lauren313

We stayed here for 5 nights, and all in all, it was a pretty nice place to stay.

It had a very homely feel to it, there was a proper kitchen, with free pancake mix for breakfast in the mornings, plus free tea and coffee whenever you wanted it. The grounds are amazing, it's like a tropical rainforest or something! There are lots of communal areas, including a lounge, kitchen, dining area (with free internet) and a "garden house" which was perfect for chilling out with a book to avoid the intense heat.

They can take you along to the Everglades National Park for the day, or the alligator farm, and charge a small fee for this.

The rooms were lovely. We had a double room, which was perfectly good. The bathroom was separate, but it was tucked away near our room, so I'm pretty sure it was only us that ever used that one. We got to look inside the dorms, and they looked good too, with nice wooden bunks, and only 4 or 6 beds to a room. We paid $50 US for the room per night, so $25 each, which we found to be pretty good for a private room.

A nice touch is that once or twice a week the owner of the hostel arranges for guests to go along for dinner at a local restaurant, and joins everyone for dinner, which was cheap and also a good way to get to know other people.

Only downside is the location, it was a nightmare to reach from Miami by public bus, but I guess it's all part of the fun. Also, not much in the local area unless you have a car, so it's really a place for chilling out!

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