Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel London

This hostel has to be in one of the best locations in all of London! It's exactly one block from the Piccadilly Circus Tube Station, has lots of shopping, food, etc. around and is a less than 10 minute walk from the national gallery, and about a 15-25 minute walk from big ben/parliament/london eye. Unfortunately, the hostel does not have a bar and the common room is small and goes unused for the most of the day and its much harder to meet people than at other hostels. So I probably would not recommend this hostel to lone travelers looking to meet people, you're better off at The Generator (check out my review of that hostel). The price of this hostel is competitive with others in much worse areas so you're definitely getting a lot of bang for your buck. The showers aren't very clean and the water pressure is pretty awful, especially if there's someone showering next to you. The staff is nice and helpful. They provide breakfast for a few pounds each morning but it's nothing special. I rather spend those few pounds at the coffee/donut shop down the street. They have internet in the hostel, but down the street is an convenience store/internet cafe called "Alison's" and they have internet for 1/2 the price as the hostel so I would recommend going there. You will need a personal pad lock for the lockers in the rooms and the lockers in the normal rooms will fit a normal sized backpack. I would recommend a "pod" room (my friend stayed in one of them) because the rooms are much nicer and the lockers are big enough to fit your entire luggage in. If you have a ISIC (International Student Identity Card), make sure you show it when you check in, you will receive a free upgrade to a better room! Also, I was in a regular 10 person room and there wasn't a single outlet! I had to find one in a hallway and sit there while my phone charged! They call outlets, "power points". If you have any questions about anything I forgot to mention, feel free to message me!

This place is awesome for location and I would stay here again and again for the location but not for much else. This place is HUGE and there is always tons of school groups and young kids here. And its so big that they don't really have a common room or anywhere where people can hang out and meet.(which is very important to me when I'm choosing a hostel) There were just so many rooms (on one floor there was 40!) that you don't ever see anyone. Also we found the staff very rude. They would look at you like you were scum or something and they were speaking a different language and not really answering our questions that we had. My friend and I ended up having to stay here on 3 different occasions because of the location and our needs for travel. All three times we were there the ATM was down and the internet was only up for 1 of the stays. The outlets in our room was broken so we couldn't charge our cameras or our MP3 players. As well one of the bunk beds was broken and when I reached over to grab my bag the metal slit open my arm and it really hurt! I still have the scar and this was 5 months ago! The showers were really gross and there was no hot water between 8am-10am. So I didn't enjoy the hostel at all but for location it gets a 10/10. You can't beat it!

You can't beat the location... but you may want to hose down the bed before you pass out in it. Not sure why... but I'd stay here again.

I stayed at the Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel for 5 days during Christmas week in a private twin room for £39.50 a night. The hotel is in a superb location - it is right behind the giant billboards at Piccadilly Circus. You only need to take one tube ride from Heathrow and the station is really near the hostel. From there, you can practically walk anywhere. Leicester square is a 2 minute walk to your left, Oxford street is 5 minutes to your right. Even the Parliament and London Eye are reachable by foot. The hotel is well secured. There is a staff/guard on the ground floor who checks for Room Cards before you can get to the elevator. The reception staff offer a lot of information on how to get around in London. The hostel also offers cheap breakfast (which I didn't try), there's an internet room, and a cozy common room. I wasn't very happy with my room, though, because it was small and dark. It had a bunk bed, sink, mirror and there was barely enough room to move around. Bath and toilets are common. The one thing I didn't like was that the hot water in the showers was very inconsistent, it was hot one day and freezing the next! I brought this up at the reception and the guy advised me to leave the water running for 20 minutes. That would have been an awful waste of water! Overall, I would still recommend this hostel for travellers on a budget. It is cheap and central and comfortable enough if you just need a place to sleep. But I probably will look for some other hostel next time. :)

We had some interesting experiences with this place. Kind of a love/hate relationship. Online it looked perfect and it was our first hostel ever. The good thing about it is that the location is perfect, right in Piccadilly Circus, right across from the tube station that goes to Heathrow..thats pretty much the only good thing about it too.

First of all, the staff are soo rude, they were very unfriendly. Not a good way to start off. Its such a huge hostel that the atmosphere is really cold and unfriendly. The free breakfast was a piece of stale bread with jam. We stayed there 3 seperate times because of the location and the 2nd time the bread wasn't free anymore and the 3rd time we got a coupon for 2 free slices of bread. The internet was down pretty much the whole time we were there. The showers had cold water and terrible pressure. There was also big school groups when we were there, so a bunch of kids running around the halls. The ATM was also not working and the place was under construction.

But you seriously cannot beat the location, we only had to take the tube a couple times, to get the airport and Waterloo station.

I'd say stay here if location is the most important thing to you, but if cleanliness, fun, staff, breakfast, internet or basically anything else are important to you..don't stay here.

I stay at Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel every time i go to London. Its the most central hostel in the city (just 2 seconds from Piccadilly Circus) and you can walk basically anywhere in central London from this hostel. Its just £12 a night for a bed in a mixed dorm, including hot showers (don't have them between 8 and 10am cas that’s when the water runs out) and some tea and toast in the morning. The rooms are always clean, its quiet considering its location and the staff are always really nice and friendly, this hostel rocks, I have fun and meet loads of new people every time I stay!