This was my first solo trip as an 18-year-old, and this property was located in the heart of the city. I didn't realize it at first but as long as you walk less than 10 minutes to the church you can find all the busy tourist streets on the opposite side really quickly. Fair warning all the water in Iceland smells like sulfur, it's not the fault of anyone, but that was the only surprising thing about my stay. Additionally, if you're ever rained or snowed it B47 has a resteraunt on the first floor with a few items you can eat. The vending machines are usually not restocked or at least they weren't during my nine-day stay, but you can again go to the first floor and use the vending machines from the other hostel which isn't too much of a hassle. The staff was good, didn't talk to them once, but you can tell they're thorough. Really recommend this place for solo travelers, but if you're on the fence about mixed vs female-only rooms, go for female-only!!! I did female only four beds and I felt so comfortable and met amazing people from all over the globe also solo traveling.

Vending machines are not always stalked

Kind, compassionate, and accommodating owner. My room was quite cold and so I first asked for an extra blanket, but I was still cold, so I sent a message on the Booking.com platform. Within minutes a man came down and wheeled in a heater. He was also open to hearing about some of my pain points (eg. no black out curtain) with my room and my stay in general. It turned out that he was the owner. He listened and then went and solved each and every one of them within a matter of days. Kitchen is well equipped. Water pressure is strong. Proximity to the pool is amazing!

It can be a pretty big roll of the dice on who else is there that determines your experience. Some are messy, some are neat, some are loud, some know to use low voices. That’s true for many hostels though.

It was my first time staying at a hostel as a female-solo-traveller, can't lie I was very worried about everything - people, cleanliness, safeness, etc. I arrived pretty late, it took me a minute to find this hostel as it's in the same building as B47 Hostel and it didn't have any signs. But I managed to find it and checked in, the lady was very sweet and helpful. I went to my room - I chose a 8-bed female-room. My bed was clean and smelled with soap, I also had a towel provided for me (which was also clean). I also had a little safe-box with a code. The kitchen is medium size and has pretty much all you need to cook - utencils, pans, plates, cups. Also there is a box called "to share' in the kitchen where you can find food people leave. Can't lie that was great - people would leave sweets and porridge and veggies - so that I wasn't afraid to die from hunger as Iceland is super expensive. There were lots of toilets and showers on the floor and all of them were clean! I was surprised, because there were a lot of people living in a hostel but the showers were clean and pretty much always free to use. People were chill - if you want to talk to someone - everyone is approachable, if you are not a big fan of small talk - no one is gonna invade your personal space. Honestly, I was very happy after my trip - I recommend this hostel to anyone who is reading this. It is a cheaper option, but this way you can spend more money to see all those beautiful places in Iceland. And to all the girls - I personally felt safe on my own so try it!

Honestly can't even think of something I didn't like: maybe sometimes it was loud in my room - but it has nothing to do with the hostel rather with the people living there.

-clean common areas in the hallways and kitchen -room was clean with tidy beddings and towel -plenty of washrooms in neat condition -I saw staff was doing housekeeping often: in the kitchen, bathroom, and basement laundry -people are nice, it is a safe place -overall a very pleasant environment -self checkout is convenient -they let your store your luggage in the office

-staff don’t all speak English or know how to help you with registration -the one guy in the office also helps clean the hostel, so he is often out of office with no way to find him -when I did self checkout, I saw a client who was waiting a long time for assistance -the office door is open and there’s no one watching your luggage

I loved the breakfast so much! Delicious and great for a gluten intolerant person. Caviar in a tube, hard boiled eggs unlike I’ve ever had in my life. Nutella, cheese and salami. I had my own gf crackers with me. I also liked how flexible the staff were, letting me in the room a little earlier than check in time. I spent the day after my red eye flight at the swimming pool next door. So perfect. Thank you. I’m

More hooks to hang things from and also individual reading lights would be good.

Mingming (owner) is awesome. So welcoming and she spent time ensuring I had everything I needed and suggested plenty of great places to visit. They keep the place very clean and the overall atmosphere was warm. Tip: visit the local pool beside the accomodation. Really cheap and great experience. I spent most evenings there after exploring to relax, recover from hikes, and meet the locals. Most icelanders go here after work to socialise. I will be visiting again and will stay at Barons!

Great value for money; it also helps save on meals (cool kitchen with free coffee) and on public transport, as it's close to everything, and a particularly short walk from BSI - no need to worry about the finicky bus pickup unless you feel particularly lazy. Comfy mattresses, huge number of electricity outlets by every bed, very reliable wi-fi. Would definitely stay there again.

The hostel gets a really good cleaning every day, but some of the guests really don't bother cleaning after themselves -evening cooking ends in disaster :). Still, I wouldn't want to pay more for extra staff to clean after the messy guests. Perhaps some more signs would help - instead of just "please clean after yourself", maybe some people need to be reminded what that means (e.g. "Please wipe down the table after use"). There are no luggage-sized lockers in the rooms - only small ones for valuables; it would have been nice to have at least some shelving or a luggage rack so that you don't have to keep your stuff on the floor, and small individual lights for each bed.

The community kitchen was clean and well supplied. The coffee decent. The views from the balcony and stairwell great. Being next door to a heated pool/spa was a great perk. Very easy walk from bus stop 8 or even from central bus terminal. Safes worked well too.

No complaints

The nicest "hostel" I've stayed in and with a really great mix of of other travellers (age, country of origin etc) but everyone was really respectful and clean. Bathrooms and kitchen were great with everything needed (including hairdryers). I had a private room which was simple but spacious with lovely views, a desk and, importantly, a comfy bed. Few mins walk to the church (bus stop 8), 10 mins or less to shops and 15min walk to bus station. . Check in and out was also really easy and there were no noise issues.Would absolutely stay here again and recommend to friends.

Nothing

This place is better than I expected. The staff are super responsive. All the doors are code-operated so no keys to carry around. There is full scale kitchen/communal area with plenty of seats. There are several showers/toilets on both floors so it was never an issue to find one when needed. It can get a bit noisy at night with people slamming doors etc but thats nothing to do with the property or management. Bring some good ear plugs and you will be fine. You are going to be sharing room with other people after all. The location is perfect as its only 2-3 minutes walk to Hallgrímskirkja. The bus stop 8 (which is actually inside the parking lot of the church) is where all the tours offer pick up/drop off so its very convenient. The bus from the airport also offer bus stop 8 (its a separate bus from the station that goes around to hotels, not the coach from airport itself) but I didn't take it because from the BSI terminal, its literally 10 minutes walk in a straight line. There are a couple of small supermarkets within few minutes walk to get your basics and prepare some light meals if you want to avoid eating out in expensive Reykjavik. I definitely recommend!