Grand Canyon Hostel / De Beau Hostel - Flagstaff

Very friendly, loads of other backpackers to chat with during the evening and share experiences with. Good tours to Grand Canyon, and free transportation to Greyhound Bus station.

The Grand Canyon Hostel is pretty much your typical hostel, right down to the people you'll meet there -- that guy who spends his time drinking and arguing about politics with anyone who will listen in the common area, that Japanese couple with the matching giant cameras, and that one dude who's stayed for way too long. You know, the one that's just "stopping by" on his "round the world trip", and you're like "Over a month in Flagstaff, really??" Just get an apartment, dude.

Smoke a cigerette in the back lot and you'll hear the most stereotypical "hostel" talk ever: George Bush blah blah Americans blah blah Philosphy blah blah Capitalism blah blah Europe blah blah." It's like I'm back in college or something.

As for the hostel itself, it's pretty typical as well. There's internet (with a fee), breakfast of coffee and toast, dorm rooms for $17 and more expensive privates.

Check in early to get a room at the nicer part of the hostel. Check in late and you may be assigned to the De Beau Hostel, which is a collection of unheated rooms a block away from the main hostel, and where I ended up. It's a short walk back to the main hostel, where you can use the internet, get breakfast and hang out.

I stayed in a 6 person dorm (4 beds occupied). The room and bathroom were very clean. There's a nice little kitchen, laundry facility and pool table right outside the rooms, all free. Next door is a deserted plant nursery and Christmas tree lot, which is kinda cool.

There was no heat in the De Beau area of the hostel and in the Flagstaff winter, it got very, very cold. Thank god not all the beds were occupied at the time -- I had to take every unused blanket to keep warm. In addition, the hostel is right next to the train tracks, and the train seriously comes by, like, every 15 minutes, and it's very very loud.

There was a fight in the parking lot in the middle of the night, probably between Dude-Who-Drinks-and-Argues and Dude-Who's-Been-Here-Too-Long. In my book is a good thing becaus I like to gawk, but I was too tired to check it out.