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Winner of Irish Travel and Tourism Responsible Accommodation of the Year, Lonely Planet "Top Choice" recommended. Located in the Heart of Doolin, overlooking the Village and out to Sea. At the start of the Cliffs of Moher Coastal Trail, 100m to O'Connor's Irish Music Pub, Located at the Bus Stop and a 15 minute walk to Doolin Pier. ------------------Free WIFI, Free Continental Breakfast, Free Internet Access, Free Parking. Dorms, Standard and Superior Rooms with King beds available. ----------------We cater for individual explorers, families and outdoor adventurers. We do not accept Stags, Hens or similiar parties. ---------------Cafe en-site (open April to October) serving home baked goods,local produce and Irish Craft Beers and great Coffee. ----------------Other services include Bus Eireann Ticket office, Tourist Information, Bureau de Change and full Self Catering facilities including outdoor area to wash activity ware. ----------------We look forward to welcoming you to our home. Anthony and Deirdre Moloney
2 Fisher Street Ballyvara, Doolin V95 EF82 Ireland
Doolin Hostel
412 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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Just returned home after 4 great nights at he Doolin Inn. We had three rooms for five adults that were all clean, quiet, comfortable and well appointed. The staff is very friendly and accommodating - even at 1 AM when one of them had to return to let us in after we locked ourselves out! The breakfast is delicious with breads and scones as well as yogurt parfaits and smoothies served to your table prior to placing your order. I recommend the avocado egg toast. The location is also terrific with easy access to shopping as well as the cliffs of Moher walk. We had a delicious meal at Anthony’s on our last night that included live Irish music. Overall we had a terrific stay and I would definitely recommend booking at the Doolin Inn.
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Date of stay: July 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
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We have stopped in at the hostel coffee and cake when in the area a number of times. We decided to stay for a couple of nights in February and use it as base camp for exploration of The Burren. The hostel is well situated for the the Cliffs of Moher and the moonscape of The Burren, and Doolin Pier is a great place to watch the sun set into the Atlantic - although not on a wild February weekend! The hotel is walking distance from traditional Irish pubs, with great craic, conversation and music. It is basic, but well appointed and has just had a major upgrade. The breakfast is just the same, basic, but all you need to set you up for the day. Great price for good accommodation and a fine welcome. What Moher could you asks for? ;0)
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Date of stay: February 2017Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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My first time staying in a hostel since I was in secondary school going on school trips! I will be back! I was in a mixed 12 bed dorm, I was a little bit apprehensive at first because it's, as I've already mentioned, a long time since I shared sleeping quarters with people, never mind strangers! Lovely clean, bright roomy dorm with 6 bunk beds, the bed linen was spotless, the pillows were nice comfortable, mattress was a dream and there was a sheet and a duvet, I started off with the sheet as I must have gotten cold during the night because I woke in the morning with the duvet on. There was storage under the beds for personal items, bring a lock to lock em up and two shared bathrooms were right outside the dorm room.
This place is a gem, only a 15 minute walk to Doolin pier, 10 minute walk to Fitzgeralds bar and 2 minutes to O Connors. I arrived at 3 on Sunday after booking on spec that morning, I took myself off to the pier for a few hours of sunbathing and reading. I arrived back to the hostel and had a small snack from the cafe and a glass of wine, I found myself a lovely sunny spot outside and stayed there for a couple of hours reading... happy out! I had a quick shower and when to O connors for a few sociables.
Breakfast was very nice, a plentiful continental breakfast that kept me going till lunch time. The people working here are very friendly and pleasant and the grounds, as the buildings themselves are well maintained.
I'm very proud Ireland has a place like this to offer tourists coming from near and far, it's a credit to the country and county. I've stayed in 4 and 5 star hotels where the staff could learn a thing or two from the people working here. see you soon!
