This hostel is very dirty, I don't know if they clean the showers and the dormitories... The showers were cold. The kitchen is big, but when we were there, nobody washed his dishes. The dormitories are not safe, we have one key but it was unuseful because we couln't lock the door... You have free internet and free breakfast but it doesnt' worth the price we paid...

I spent two days here in December, it was by far the cheapest place in town and free breakfast and internet. Mabey next time. Its a small hostel and very friendly as well. I did not win one of the 3 ipods though that they give away to travelers each year, other bigger hostels never give you anything......

We booked this hostel solely based on the good reviews we read online.

Unfortunately, during our stay we noticed a sign stating 'Win an Apple IPOD at Claddagh Hostel Galway. If you booked online using HOSTLBOOKERS.COM, HOSTELWORLD.COM, HOSTELMANIA.COM, GOMIO.COM, HOSTELS.COM all you have to do is give us a (good) review. The next prize draw will take place on 1st November 2006' on several doors. Now we know why this hostel looked so good in the reviews! I took a photo of the sign because I couldn't believe it was true (see photo).

It wasn't very clean, the main door is left not only unlocked but open from 8am until late at night, the gentleman running the place didn't seem very organized and said he'd only been there for 3 weeks. He also insisted on our passports to keep for the duration of our stay upon our arrival (we didn't budge and in the end he said 'no problem'...if he really needed them then why did he change his mind?).

Payment in full was also required upon our arrival ~ this wasn't a problem except that we were advised at check-in that they only accepted cash (we were never advised of this and thought we'd be able to use our credit card as that is how we paid our deposit).

Yes, the location is good but next time we'll stay somewhere else that doesn't use contests to gain positive reviews. It also must be said that we stayed at 4 other hostels in Ireland during our stay and all were true to the reviews we read online.

I have been staying at the Claddagh hostel in Galway for the past week. The staff here are fantastic and helpfull with every query we had, to the point where they went and picked up a pizza we ordered because the pizza shops driver was away sick.
This apparently used to be called another name and was a very bad hostel, but new management and renovations have made this into a great place to stay.

Highly recomend this place

You can book via Hostelsworld etc

cheers