You’ll be hard pressed to find a hostel better than the Bus while traveling through Iceland. With incredibly friendly staff, cheap rooms, a spacious common area and fully decked out kitchen (self catering) to boot, the Bus Hostel is the best value for money Reykjavik currently has on offer. And the cleanliness is astounding!
Ticking all of the boxes by offering free high speed wifi, free breakfast (toast), free parking, free bike rental, a bar area, fridge in the common kitchen, and coffee facilities; we enjoyed the added delight of book swapping, board games, and a foosball table, where, with close to every country represented, we staged our own version of the World Cup!
Sadly Australia lost horrifically to the United States. My husband obviously doesn’t understand the concept of “happy wife, happy life”!
The cozy, homey feel of the hostel made us feel instantly at home. The majority of our time at the hostel was spent in their common area, socializing with travelers from all over the world.
Nora was from Norway, traveling through Iceland on the way to a year working in Budapest. Henry was from the UK, hitting up Scandinavia before he had to return to school. Adam, Carmi and Gil were from Israel, and had just spent a year backpacking through South East Asia. Everyone had a story, and had fascinating stories to tell.
Records played from a vinyl record player, yelling and cheering would sporadically fill the room as Brazil scored another foosball goal, and very serious conversations ensued as to which addition was the best on the famed picture wall.
The interior design of the hostel is what really makes it unique. Oozing with character and quirky charm, the interior design adds to the atmosphere, and really goes a long way to making this hostel fun.
So we’ve established that the hostel is fun, but all hostels are fun right? What makes this one any different from the next? Well, it’s CLEAN! So clean! Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean!
We were genuinely astounded with the cleanliness, not only of our room, of the self catering kitchen, or of the quirky common area, but most noticeably of the bathrooms. Put simply, they sparkled, and white is a pretty easy colour to gauge the cleanliness of a room. Perhaps it’s the Icelandic glacial water they use for cleaning!
There are also a large number of bathroom facilities available throughout each level of the hostel, so we never found ourselves queuing for showers despite traveling in high season.
So clean! Tick of approval!
Cozy and clean. Our private room.
Our room was super cozy, and one of it’s best features were incredibly thick curtains. One of the draws of Iceland during the summer months is 23 hours of daylight; the sun essentially never sets! And while this may be great for maximizing your time out experiencing the country, it can play with your mind a little if you’re used to going to bed when the sun goes down! Thick curtains are the key to a good night’s sleep.
Dorm rooms are available, however as Mike and I like to share the same bed (the whole marriage thing), we opted for a private room for more space and privacy.
We left the Bus with fantastic memories, having made great new friends, and with a super useful Lonely Planet guide to the Iceland’s Ring Road which we swapped in the library! We probably spent more time sifting through the huge selection of books in the Bus library than we did out exploring Reykjavik – it was literary heaven!
10 Comments
I LOVED this hostel! The staff were the friendliest, nicest hostel staff I have ever encountered! Plus the decor is awesome!
The decor really does contribute to the awesome atmosphere – definitely the most unique and memorable place we have stayed to date! So glad you enjoyed your time here as well!
Adding this spot to my list for when I finally go to Iceland!
Definitely do! We had the best time :) Safe travels!
What a lovely hostel! Planning on visiting Iceland hopefully by the end of the year myself :)
You’ll absolutely love Iceland – we had such a phenomenal time traveling through the country! I would recommend spending a few days in Reykjavik (obviously at the bus!!) and then driving the Ring Road; though you’ll be traveling in winter though so driving conditions may be dependant on weather.
Looks cool – do you reckon they’re family friendly (ie parents plus a five-year-old?). Vaguely mentions it on their website but doesn’t make a big deal about it so it’s hard to tell … TIA!
I would say so. You would probably want to book a private room as opposed to a shared dorm, but it’s a really homey atmosphere and everyone is incredibly friendly; I can’t see how it would be an issue.
I would shoot an email enquiry through to their reception; they’re always very prompt with replies :)
I love the look of this hostel! The decor is great, and that’s such a nice bonus that it’s really clean!
It’s cleanliness really was outstanding – an exceptional change to some of the previous hostels we’ve become accustomed to staying at!