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Date of stay: June 2016
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip:Was in a dorm room, not sure what the others were like
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Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 25 Jun 2016
Thank you so much for your wonderful review, it was a pleasure to read this morning and I will pass on your praise to the team as they are what truly makes our hostel so special and to shine above the rest. They work very hard to make it all happen, especially behind the scenes. It was great to read that it was your first time hosteling in years and we where so happy to hear we made it such a pleasant experience for you. Warmest regards Anthony and Deirdre
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Where to start? First time travelling alone at the young age of 63, never stayed in a hostel, nervous, apprehensive to say the least. As soon as I walked in and saw the smiling faces I knew it would be ok!! But OK does not go anywhere near describing my stay of 10 days. These people could not do enough to help in any way possible to make my stay wonderful. They answered every (and there were a lot) of question that I asked or went over the top in doing anything to make my stay one to remember. I could not recommend this place enough, and will be going back again next year. JUST WONDERFUL :)
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Date of stay: September 2015
Value
Rooms
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
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Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 10 Oct 2015
Dear Sandra What can I say, but what a title, thank you ever so much. We thoroughly enjoyed you staying with us and hopefully we will have you stay again next year. I hope you had a safe trip home. Take care Anthony and Deirdre
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This is actually about the fifth time I have started a review of this property, every time I start, I stop and rewrite it. Why? Cause I can't seem to find the right words to describe the Hostel, Town, People, Our Experience or the owner Anthony (who, the time we were there was a staff of ONE, he did have some cleaning help in the mornings.) You will see from my other POSTS, I can be harsh at times, but honest... I can say we found NO FAULT in this Hostel, I wish that everyone could have as good as time as we did. First, If we had it to do over again, 6 of our 13 days would have been spent at the Doolin Hostel (formerly Paddy's Doolin Hostel). I chose Doolin Hostel after starting a Thread on a TripAdvisor Forum. I wanted to stay near the Cliff's of Moher, but was concerned that I read Doolin was a tourist trap. The Owner of the Hostel, Anthony joined the conversation. He did not try to sell me on “his hostel”, instead he tried to sell me on “Doolin”. I asked about the Hostels in the area and finally he mentioned his. We sent a few private message back and forth and I ended up booking a Family Room without en suite directly through him. When we arrived the Hostel was full, but he was able to upgrade us to a family room with en suite. The hostel was recently remodeled, the upstairs rooms were extremely large. They recently added new Dormer Windows which added extra room. I spend a lot of time talking to Anthony, which took away from his work, but He always had time to talk to everyone. It turns out that the weekend we were there his family (including his Father) were out of town in Dublin, so all the work fell on him. I asked a lot of questions about the area which he was able to answer, but said that if his father was in town we would be up all night talking about the history of Doolin and Ireland (We can't wait to go back for that). The Hostel has a large industrial kitchen for use, at least five groups of visitors were using it at once. It is located on Fisher St. at the end of the road, easy to find..we walked everywhere, even to the Pub across the street and into town (less than 1/8 mile) They recently added a Cafe', which has Coffee and all types of Homemade Pastries. They even sell a little food items to make in the kitchen if you arrive late. Anthony will also cook dinner for you, Irish Stew and Soda Bread ($8 euro) and a Continental Breakfast (Cereal, Bread, Scones, Porridge, Juice and Coffee $5euro). The Bus Stop is directly in front of the Hostel with access to Galway, Shannon, Dublin and other towns. Only Negative was that Internet is not available in the rooms, only in the downstairs area, common room, Cafe, Kitchen, Dinning Room. - But I have a feeling that Anthony will be working on that. Anthony was able to give us, special directions to local sites and shared his vision of the future plans for the Hostel (I won't tell what those are, But I hope to one day return and see if they came true) This trip to Ireland was a once in a life time opportunity that took 5 years to save and plan for, it was well worth the time and effort and staying at the Doolin Hostel was one of the Highlights.
