"Yes Hostel" {Lisbon, Portugal}

After all my travels in the past 5 years, I've visited quite a lot of hotels, hostels and homestays. I spent nights in very fancy places, however I do remember a few shitholes as well. Within a heartbeat I would tell you that YES HOSTEL from Lisbon, has been my favorite hostel to stay at, while traveling alone or with friends. Too many memories are connected with that lovely place, located in the very center of Lisbon. 

Summer 2016 I had my first stay at the YES hostel. It was actually the very first time when I was blown away by a hostel and its staff. I booked a bed in hostels before, however none of them had the same impact on me than this one. The rates are pretty fair, the design is very welcoming, but in the end it's staff and their service that makes this hostel THE BEST in Lisbon. I really can't imagine, that any hostel in the city could beat this one.

Summer 2017 I visited Lisbon for the second time and obviously I stayed at YES hostel again. It felt pretty amazing that most of the staff remembered me, especially Fabio who recognized me instantly. On my very first city-trip to Lisbon in 2016 I head great discussions with Fabio and just before checking-out I gave him one of my books that I was reading back then. So when I came back in 2017, walking inside the hostel, Fabio (the rasta-man below on the first photo) recognized me, he jumped over the bar and gave me a big hug. 

It rarely happens that you make friendships with the staff from a hostel or a hotel. I guess it's also the hostel that keeps bringing me back to Lisbon.

The rooms are pretty nice! You can choose between mixed or seperated dorms. I usually go for the mixed dorm-rooms. There's more respect in rooms with mixed genres, men and women, than a room packed with testosterone-fueled travelers. A couple of dorms have a balcony, which is pretty nice for sharing a glass of port-wine with your room-mates or neighbors from the next room. 

For the nightly rate you get a colorful wristband that you will use as a key. You get a bunkbed with your electricity-plug, a reading lamp, the bottom beds come with a curtain for privacy, and you get a big draw to store all your belongings. Some rooms have a sink & a mirror, tables & chairs. The shared bathrooms offer a lot of privacy! It's just amazing. 

In the evening the hostel offers you a lovely dinner for 10-12 Euro (14us$). Two starters (fingerfood & a soup), the main dish, and a dessert are included in that price. The best part of the deal is the open bar for 2 hours! You can drink as much beer, sangria, red or white wine or softdrinks as you want, for 2 hours! At the end of the dinner one of the staff-members holds a speech and offers one free shot for all the customers.

Around 23:00 (11pm) you can sign up for a pubcrawl. The pubcrawl happens every night, from monday to sunday. The pubcrawl is about 10-12 Euro as well. It gives you free sangria and beer in the first bar, the second bar you get discount on drinks and one free welcoming shot and the third place is usually a club. After all my trips to Lisbon, I also become friends with some of the pubcrawl-leaders, you'll make friends everywhere.

If you're traveling alone, the pubcrawl is the best place to meet up with people. After having had free drinks for 2 hours, you get pretty talkative on the way to the first bar. You will meet solo travelers, other groups of travelers and even people from other hostels. The pubcrawl meets up with the customers of 2-3 different hostels at the first bar. So it's usually a group of 20-70 people who are moving through the streets of Lisbon after midnight.

Depending on the club, it's impressive to see a packed disco during the week. I did at least 20 pubcrawls so far in Lisbon, only on 1 night of all those crawls, one club was pretty empty.

So I'd definitely recommend doing the dinner and the pubcrawl.

YES hostel offers you a diversity of daytrips, free city tours, and they offen help you booking a taxi or surfing classes. (as far as I can remember). 

I made so many new friends in Lisbon just because of this hostel. I became friends with some of the staff, and I made friends from all over the world. Guess what? I will go back to Lisbon very soon, and guess what? I will stay at YES hostel again!

Contact:
YES HOSTEL

Rua de São Julião, 148
1100-527 Lisbon, Portugal

E-mail: infolisbon@yeshostels.com
Website: http://www.yeshostels.com/hostels/lisbon