Youth hostel No 2: "Simple, basic, the cheapest(8.7 euros per bed)" Top 5 Page for this destination Warsaw Hotel Tip by matcrazy1

It's the cheapest and simplest accommodation in central location (great for sightseeing) probably used widely by various school groups. Warning: they are closed 10 am - 4 pm and 12 pm - 6 am. Reservation in advance may be necessary especially in April-June and September-October. Personally I'd add a few zl to sleep in better Oki Doki hostel which is open 24 hours. And I don't like/support places that are more expensive for non-Poles = unfriendly for foreign visitors (22 versus 33 zl = 5.8 versus 8.7 euros per bed in a dormitory room in 2006). It reminds me not so old past... By the way is it legal in European Union?

It was my first ever accommodation in Warsaw in... 1980'. I and my girlfriend (matcrazy0 now :-) went to Warsaw to get visas to Austria and Italy after over a month of waiting for passports stored by police that time. Everyday during some 40 days we had to go to the passport office at the police station to check our names in the list of waiting crowds. In Warsaw unfortunatelly we couldn't get both visas in one day, so we unexpectadly had to stay in Warsaw for one night. We didn't have any clothes to change, any cosmetics etc. and we had very little money. The only affordable accommodation for us that time was a multi-bed room in a youth hostel at Smolna. As I remember there were a few (exclusively luxary) hotels in Warsaw but they all cost per night more than average monthly salary in Poland. Haha, I can only smile now :-). Poland has unbelievable changed since those times.

Unique Qualities: IN 1980'
I remember that we had to go very steep and long stairs a few floors up and long time no-one opened the door when we rang - well, we were 5 min. or so late (that time they closed at 9 pm as I remember). When we were ready to give up and were talking about the only options - sleeping on a bench or railway station - an old sleepy lady unlocked the door and let us in. She criticized us that we went too late but let us in. She told us that we couldn't pay reduced rate as our student's identities were not valid - right, we both had forgotten to stamp them for the next academic year. But finally she took a pity on us :-). There were 2 huge rooms (one for males, one for females), each with maybe 20 beds. The light in the rooms was off at 9 pm and no-one could turn it on until 6 am next day. So, we had to find empty beds and undress at dark (we joked that it's a socialist order). Well, they offered bedding (extra paid) but no towels. Hmm... it was funny to use some newspapers instead :-) Luckily there was some soap left by someone in a bathroom. Soap was unavailable in shops but distributed by special coupons that time (one bar per month per person) or it was say 10 times more expensive in so-called black market = free market in fact although mostly illegal. Well, it was quite different world in Poland that time.

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Address: Ul. Smolna 30; 00-375 Warsaw; Poland
Comparison: least expensive
Directions: In downtown, a bit east of the roundabout with palm tree (Rondo Charled de Gaulle'a). Map here
othercontact: ssmsmolna@poczta.onet.pl
Phone: +48 (22) 827 89 52
Price: less than US$20
Theme: Hostel