’t be casa del whatever your name is. In the Cambie, a lot of beds look like they’ve been occupied giving you the massive fear you’re being that awful human who occupies someone else’s bed like it’s Wall Street during the whole Occupy Wall Street debacle. Now it may have been a housekeeping issue or guest issue but it seemed more of a housekeeping issue. Some top bunks also don’t have bars next to the bed which isn’t the most fun if you know you tend to move in your sleep.
One of the bigger issues with the Cambie Hostel was the sheer lack of outlets in the room. There weren’t many at all and if you weren’t by a bed that had one then you were more screwed than someone in the trenches armed with a potato gun. In the common area, there were plenty which is great but not if you need a long charge or want to be sitting there for hours waiting.
Cambie Hostel – Gastown isn’t all bad though, it does have some nice features. If you’re a big party human there is a bar/nightclub attached to the bar with some lovely drink offers, but if you fancy getting a wee sleep on the weekend it isn’t that ideal. However Cambie recognises this and offers free earplugs which some people may not find helpful at all but hey you can see the effort there and there’s nothing else they can do, can’t expect the staff to sing you a lullaby and stroke your hair until you fall asleep. The common area is great and filled with board games, a tv with cable and a great area to interact with the fellow humans of the Cambie whilst also being able to take the full force of the WiFi that does all that you expect it to do. The beds in the room are nice and you can’t complain about the comfort and there isn’t any noise from the frame when you make a slight movement.
Cambie Hostel – Gastown is very meh. It has some perks and some major flaws. It’s one of these hostels where it’s nothing spectacular and you wouldn’t be gutted in the slightest if you couldn’t stay there again on returning to Vancouver, but you wouldn’t be heavy upset at the prospect of having to spend a couple of nights there. It’s such a mixed bag of a hostel, there are some major flaws with the room and if going meth addict watching isn’t your thing with there being tonnes of homeless meth addicts around outside the hostel. Yet there are some great parts to it including the location (yes despite the meth addicts but can find them anywhere in a city) and the common area. There’s just nothing that screams out other than meh when talking and thinking of Cambie Hostel, which is why it gets the Meh grade.
OVERALL GRADE: Meh
PROS:
• The common area is great
• WiFi does the job
• Bed is comfortable
• The location is spot on
CONS:
• Rooms are cramped
• No bars on top bunks
• Severe lack of outlets in rooms
• Noise from nightclub isn’t the most convenient (they try to tackle it as best possible, however)
• A bit on the not-so-clean side
Loser Travels 