Hostel Neverland

Hostel Neverland is a new hostel in Beyoglu. The staff is very friendly, and there is a definite communal hippy vibe to the whole place. The staff would prepare dinner a few times and everyone would gather in the common area downstairs to eat, and everyone would always invite us to eat for free. They would always smile and say hi and you could tell everyone working there was genuinely friendly.

The location is also quite good. Only a few hundred meters away from the bustling nightlife of Istiklal street and hundreds of bars, clubs, and restaurants.

Unfortunately, the rooms were really, really basic. And there were only 2-3 functional bathrooms for dozens of people (one bathroom on each floor). It seemed like at every hour of the day there were people in all the bathrooms. The showers also frequently had no hot water. The last thing you want to do after spending a few hours walking through snowing Istanbul in the winter is hop into a cold shower to rinse off.

The common room also is a bit small, with poor ventilation. If you spend more than a few minutes there be prepared to have all your clothing smell like smoke. But then, that's almost everywhere in Turkey!

So good location, friendly staff, but poor facilities/rooms. What's the overall value? Still not very great, at least in the off-season. For basically the same price, in the off season, you can get a double room at a fairly nice hotel. Which is what we did when we came back to Istanbul at the end of our trip...