West End Backpackers Hostel – Glasgow

The first three nights in Scotland, we stayed with couch surfing hosts in East Kilbride, a suburb southeast of city centre. For our last two days in Glasgow, we opted to stay in a private room at the West End Backpackers hostel.

Due to a change in plans, we arrived around 9:00 am – much earlier than the 1:00 pm we told them we would be checking in. This made for a very long wait. We couldn’t find any staff members until around noon. Luckily, one of the other guests was on their way out and they let us into the dining room, where we were able to connect to their wifi.

Overall, the experience was okay. We expected that there would be a greater sense of community amongst the travelers but we hardly even saw anyone. If you’re planning on staying at West End Backpackers, expect to pay around $45-50 per night for two people in a private room. Their rates for a bunk bed in a shared room are not much cheaper and there are very few common showers. The kitchen and fridge seemed adequate but the laundry was very expensive – £4 for a wash, £1 for 10 minutes of dryer time. The walls had chipped paint, the carpet was very old and a bit dingy, but everything seemed to be clean.

While the hostel itself was not all that well-maintained, our room had a very comfortable bed and a private bathroom with a warm shower.

The room gave us time to catch up on our blog:

And… Wash our laundry:

The hostel is in one of the nicest neighborhoods of the city, near the beautiful campus of the University of Glasgow. The location is also convenient – it is a very short walk to the underground and you can reach city center in around 10-15 minutes.