I am absolutely in love with this hostel. It is the only A&O I have stayed in, but now I am certain if I travel through Germany I will book my stay at A&O. The staff are all incredibly friendly and helpful, if you have some sort of issue they will do all they can to help, and if you are just wondering what to do that night, they are always full of suggestions and recommendations. Though, to have a good time, you do not really need to go far, since "Bricks Bar", (the pub in the basement) is a wonderful place to spend the evening having drinks. The barmen are all really fun, joining you with your A-Bomb at midnight and suggesting what clubs are the good ones to go.

The staff are very multicultural: from all over the world, including America, Canada, UK, Czech, Slovakia, Greece, Morocco, Ukraine, Isreal etc. They are very welcoming, happy to have the guests feel right at home.

I really like the neighborhood where it is located. It is right across the street from Vystaviste Palace and Stromovka park (one of the largest parks in Prague. Also close to Letna, which is a really nice area to spend an afternoon stroll. Though, if you go in the direction towards Holesovice Station, it may be a bit shady area. Also, it seems that in Prague 7, people don't pick up their dog's poop, so watch out where you step and don't be too distracted by the wonderful historic buildings, or you may find something not too pleasant on the bottom of your shoes.

But, all in all, this is one of the best places I have stayed at, and I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

We made a last-minute decision to spend a night in Prague (taking the train from Dresden). Was unable to Priceline anything the day before. Until we got on the train, I hadn't realized the Dresden train would arrive at the Holesovice (and not the main) train station. The hostel was advertised on flyers in the train and since we didn't have a clue where we would stay, we called them upon arrival and they had a double available.

The hostel is a not-terribly-pleasant 10-15 minute walk from the train station. After we figured out the buses and streetcars, we took them instead of walking. Reception was great. Turned out to be an American who was attending school in Prague, very friendly and helpful. The room was small and clean and (suprisingly) the ensuite bathroom was decent. My only complaint was the beds. Very thin mattress on a board. Thank god it was only for one night. Basement bar was decent (one free drink for hotel guests) and the breakfast spread the next morning was quite good. The neighborhood is 'interesting' but if you're attending an event at the Exhibition Grounds, it's very convenient. We could have easily paid less and gotten more at a B&B but we were very short on time and pretty much just slept in the room, so it was OK.

This place was truly awful! Do not stay here. We paid for a reservation four months in advance and when we got there they told us they already gave our room to someone else. Then they forced us to take a taxi to a hotel far from any metro stop, and that hotel had mice running around the lobby.

THE HOSTEL

From the airport we took a 6-seater taxi to the A&O Hostel, which cost us 900Kc (150Kc each, which is about £4 each). Checking in to the hostel was simple, each of us had to fill in a quick form, show our passports, pay for our stay, and that was it, we were each given a key card and made our way up the spiral stairs to our room, room 202. The room was everything I had expected, it was a decent enough size, had 3 bunk beds and 1 bathroom. The beds were basic, but I found them pretty comfy. The bathroom was spot on, for £10 a night; I can’t find any reason to complain. The basement bar is where it all happens though; we started every night with a few drinks down there, mixing with other people staying in the hostel. A bottle of beer in the basement was about 34Kc (90p), a single vodka & red bull was 120Kc (£3.15), a double was 150Kc (£3.95), vodka & orange was 90Kc (£2.35) and the ‘A-Bomb’, which is only served at midnight, is 100Kc (£2.65) and is a killer!!


PRAGUE

Venturing out of the hostel is easy, step out of the door and turn right and you will find the ‘knocking shop’, step out of the hostel and turn left you will find everything else, a 300 yard walk down the road will get you to the tram stop, to get into town you will need to cross the road and jump on either tram number 12 or 17, not quite sure what the deal is with the trams, but we used them 3 or 4 times a day and never had to pay, just make sure you get on the back carriage to keep a lower profile. We got off the tram at ‘Czech Bridge’, the Old Town Square is only a 5 minute walk from there. Eating and drinking in and around the square is quite expensive, for ridiculously cheap food and drink you have to go away from the centre, one night we ate at a Chinese near the hostel, we had 2 drinks, a starter and a main course for 120Kc each (£3.25), not bad! We went out every night on our 3-night stay, we found ‘Double Trouble’, just off the main square, to be a good place, also, a place call ‘Arena’ just round the corner from there. We also ventured to the 5 floor super club ‘Karlovy Lazne’, admission was 120Kc (£3.15), that’s worth a look.