Castle Rock Hostel

Affordable, spacious and one of the most conveniently located hostels i’ve ever stayed in, the Castle Rock Hostel hit every mark for me.
Dorms are named after obscure families of words — I was in some sort of botany bungalow. The rooms are huge, and shared bathrooms are in good condition.
Water pressure in the shower left much to be desired, but the communal areas more than make up for it. Pool tables, kitchens, big tables and comfy couches.
Disclaimer: the staff are all Aussies and Kiwis, and you will likely be listening to local radio from New Zealand over the PA system. If you’re here for the real Scottish experience then look elsewhere.

My favourite hostel in Edinburgh (and I’ve stayed at 6 – 7 different ones.
It has an amazing lounge (plus two other rooms for chilling out).
The showers are great, the staff is friendly, it’s clean, great location, etc.
Really, the only fault I can find with it is that the mattresses are a bit too thin for my liking, but they’re still ok.
All in all, this is a great place.

One of the many hostels our band stayed in during our last tour, and easily one of my favorites. The price was very affordable, the staff very friendly and the accommodations were comforting.
The rooms were not the nicest we had during the tour but they were definitely on the upper end. Bathrooms were clean and the lounge areas were some of the best. Ideal centralized location put us a few blocks walking distance from every gig we had booked in Edinburgh.
We never opted for the £1.50 breakfast because the close proximity of abundant affordable eateries. (Pie Maker, Oink, etc) but I did take advantage of the laundry service provided. I believe it was a £3 fee but the bag they provided was big enough for a couple of us to get all of our clothes washed, dried and folded before being returned to us. Get your laundry request in early before they are filled up and you can spend a worry free day enjoying the city rather than sitting in a laundromat.
Really liked the different themes of the rooms!

OH MY GOSH THIS HOSTEL WAS AMAZING!
I’m not sure where to start.
1) The staff is SO accommodating. I spoke with them through emails a few weeks before I visited and they made it so easy to change my hostel arrangements. When I arrived I was in DIRE need of cold weather clothes (typical annoying Californian…) and they directed me to the nearest H&M, which isn’t too far away.
2) The location was pretty nice. My room was on the top floor with a window on the roof. When opened, you could poke your head out and see the Castle.
3) Everything is really up-​to-​date. For being such an old (and beautiful) building, the rooms were very clean, very insulated, and very modern. There are individual lockers you can put your stuff in at no extra cost. The bathrooms were marvelous. The showers were extremely warm and had amazing water pressure, and there were individual toilet rooms. Honestly, I thought the rooms had bathrooms attached to them so I was a bit surprised that it was a community bathroom (all the way at the opposite end of my hallway), but the bathrooms were never filled with people and it worked out well.
4) Edinburgh seemed very touristy, so it wasn’t my favorite place. I met some cool people, but I didn’t get along with any of my roommates. One chick was offended when I changed into my PJs in front of her. NEWSFLASH: if you are uncomfortable with someone changing in front of you, you probably should not be staying in a hostel, or at the very least request a female only room, not a co-​ed room. Obviously this is not the hostels fault, but I just needed to vent about that somewhere.
5) Price. It was so affordable!!! You do get a great bang for your buck! Breakfast isn’t free, however. I never ended up eating their breakfast because I wanted to try Scottish specific foods, so I can’t comment on that.
6) I forgot to add — there are outlets near all the beds, as well as little shelves to place your phone on if you want it to charge next to you overnight. VERY convenient. There are also spotlights in the shelves, but mine didn’t work.
I did end up leaving a day early only because I felt Edinburgh just wasn’t the place for me. However, I made good memories and would definitely recommend this hostel to anyone in search of a good place.

Castle Rock Hostel is a really good place to crash while you’re checking out Edinburgh. The rooms were fairly clean (though there were item left behind from lots of previous guest).
Pros — Great water pressure and hot showers. The beds were comfy although they weren’t real mattresses. Secure lockers and keys provided for all guests. Great common areas (though people didn’t seem all that social). Superb location. Friendly staff who seemed authentic and wanted to help out.
Cons — Breakfast kind of sucked. Especially since you had to pay 1.50 pounds, it was just cereal and a biscuit and the same everyday. As a new guest it was also confusing to find stuff (i.e. coffee mugs, utensils, etc). They could benefit from a couple more signs in the lounge areas to direct people where to go.

I’ve stayed at a number of hostels in Edinburgh and if truth be told I would be happy to stay at all of the ones I’ve tried so far because they offer such great value for money and none of them have been so bad to justify significant criticism.
However, I do have my favourites for one reason or another and so I have to make a judgement relative to my overall experience with other hostels. I stayed one night at the Castle Rock after my preferred hostel was fully booked. The reception was friendly and well organised as they checked me in quickly and courteously.
My overall impression was of a very big hostel, an old building with a medieval theme inside, suits of armour and paintings depicting medieval scenes. The hostel was clean and tidy, the guests I met there were well behaved. The kitchen was large, the number of food storage boxes indicated the large number of people staying there.
The dorms were clean and I was lucky because there were only three other people in a 12 bed dorm so it was quiet. I was allocated a bed, you don’t get to choose whereas in other hostels you can take your pick which is more flexible if you like to choose the lower or upper bunk. Lockers are provided, always a nice touch and gives peace of mind if you have cameras and computers. The only thing I didn’t like were the sewn in cotton bed sheets because I like to stick my feet outside the covers because I don’t like hot feet. Accordingly I didn’t get a great kip in this hostel.
The showers were effective, modern and clean but it should be noted that this hostel doesn’t provide shower gel and it should also be noted that breakfast is an extra £1.50, some hostels include breakfast in the price.
In conclusion I would say it is a good hostel but not my choice due to sewn in bed sheets and car access is awkward here as well due to the location next to the castle. Nevertheless, due to the value it would be unfair to give this hostel less than 4 stars.

