Elbasan Backpacker Hostel

The host is amazing. The place is perfect for a backpacker.

The location is a little far out

It is so warm in early July when the daytime temperature stays over 30. But the owner Fatima is warmer than the Elbasan summer. Perfect place if you are tired of busy loud city life, and don't mind the 20-30 minutes walk to center if needed or the environmentally friendly dormitories which are not ACed because it gets below 20 at night. Cancel your plan to a zoo because in Fatima's home you can hang out with a variety of animals like chickens, ducks, cats and goats. Fatima treated me twice with joghurt she made from the goat milk! How often do you get free breakfast in a hostel when you pay less than 10€ a night? Despite the official time from 8 to 10, Fatima still offered to make breakfast for me hearing me coming out of my bed yawning as late as half past 11 -- "It's ok. Five minutes." I enjoyed watching the world cup games thanks to their fast internet, And I enjoyed more the jam and cheese in the breakfast. There is a grocery shop literally one minute away where you can find almost anything you need if you cook. I was happy to find frozen chicken breast and cevapi (don't know the Albanian name sorry) I particularly like the handwritten receipt the shop owner took time to calculate item by item. As normality in the Balkans, you can meet dogs on the street on the route to center. I would recommend you avoid finding yourself walking alone after sunset because a group of them might be dangerous. I had to scare them away a couple of times. There is a bus to the center at around half past every hour between 06-14. You can wait just outside the hostel on the main road. With 40 lek you get a small cute ticket and some curious eyes in the bus which has seen time. Most guests only stay a couple of nights. But it is always great to see a smily face, isn't it? Enjoy the hostel. Enjoy your life : )

No AC in summer can be a challenge Distance to center

Fatima and her family are friendly hosts. We enjoyed the neighborhood and walking to the center of the city. We enjoyed being around the chickens, ducks, and goats. The shower with a locking door for the people staying chalets and tent campers was excellent. Breakfast was always good: eggs, cheese, jam, bread and an extra item like tomatoes that changed daily.

Breakfast was filling and good (although the first morning watching the landlady drink her Turkish coffee or espresso while we had "nescafe" to drink was a bit "funny") There are no restaurants etc near the hostel, but there are a couple small stores with basic food items, so one could bring them back and cook if so inclined. Also, although we mostly walked to and from the centre, there is a bus (which the landlady kindly told us about) which stops a couple minutes away from the hostel and goes to the centre.

We stayed there in January; the room is basically a "shed" and has no heating. The one small "space" heater we were given was not nearly strong enough to warm up the room. ONCE in bed, there were plenty of covers; it was only when we were in the room and NOT in bed. ALSO the "private" bathroom and shower are outside.. and since we were there in rainy season we always got wet gettign from room to bathroom and back.