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Eastgate Backpackers Hostel – reviews, photos

38 Eastgate, Inverness IV2 3NA, Scotland
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2.0 of 5 stars 22 Reviews
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22 reviews from our community

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Dalwhinnie, United Kingdom
Reviewer
5 reviews 5 reviews
Reviews in 5 cities Reviews in 5 cities
14 helpful votes 14 helpful votes
“This is NOT a backpackers hostel but a homeless shelter”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 8 February 2012
2
people found this review helpful

I drive to Inverness on a daily basis and it is a 120 mile round trip. I have been looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights a week and ended up at this hostel. It is, unarguably, the cheapest place to stay in Inverness but it is NOT a nice place and you will leave Inverness with a sour taste in your mouth if you decide to stay at this place.

Inverness has a huge housing and drug problem, and you will see it all first hand if you opt for this place. It is full of local residents on benefits and it has all the problems that come with it. It was an eye opening experience and I am still recovering from it. I saw so many sad episodes, my eyes still fill up with tears when I think about it. The place stinks, it is full of junkies (and honest people who sell the Big Issue) and it is not safe. Saying all that, it is a shame because the location is awesome. I would only consider this place if you have no valuables, to share a twin room with a friend and you do not intend to use the toilets or shower (or any of their facilities as a matter of fact) - the shopping centre is across the road and you can use the toilets there. If you decide to do that, remember that the emergency exits stay open overnight and the place is NOT safe to keep your valuables.

That was a night which will stay forever on my mind and it will take a very long time to forget the depressing scenes I have seen.

I have backpacked throughout the world and have NEVER seen anything like that. That smell is stuck to me and even after getting home and having a shower I can still smell it. I am quite proud of myself to have stayed the whole night. Speaking to some local colleagues of mine, they called me INSANE to have stayed there.

I read the reviews on trip advisor and thought it was perhaps a matter of taste, some like it, some don't and so on. I am here to warn you so you don't have to see what I have seen: It is a homeless shelter full of local residents. I haven't seen a single backpacker while I was there - from 5pm until 8am.

Inverness is awesome and you will spend a lot of money to get here - do not waste it leaving the place with the wrong impression, GO ELSEWHERE!

I will keep looking for other central hostels/cheap guest houses to stay. If I find a good one I will write a review about it. Meanwhile, do yourself a favour and stay away from this place!

PS: This place DOES NOT have a swimming pool!!!

  • Stayed February 2012, travelled on business
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask CarolinaUK about Eastgate Backpackers Hostel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Arbroath, United Kingdom
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews 7 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“rather sleep in my car”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 30 May 2011
2
people found this review helpful

I have never stayed somewhere that I can safely say that there is no positives. I still cant as the following events led to myself and friends having to sleep in our cars in a car park. When we arrived the staff didn't really seem to have any idea of what they were doing. The hostel consists of a few floors that were each a bit creepy in there own right, It had strange pictures and a funny smell. Whilst waiting on a friend checking us in after giving them his driving license and credit card number ( which seemed strange to start as we could only pay in cash) I looked at a shower, when I switched on the light the fan came on and sounded like it was going to explode. I switched the light off and this horrible noise continued for 5 minutes later. When in our room which had previous restaurant Zanzibar stickers everywhere, we noticed that there were holes in our sheets, most of the beds were foam mattresses apart from one which you could feel every spring on. The wall next to a bed was clearly just 3 bits of plywood screwed in block a hole. We were unsure on safety so didn't leave our stuff in the room when we went out, which turned out to be the best idea possible. When we came back around 1am all of our beds were taken presumably by the market people outside, We were just going to sleep in the common room and get our money back the next day but noticed that the emergency exit was open, presumably where they came from. Instead we got out of there as we did not feel safe and the reception shut at 9pm with no way to contact them apart from a mobile which was no use. We looked for a different place but there wasn't any as it was late and a bank holiday so found a quiet car park and slept in our cars,
The next morning we went back, my friend texted the owner the night before saying what happened, if he didn't I don't think we would have got our money back. It took 2 staff members to speak to him on the phone, look in rooms and look confused before we got the money back. We tried to get the paper back with details on it but they said we could only score it out. VERY VERY DODGY COMPANY!!!!!
I recommend spending as much as you need to sleep anywhere else!!!!

Room Tip: Go somewhere else!!!!
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  • Stayed May 2011, travelled with friends
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask stuben84 about Eastgate Backpackers Hostel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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“Strange atmosphere and no beds!”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 30 May 2011 via mobile

Travelling with a group, paid for beds then went out to the cinema. When we returned more than half our beds were taken! Ended up having to sleep in our cars. Thankfully got a full refund without much hassle the following morning. There was a bad smell of BO on arrival and the beds seemed a bit of a mixture but never slept on them. Whole place needs work.

  • Stayed February 2011
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask TravellerKT about Eastgate Backpackers Hostel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Cairns, Australia
Contributor
13 reviews 13 reviews
Reviews in 13 cities Reviews in 13 cities
5 helpful votes 5 helpful votes
“stay away”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed 1 April 2011
2
people found this review helpful

firstly, we arrived at 2pm to check in, only to find a sign on the door saying reception is closed until 5pm, come back then or phone our receptionist on this number, it was freezing outside so we called and called, no answer, when we returned at 5pm to check in the man had no idea about how much we owed, said he was too busy to answer his phone and then gave us the keys to the wrong room resulting in us walking in on a poor girl getting changed.

The free wifi is probably the only decent thing about this place, its old and scungy filled with a not very nice atmosphere, we locked ourselves in our room most of the time. The housekeeper was extremely rude and kicked us out of the showers because she wanted to clean them. When trying to pay the receptionist had to call 2 different people to find out how to use the credit card machine and how much we needed to pay, despite us showing him our booking confirmation with the balance owing on it.

  • Stayed March 2011, travelled with friends
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 2 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Ask aussiebackpacker87 about Eastgate Backpackers Hostel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Contributor
11 reviews 11 reviews
Reviews in 8 cities Reviews in 8 cities
4 helpful votes 4 helpful votes
“No sleep....”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 11 January 2011
1
person found this review helpful

We found our room freezing. The duvet was very thin and some of the duvets were not long enough to cover a full person. We stayed Friday and Saturday night and found the noise of the "locals" outside hard to block out. The staff were pleasant and helpful.

  • Stayed November 2010, travelled with friends
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Ask hpni about Eastgate Backpackers Hostel
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2.0 of 5 stars 22 reviews
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