We stayed here for two nights after booking at very short notice online. The room was tiny you could barely open the door with your bags inside, it was like being in prison cell. The worst part was the state of the bathrooms, they were horrible and dirty and looked like they were never cleaned. The kitchen was not much better and the TV/lounge room was shabby and old. The only decent thing about this place was the free internet but for the price you pay for the room it's not worth it! Stay away, do your research and find somewhere else to stay. This place really put a dampener on our Galway visit and overall hostel experiences.

My stay in this hostel was a terrible experience, the first of the problems began when my boyfriend and I entered the property to make our bookings and found the receptionist did not speak fluent English making all sorts of issues in our booking and organising of rooms.
Then when we arrived at our rooms we were appalled to discover that the walls were damp, the wall paint was dated, chipped and dirty, the windows are all outdated and ancient making the paint on the frames cracked form the build up condensation (they should've been replaced years ago) and worst of all our bed clothes were not clean and unchanged. The price that customers pay is clearly only for the free internet connection and breakfast and not put back into maintaining the dorms.
The common room is cramped (as are the dorms) and the place has an unfriendly air.
The bathrooms in the building are all serviced at the same time and so should you need to go to the toilet or have some kind of emergency in that time there is none available for use.
The entire stay in general was an unhappy one due to the unfriendly atmosphere, the poor quality of the rooms and the poor hygiene. All in all I was very unhappy with my stay in the Claddagh Hostel and would advise all to avoid it.

Not so bad, but also not so good.
Dorms are big enough, even if they're for ten people. Not too dirty, but also not so clean! Shower is shared with many people and taking one could become a problem. There's free internet but the common room is not so big and it's not easy meeting people.

After travelling around the UK and Europe for more than 2 years, this wins the award for The Worst Hostel. It was dirty, smelly and mouldy!! The twin room was smaller than a prison cell. The showers were either not working at all or broken. Totally gross - 1 night was far too much! Never recommend this to anyone.