Traveling with a family of five, I chose Avalon House purely for financial reasons and hoped for the best, having never stayed in a hostel previously. It's located in the heart of the city and quite an easy walk to just about anywhere you might want to go. The facilities were clean, the staff friendly and very helpful. Free breakfast and wifi were a plus too. I would highly recommend Avalon House to anyone visiting Dublin.

I spent 2 nights at this hostel and was unimpressed. My room was very dirty when I arrived, with tons of trash lying all over. I stayed in room 111, which is a 12 bed dorm. There was trash under my bed as well, including a condom. Some guys had essentially moved in to the room, they'd been there for a couple weeks, and had taken over most of the space. They were the source of the trash.

The kitchen was not very clean and was a bit run down- the hot water machine was broken. A staff member came in several times while I was cooking dinner one night and shouted at everyone to clean up after themselves. Other than that, the staff were friendly and fairly professional.

I tried to do laundry, but it took an hour and a half to dry my light load. If you stay here, don't plan on doing laundry. It costs 1 euro for just 10 minutes on the dryer, and the woman at the desk gave me a refund of only 3 euro, despite the 9 euro I put in the machine total!!

The bathrooms were pretty gross. My shower drain was clogged somewhere in the pipe- I couldn't clear it- so my shower flooded the floor. The bathrooms are supposed to be checked several times per day, but I don't believe it, judging by the number of clogged toilets. However, the toilets in the basement are much cleaner.

Breakfast was nothing special. It consists of museli, cornflakes, white or wheat bread, butter, jam, and tea or instant coffee. I've had much better hostel breakfasts at hostels that charged a fraction of the price Avalon charges for a bed.

The locks on the lockers are difficult to manage. It takes a lot of effort to get them relocked, and they charge you 1 euro per day plus a ten euro deposit to use the lockers.

The website implies that they have adapters to loan out, but you have to buy them. They're 3 euro.

I would not recommend Avalon House to anyone.

I recently stayed at Avalon with 3 friends on a weekend break in Dublin. We arrived about 9pm Friday night and were greeted by two very chirpy guys on reception who were helpful and friendly. They told us all the essential information, followed by where was good to go for a great night out! Breakfast in the morning was served in the cafe which is very cosy and plays host to some real characters who always served us with a smile. Our room was very basic, as the price suggested but we had an en-suite and it was very clean, (plus breakfast was included in the insanely cheap price!) I would highly reccomend Avalon to anyone looking for somewhere friendly, clean and in a great location.

On my recent trip to Ireland with a friend, we planned on staying in Dublin for 2 nights, then touring around Ireland for 10 days and returning for 2 more nights before heading home. We spent the first 2 nights at Avalon House but on our return to Dublin stayed at a different hostel (the Generator). Avalon House is not bad, but there are cleaner and cheaper hostels in Dublin.

Positives:
Avalon House is in a great location close to everything in central Dublin.
The staff are very helpful.
There is wi-fi on the main floor.
The private rooms are very small and pretty clean (just don't investigate the mattress or pillow too closely).
The bathrooms are clean.

Not-so-Positives:
The kitchen is not clean. It is a self-catered kitchen and despite signs everywhere asking people to wash, dry and put away their dishes this doesn't happen very often. The majority of the travellers appear to be of the age that live at home and still have Mom to clean up after them. Needless to say I had to wash any dishes prior to using them and then again after using them. Lots of dish-washing.
The bathrooms are co-ed. This is not a big deal but it was a surprise for me.
***The biggest "not-so-positive" has to be the musical pipes. My friend and I had a private room (which have sinks in them), but everytime someone in the building uses the sink or flushes a toilet you hear it and it is loud. I am a very sound (nearly dead) sleeper and I was awoken multiple times every night.