Wombat’s Hostel Review (in Budapest & Vienna)

While I visited Budapest and Vienna, I ended up staying at the Wombat’s Hostel in each city, so I thought I should leave a Wombat’s Hostel review in case you’re visiting those cities in the future.

After I booked my trip, I started looking at actual hotels. I’d lost faith that there were any good hostels left out there (besides the Hostel Safestay in Warsaw) and I was going to spend the money on actual hotel rooms, and not just the shittiest, cheapest ones I could find – but decent ones.

But as I was browsing through hotels on Booking.com, I came across the Wombat’s Hostel in Vienna.

Now I’d already booked what was soon to be a brand-new hotel on the Buda side of the Chain Bridge in Budapest, but once I discovered I could get a private room with a private bathroom at the Wombat’s hostel in both Vienna and Budapest, I canceled that hotel reservation and booked myself into Wombat’s in both cities.

Most reviews said it was more like a hotel than a hostel. I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but the location in Budapest was pretty great. And although the Naschtmarkt location of the hostel in Vienna was less centrally located than I wanted, everyone in the reviews raved about the location.

Wombat’s Hostel Review – Budapest:

Pros: Located in the heart of the 7th District, aka the party district, on the Pest side of the Danube River, it’s a quick metro ride from the train station. I took the bus in from the airport and walked from the Astoria stop on the 100E bus. You can walk to the Gellert Thermal Bath from there (though it’s probably quicker to take the metro) and everything else that you’d want to see. Two streets over is Andrassy Street and at the north end of that is Heroes Square, another thermal bath, the zoo, and a castle.

My room was spacious, the bathroom was fine, and I even utilized the closet they provided. The room came with two towels and a hair dryer in the bathroom. The common area on the main floor was incredibly spacious and you even get a free drink ticket when you check-in! AND there was a heated towel rack in the bedroom. YAY!

Cons: The only cons I can think of are the size of the blankets on the bed – they’re two long down blankets instead of one big one. It was kind of odd. The hairdryer in my bathroom didn’t stay on for more than 20 seconds at a time, but I also never asked for help with that so it could’ve just been in my room. The only other complaint I could have was the bath mat in the bathroom. It was basically a thick rubber mat with holes in it that the water would drip down your body into. It didn’t absorb anything so my feet were always wet.

My four nights cost me all of $250 so it was 100% worth my money. I’d recommend that anyone on a budget stay here. 4.5/5 stars.

Wombat’s Hostel Review – Vienna (Naschmarkt):

Wombat has two locations in Vienna and on a map, they both look pretty far off the beaten path. But I went with the reviews on Booking.com and trusted that the location of the Naschmarkt hostel would be fine. I walked from Karlsplatz when I first got to Vienna because the metro was still a mystery to me and it was about a 10-minute walk and I was seeing no one on the street. Well, mostly no one. For some reason, a Monday afternoon in Vienna is quite quiet. But when I arrived I checked in and went up to my room on the fourth floor. I liked the layout of this room better for some reason and I had a view of the Naschmarkt which was better than the view of nothing that I had in Budapest. So, the room gets the same review. The bed was comfortable and I used the closet again. The bathmat in the bathroom sucked again, and so did the one lightbulb that they put in the bathroom. Seriously, it was so dark over the sink!

But about the location. I didn’t spend a lot of time around the Naschmarkt area and I wish I had. On my last afternoon in Vienna, I walked around the area a bit to kill time and I found two vegan restaurants and a couple of cute cafes. I also found that all the vegetables in Vienna live inside the farmer’s market that’s set up in the Naschmarkt. (Seriously, I ate so much bread and cheese in Vienna because the Viennese eat meat with meat for every meal.)

But the hostel is across the street from the metro so I would just get on the metro every day and leave the area to go sightseeing. The Schonbrunn Palace is five stops away on the metro, too, which is awesome because, on a map, it looks like it’s in another city. The hostel had a great hang space in the lobby area and a bar that became pretty packed at night.

I believe my four nights 3 nights here cost around the same thing that they did in Budapest, so obviously, things are a little more expensive in Vienna. 4.5/5 stars.

Overall, I’d say the Wombat Hostels are awesome. They have locations in Munich, Berlin, and London as well. If you’re visiting any city where they are located, I’d say it’s definitely better than staying in a hotel that might cost the same amount of money.

This was on the front door of Wombat’s Budapest. I was a fan right away.