Thanks to Anthony and his Family for putting forth the effort to continue to run the hostel for travelers
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Date of stay: June 2012
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Contact Hostel Directly if no rooms show up on Hostelworld or Hostelbookers
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Response from Anthony and Dei... M, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 21 Jul 2012
Dear Mr McKinney Thank you for your wonderful and heart felt review, it was our pleasure that you and your family enjoyed your stay so much. Hope fully we will meet again. Kindest regards Anthony
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We arrived late in the afternoon and found the only available room, which unfortunately had bunk beds and some problems with the sink drain. Even less fortunately, a young traveller spent much of the evening speaking – too loudly – on a phone call while walking in the corridor, and let's say we learned much of his travel experience. The staff is very kind (they also own the hotel opposite the hostel), and one can lower his expectation for a night during a trip on the road. But the wi-fi please-do-not-upload-photos-or-play-any-video rule is just ludicrous, as well as the inexplicable lack of eggs at breakfast. Not a disaster, but if I had more time I would have chosen something maybe a bit more far, but much more comfortable.
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Date of stay: August 2018
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 10 Sept 2018
Dear David Thank you for your review and sorry to hear another guest stood outside your bedroom door to have a chat on his phone. Great to hear you found the staff very friendly and we agree we do have the best location in Doolin. We are a hostel which traditionally have bunk beds which is what we advertise. Breakfast is a continental breakfast and we are budget accommodation not a B&B or Hotel hence the great budget price especially considering the great location in the center of Doolin. But this means some of the services of a more expensive hotel / B&B are missed. But if next time you are looking for a bit more pampering may I suggest our Doolin Inn across the road from the hostel which offers a great cooked breakfast, doubles, twins and family rooms to a 3 star hotel standard. But it is more expensive (although still great value)to reflect the extra services and we advise booking in advance especially in high season as rooms sell out fast, booking direct gives the best rates. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay in Ireland Much appreciated. Anthony
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Cheap - 20 Euro on Hotels.com and I chose this for is proximity to the Cliffs of Moher. I was spending the sunset at the Cliffs, so this was ideally located only ~4 km away. The only thing is I probably would have liked to been able to check out earlier than 8 AM, but there is a 5 Euro deposit for the key, which I ended up trading for bottled water anyway. I was up at 5 AM ready to go lol, so I just kind of relaxed and planned out my day a bit.
Areas are clean, breakfast was nice and simple - continental style - I think you can get eggs, but I didn't - breads, juices, jams, cereal. There is a kitchen for use during certain hours. Staff is friendly.
1. Bring shower slippers aka flip flops - almost a given but still. 2. Bring a travel towel. 3. Pick your bunk out early put something non-valuable on your bunk perhaps. 4. Bring ear plugs if you're a light sleeper - half the room snored.
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Date of stay: May 2018Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 11 Sept 2018
Thank you for your review and your advise for future travellers especially those who may not have hosteled before. Much appreciated Anthony and Deirdre
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Stayed in 5 bed female dorm. It's clean and functional. We would have booked a private room but none available at time of booking. Have stayed in a few hostels throughout the years but for €52 a night for two I was disappointed. It's depressingly the poor sister of the property a few metres away. The entrance smells very badly of mould and decay. This was despite some plug ins . I understand demand is high in the area and perhaps the owners will update the facilities in time but the shared living spaces need a lot of updating. A quick coat of paint and a couple of prints from Ikea would go a long way. Everything was there but it felt so miserable that one felt ushered across the road to enjoy a cup of tea in comfort. The dorm was so small, overcrowded and badly designed. The result only one bed faced the one small window and indeed was the only bed worth having. Staff were pleasant tho we were left with no loo roll on the night of 20th at 22.00. Past experience taught me to have some spare. Most people are staying a night or two but we stayed four so I feel my comments are a good reflection. We enjoyed our stay as we met some great people and staff were fantastic... but only in the modern part.