At the end of my second year of uni, my mum and I found ourselves in need of a place to stay for one night as my tenancy had run out, and I had just got back late from Norway.
The castle rock is a good budget option, close to the castle and the grassmarket, and full of Edinburgh’s quirky charm. There are a variety of different lounges to stay in, all of which have different themes. There is also free wi fi, a large kitchen, and plenty of cool people to socialise with. That said, I wasn’t really in travel mode so I didn’t get too hyped by that side of things, I just wanted a good night’s sleep before heading back to my parents home the next morning.
We stayed in a dorm, again to save money. The bathrooms were clean, the showers looked good, and the beds were comfortable. The rooms were pretty secure too, as you had to pass through 2 locked doors to get in. The hostel is located in the centre of more or less everything, in the most beautiful part of the city. There are many good cafés nearby, including hula juice bar and Victoria’s.
If you want a centrally located budget hostel, which allows for self catering, socialising, and staying in touch of the real world, choose the castle rock hostel. It is oozing in Edinburgh charm, feels a little eccentric, and would definitely be the kind of place I’d choose to stay in if I were backpacking.

This hostel is brilliant!
I have to admit, I was less than impressed by the idea of staying in a hostel when I visited Edinburgh… but our funds couldn’t cover the pricey Edinburgh hotels, and this was our only option near where our meeting was being held. However, it was a hilarious place to stay and I’m glad we ended up here!
The décor is really funny! We had to climb stairs past several suits of armour… and there is a creepy mannequin at the front door that looks a little like Russell Brand! Eep! There are quite a few Scottish flags, and endless corridors and halls to get lost in! Each room is a little different — we were in the ‘Scottish drinks’ room so each bed was named after some alcoholic beverage… our friends had a room that was covered with framed pictures of beautiful women (wearing less and less clothes as you wander further into the room!) All mad– but funny to explore. If you book early, you don’t have to stay in huge dorm rooms… and we had enough of us to fill several of the small 3 – 4 person rooms. The beds were comfy and the views over Edinburgh were gorgeous (see my piccies…)
I had some cereal for breakfast for the grand price of 70p — bargain!
However…the castle Rock loses a star because my shower, although it had fantastic water pressure… was only lukewarm. One of my friends mentioned how amazing the showers were, so maybe he used up all the hot water before I woke up?! The hairdryers didn’t work either. *Cold Josy sob*

I really liked this hostel. It’s in a great location — right next to Dublin Castle, down the street from the Royal Mile (where a lot of tours start) and Grassmarket’s cool pubs and restaurants, easy to get to from the Airlink bus from Edinburgh Airport (take the bus to Waverly!)
The interior of the hostel was so cool! There were three lounges to hang out in and they were all decorated in different styles of décor. There was free hot chocolate, always a plus. Pool tables, a juke box, board games…
The room was clean and the beds were comfortable (especially after a long day of walking and touring the city). My friend and I switched beds no problem because I am afraid of heights and didn’t want to sleep on the top.
Overall, a great experience!
Only reason it didn’t get the fifth star is because the bathrooms were pretty dirty — I couldn’t convince myself to take a shower there even with flip flops on. I guess that’s to be expected at a busy hostel like Castle Rock.

The Castle Rock Hostel is really cool. It’s located literally across the street from Edinburgh Castle and is very easy to find. The interior decoration was very cute and enjoyable, and the staff was incredibly friendly. I believe they also held little weekly events, but I didn’t go as I was only in Edinburgh for the night.
I only ranked it 3 stars for a few reasons. One, they were strangely adamant about which bed I was sleeping in. I was traveling with only one other friend and we had a bunk bed. I was assigned the bottom and she the top, but we decided to switch and I don’t know, the staff was weird about it.
Secondly, the beds were extremely uncomfortable. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere sitting straight up with music blaring, and I still found it difficult to sleep that night because of how uncomfortable the bed was.
Thirdly, the bunk beds are weirdly tall. Like, there is a massive amount of room between the bottom and top bunks. This doesn’t sound like it’d be a problem. But it is when you’re on the top and your duvet falls off the bed in the middle of the night for the third time and you fall off the ladder in your mid-​slumber in attempt to retrieve it because the rungs are placed so far apart.
The last reason is really no fault of the hostel’s. My friend and I were put into a room of twelve and some of the girls in that room were incredibly rude and inconsiderate.

When over-​nighting at Castle Rock Hostel, what you see is what you get. Situated within a stone’s throw away from the tumbling banks of the Castle, this centrally located and budget friendly hostel provides you with the basic necessities (as well as free tea and coffee). The dorms are well laid out and equipped with safes and relatively comfortable bunk beds. The bathrooms tend to be a bit unsightly as they are unisex and communal, so watch out for those exhibitionists! The kitchen and dining area are clean and are usually a hype of activity at any time of the day or night. All in all, it presents value for money and is sufficient for a short stay in Edinburgh.