Hostel Review: The Plug-Inn Hostel

Everybody knows that Paris is an expensive city. I had a difficult time choosing a hostel. Most hostels offering the basic necessities costs €35 a night, and it only cost me €25 a night in the other cities – well, except for my accommodation in Venice. Choosing an area to stay in Paris was difficult. Every traveler recommends a certain spot. But each city's corner is just near a metro stop so you are not really that far from anything.

The hostel's rules

I chose the Plug-Inn Hostel because of its awesome reviews in Tripadvisor. They are a “boutique hostel” located in the Montmartre area. Metro Stop: Line 2, Blanche - where the Moulin Rouge is. A roommate in Florence told me that the area is not really that safe, considering that I was traveling alone. I considered cancelling my reservation and trying to find a new one but I really didn’t have the time to travel during the day and then choose another hostel to consider all my criteria for booking hostels at night.

The view when I stepped out of the metro

It turned out it was a safe neighborhood. I felt safe even when I wandered alone at night. Since it was located near the Moulin Rouge, the streets are bustling with people. The alleys are not the dark scary types. There are a lot of restaurants (cheap and posh), bakeries, laundry shops, grocery stores and souvenirs shops.

I like their buffet breakfast of cereals, and juice. You only get two pieces of huge bread. I couldn’t finish both.

Juice, milk, cereals, coffee

My breakfast for 5 days

The rooms are small. I mean really small. I could cross the room in 6 steps. It was small but manageable.

From this wall...

...to the other end. It is just a bed and a half long.

For the first time in my trip, I slept on the top bunk. The beds have no ladder so I had to step on my luggage to get up. I jump when I go down.

The bathroom is nicest one among all the hostels I stayed in. It was quite spacious, so I did some laundry in here. Hehehehe.

Never ran out of hot water.

'Twas spacious enough

The downside is that the hostel has no lockers in the rooms. I had to leave my laptop in the safe located in the reception. You write down your name in a sticker then stick it to your laptop, phone or whatever. Well, the rooms were already so small that it actually has no room for lockers.

The room had limited number of sockets. We had to take turns in charging all our gadgets. Good thing I had nice roommates.

At €35 a night with buffet breakfast, I recommend this to other budget travelers.