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Date of stay: July 2017Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 29 Jul 2017
Thank you for you review and for all your feedback but there are some discrepancies with your observations. I am sorry about the toilet paper this shouldn't have happened. 1) You booked the most expensive way via booking. com paying a commission of €37.44 for the 4 nights. We provided all the breakfast, hot showers, full self catering facilities, free parking, bed, free wifi etc. for €19.76pppn before VAT. 2) There was a odour downstairs which we found to be a spillage on the rug in the common area. This has being rectified. The plug in was actually a wifi extender and the building is of solid concrete build so it can't rot. 3) The decor of the hostel is different to the more expensive Inn next door. But for a hostel the standard is very good. But this winter we will updating some of the decor in the common areas. However the entire building was fully painted at the beginning of the year, the common area wooden parker flooring sanded and varnished, new curtains, there are a total of 16 prints/paintings etc. hanging in the living, dining room area. And all bedrooms where updated 2 years ago with new bathrooms, flooring, beds, lighting, hairdryers, curtains, blinds,rugs, pictures etc. in the same style as the Inn, but the rooms are smaller and come with bunk beds. But for those who are unsure what they prefer the picture on our website or on the Online Travel Agents such as Booking.com have a full set of pictures allocated to each room. Thank you for the opportunity to comment and great to hear you enjoyed your stay over all. We hope to see you again and as we continue to invest in our properties we will always aim to give good value. Warmest regards Anthony and Deirdre
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My third time visiting with Anthony, Deirdre and the gang at Doolin HOSTEL. Hugely impressed to see that Anthony's boundless energy has once again seen more improvements and additions in the form of the extended cafe and also a beautifully furnished outside area overlooking the quaint village of Doolin. I even got some tips on where to source some of the well thought out and sturdy furniture and sleepers which are getting very hard to come by. Had a great nights sleep and power shower in one of the newly renovated rooms and the USB ports were a nice touch to power up our ever increasing number of devices. Lovely breakfast with seriously good coffee set us up for a day and had a lovely swim off Doolin pier - be mindful the currents can be tricky and not something to do when the swell is up. Look forward to returning in the Autumn, thanks again for a great stay. * I thought the review claiming this place is a small hotel with a hostel mentality was a little unfair, my own take is that it is a brilliant hostel with some rooms and touches that are better than many small hotels...
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Date of stay: May 2017
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:New rooms have great touches , with lights and usb connections beside the beds,the option to turn...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 16 Jun 2017
Thanks for the wonderful review, it was great to see you again this year. Looking forward to your next visit. Hopefully it won't be too long away. Warmest regards Anthony and Deirdre
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Let me preface this by saying that this was the only hostel we stayed in so it's difficult to rate our experience the b&b's we've been staying in. We had a room en suite in the newer building across from the hostel. The room was fairly spacious but otherwise unremarkable. Bathroom was oddly configured with the way the door opened into. The shower had barely enough pressure and at times would turn into a dribble. We like fresh are and the room only had one window that opened and even then it only opened maybe 6 inches. Silly really.
The breakfast was standard hostel like (or so I would imagine). Multiple cereals (but no muesli!), a good number of seeds and fruits to add to it. Good brown bread, butter, cheese, ham and jam to add to it. Juice, coffee, tea.
Rooms are quite, but if you have a street facing room, you get the late night noise of people coming home from the pubs. Wifi was fine but they ask that you don't upload photos, etc and don't stream.
The hostel is a good value (we payed 65€ a night) so really it's a good budget option.
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Date of stay: May 2017Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from DoolinHostel, Owner at Doolin Hostel
Responded 16 Jun 2017
Thank you for your review and for your feedback. The shower issue has been resolved it was an issue with a pump during your stay and I am sorry for this inconvenience. Sadly the 6" opening of the window is a safety regulation required by the Irish Tourism Board to be an approved accommodation provider. As you have not stayed in a hostel before our breakfast standard is very high. Good news on the wifi Doolin is finally getting broadband and over the coming days we should be connected which will make a big improvement from the satellite broadband. Thank you for noting we are a budget option and for recommending us as such. Warmest regards Anthony and Deirdre
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Travel cribs are available, but some rooms are not suitable such as dormitories. Please highlight request when booking. Best way to book is via our website
Best wishes
Anthony
There are more places to choose from in the Doolin area.
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Doolin Hostel
LOCATION
IrelandProvince of MunsterCounty ClareThe BurrenDoolin
NUMBER OF ROOMS
9
Prices are provided by our partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and reflect nightly room rates, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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