HI Los Angeles, Santa Monica

Did you know that part of HI Los Angeles is built into the oldest building in Los Angeles? How cool is that?
And that’s not all – the hostel is the biggest hostel in the US. But don’t get scared by this fact, it’s still good to stay here and it’s not crowded – at all.

About the hostel
The reception is just like in a hotel, but with great benefits: free postcards, free printing (up to 5 pages), free luggage storage on check out day (limited hours), possibility to book tours.

There are several common areas – patio, library, dining room, kitchen and our favourite – the living room with a fireplace. We were there at the end of December, so it’s meaningless to say, we really enjoyed the Christmas feeling.

The hostel has 4 floors – and you can choose between male, female and mixed dorms. The bathrooms are spacious, with enough space to put your stuff down. They have cleaning staff, doing a great job, but it’s needless to say, that if you clean after yourself the place will stay clean.

About the location

As we already mentioned in our article about Los Angeles, we totally liked Santa Monica. And the location of the hostel was a dream for us – just one block from the famous Santa Monica beach, 5 minutes from the Santa Monica pier and one block from the shopping packed 3rd street. To reach Hollywood or downtown, several buses are operating around the hour. We took a bus to Venice beach and the Fisherman´s village which was nice – or you can do the walk from Santa Monica beach to Venice beach.