Glendalough International Youth Hostel

Not a bad place to stay if you want to hike the Wicklow Mountains. But come prepared! The nearest grocery store is about a 30 minute walk away and from what others told me, it’s overpriced. So I brought my own groceries. There wasn’t too much in the Free Food bin when I was there. Unlike most hostels I’ve stayed in Ireland, no free tea and coffee. And take-​away/​eating out in Ireland is generally pricey by American standards.
On the positive side, it’s near the trails. After a day of hiking, you can grab a vanilla cone from one of the stalls, then take a shower back at the hostel. Staff was friendly. Like almost all hostels, the staff works for free in exchange for room and board. One of the workers took me and another to a bar with live music, then took us to the nearby church which looked so cool at night with the moon and stars.
If you ask around the hostel, you’ll find someone going to Dublin who can provide a lift. One of the girls in my room drove 3 of us to Dublin so it saved me from hitchhiking (or taking the bus). Plenty of burners in the kitchen to cook your meals, although the refrigerators were often stuff full of other people’s food.
Unfortunately the showers and sinks use annoying push faucets that stop after 5 or 10 seconds. The ensuite bathroom in my 10-​bed female dorm had no hand soap. WiFi only worked in the common area but not as far as the dining room. And hah, of course it won’t in the bedrooms. Annoying that on a Sunday, the kitchen was closed 10:30am even though the sign said it closes 11−1pm. Large groups stay at the hostel and can be annoying and ill-​behaved. I was hoping to stay another night but a large group took up all the bookings for one night. So off to Dublin I went…

This is a decent hostel just a few minutes walk from the Monastic Settlement and the continuance of the Wicklow Way.
The rooms were very clean, the beds were ok, and the basic breakfast (cereal, toast, juice, coffee) was an acceptable value for 4 Euro on top of the room fee. The bedrooms had shelving units with closures that allowed for a padlock, which was a nice touch if you’re concerned about sharing space with strangers.
Their self-​catering facilities were top notch, with multiple refrigerators, lots of dry-​goods shelving, and labels/​pens were provided for labeling your food. They also keep the coffee/​sugar/​tea bins in the «Free Food» area replenished, and anybody that keeps coffee available is pretty OK in my book.
I had several issues that did cost the place stars, however. First, they made me pay for all four beds of private room although there were only three of us-​I was told that under 18 y/​o kids couldn’t be in the regular dorm area. I have no issue with the rule, but none of the other An Oige hostels I stayed in charged me for the extra bed while hiking with 2 teenagers. THEN the front desk woman said that the central office should NOT have charged me like that, and she’d get it reversed. She didn’t, and a recent call to the central office has been unreturned.
Then we asked for towels, and were told there weren’t any available yet, but the staff would drop some to our room within an hour. 5 hours later, we went and searched them out.
Everything was an «extra» charge, from borrowing a movie from their collection to paying by the hour for the pool table. That was a first in my experience.
The shower was on a 5 second burst cycle, so by the time your hand had left the knob and commenced cleaning activities, the water had stopped. Instead of lather, rinse, repeat, it was la-​PUSH-​ther-​PUSH-​ri-​PUSH-​nse-​PUSH, well, you get the idea.
Bottom Line: Cheaper than the hotel, warmer than sleeping outside, I can always shower when I get back home… I would however like them to chose ONE spelling for «Glendalough»…

Ich darf mal eine Warnung vor dem Glendalough Youth Hostel raus geben.
1. Absolut ueberteuert mit 56 EUR (fuer einen Privateroom) und im Dorm mit 27 EUR die Nacht exklusive Fruehstueck, dass fuer EUR 4,00 (Continental Light), EUR6,00 Full Continental und EUR8,00 Irish Breakfast zu haben ist.
Das Continental Light besteht dann aus Toast und Marmelade, dass Full Continental aus Croissants und einer Auswahl an Müsli, Ricepops und Cornflakes, sowie Kaffee, Tee oder Orangensaft besteht und das Irish BReakfast besteht aus Pudding (Weiss und Schwarz), Baked Beans, 2 Scheiben Ham und einem in Fett gebackenem Ei.
2. In den Zimmer ist mehr als eine Stelle mit Schimmel befallen, die Matratzen sind seit den 10 Jahren des bestehens nur unnoetigst gewechselt worden und die Betten sind unter aller Kanone, brechen oder es fehlen immens viele Latten im Lattenrost.
3. Verschwinden auffaellig oft Gegenstaende
Alles Punkte die ich auch an AnOige weitergeben werde, aber nur damit ihr gewarnt seid. Das Management scheint wirklich unter einem argen Problem zu leiden, da der Manager eher wie ein Boxer aussieht als wie ein Herbergsvater.