Yue Xuan Courtyard Garden International Youth Hostel

Great place close to subway and city center. Many restaurants and bars. Easy way from airport. Clean and many backpackers. Really nice time there!

I really liked the friendly staff and their willingness to show me around. They spoke pretty decent English, what is not a common thing in P.R.C. The bed sheets were clean. The air conditioning worked properly. It's a perfect place for explorers travelling around the world with their backpack. If I come to Beijing next time for private purposes, I will definitely stay there again.

I didn't like the fact that one had to step in the courtyard to enter the bathroom. I assume it can be a little inconvenient in winter. But at the same time I am aware that one cannot arrange a genuine Hutong in other way. The light in the bathroom was flickering. But those are rather minor things and in overall I enjoyed my stay there.

I stayed in a shared dormitory with 6 others. I was given a locker to keep my stuff, which had me feeling safe about leaving laptop and other valuables behind when I went out to walk around the city. The bed was relatively comfortable and the AC was top notch, so slept pretty well despite the heat and humidity of Beijing in July. The staff at the front desk were also very helpful, providing free water and guidance on how to get to places. They even helped me out mailing something in China. I would say the best aspect of my stay was the location of this hostel. It was very easy to get to places from there. For metro, there is a station a 5 minute walk away, which I found was only one line switch away from anywhere I wanted to go to in central Beijing. Metro aside, I was even able to walk to a lot places. The ~1hr walk from Beihai Park was quite nice and totally doable. Overall a great stay and would highly recommend for lone travelers on a budget - great value for the price!!

As one can easily gleam from a few reviews on this site, the main issue with this hostel is the bathroom situation. There are two toilets and two showers for all guests. This turned out not to be a big issue for me, I never had to actually wait for a shower or toilet. But I may have gotten lucky, I could easily imagine this becoming an issue if more people with my schedule were staying there. Additionally, the toilets were a bit dirty and smelly. But not beyond what you would expect from a hostel.