This was in a great location, really, really cheap and the staff were fantastic! There was always a party going on there (mainly full of Brits and stag parties...this might be a downside if your looking for some quiet time) but any hostel who gives you a free beer before you even pay or check in does it for me! :insane:

And here I thought this was going to be about hot dogs...

which city would this be in?

oh yeah sorry it was in riga (Latvia)

I just spent the weekend at Franks in Riga, it was the best hostel I've stayed in. Frank was awesome, giving a free beer when you walk in the door and he made sure your stay was the best. The girls that work there are all latvian and are great too, very friendly and helpful. They take you AK 47 shooting :hunter: , Bobsledding and out to bars every night, on Saturday we went to the best disco/bar i've been to in the world.

If you go to Riga Stay at Franks, or go to Riga so you can stay at Franks. it was an experience I'll never forget... it makes living in France disappointing



:party:

I want a hot dog damn it! :crybaby:

its recently won a hostelworld 'hoscar'. We stayed there in the summer, Frank is a legend - he told us his hostel would be the best in europe and now it is :) Well done Frank!!

http://www.hostelworld.com/images/ne...06/feb06_b.jpg

oops i didnt mean to make a quote. doh!

The reviews alone make me want to go to Riga, Latvia and stay here a few days/nights.

Yeah, no kidding! Hrrm... Riga, eh? :blink: Too bad it's the "new Amsterdam" as far as roving hordes of stag parties go. Sounds like a bad ratio to me! :dry:

id say thats a bit of an exaggeration to be honest. I didn’t see any hordes of stag parties when I was there. Dont think I saw any come to think of it, nothing like the abundance of them in the centre of Prague. Id say out of the places in the Baltics Tallinn is prob the most popular for stag parties as well as drunk fins.

Its never that much of a big deal anyway, its fairly easy to avoid them if you go to the right bars which in the case of Prague is anywhere outside the city centre.

Good to know! I've been reading up on Tallinn and Riga, both of which I really want to go to, but the über party rep is kind of turning me off. Not that I don't like a good party (who doesn't?) but destination partying turns me off. Thanks for the heads-up!

omi try and stay away from fun time frankies on the weekend because when i was there it was overrun with a stag party from Blackburn!

I want to go to this part of Europe! Too bad by the time I get there it will probably be much more touristy, like how Prague has supposedly become. :(

This is my story of Franks (aka Friendly Fun Franks) .... I planned on staying for 5nights while i explored Riga (& surrounding area) however missed by bus @ 8am to Vilnius in Lithunia (spelling?) cause we (hostel crowd) were out partying till like 6am at some russian club ... ended up staying another 2nites.

I had the best time hear, Frank is friendly (no pun intended), the girls working there are just great (helpful and again friendly), great location, good common rooms, beds and showers could be better but hey some of the better ones in Baltics/Eastern EU, also they got 6 PCs with free net

.....each night they recommend/take you to hot places around Riga .. note: the russian club on fridays(or was it saturday) is a bit crazy (the backroom is full of russian mafia & girls not wearing much ... maybe pros?)

.... and i meet some of the best and friendliest backpackers here, learning the Finish are the biggest and craziest drinkers .. this is coming from an Aussie okay too! Good mix of ppls, Finish, German, English (some stag parties .. only 1 while i was there and they were well behaved @ the hostel).


hey don't let the party seem hammer your trips too this area, it only @ night these places go crazy... other than that hey are just awesome ... Tallinn the old part is very small but beautiful

funny bastard indeed. The first night we went out on one of his nights out... he was wasted lol and he started arguing with this aussie girl about why is hostel is the best in Europe. Also did you notice how many places he had deals with in Riga "say you with frank and you get in free" nudge nudge wink wink.

haha frank is the man.

hahah yeah very true, drop the phrase "frank, the aussie hostel owner" and bingo most of the time.... we tried it @ this one club (one with the cat walk in the middle of the bar) saying we get free entry cause we staying @ franks and they didn't know who frank was, so we gave them his number ... but didn't get in 4 free but was pretty cheap anyhow compared to Western EU!

Thats really, funny, just wrote a bad review about this hostel in the "penalty box" bit before i read this.

I really hated it, the staff werent helpful at all, and everyone there was just there to get pissed every night, and sleep all day.

I think Riga is far worse the talling for stag parties, theres practically a strip club on every street corner, and so many more stag parties there. plus the prostitutes and syringes lying around didnt improve its image.

It made me really regret the fact that i didnt get to see it 10 years ago before it was ruined by all this

I had great craic in Franks. It's not by any means the cheapest place in Riga to go Drinking. If you go to that square with the other door resturants (or anywhere else for that matter) they'll sell you Zelta for 1LT whereas it's 1.87LT in Franks.

The pub crawl only went to one club around the corner and the boucers only showed up looking for an enterance fee just before the tour arived (I was drinking across the road in John Lemon at the time).

They deserve ever penny though, they go out of their way to make sure you have a good time and the orange smoking room is THE place to be in Riga :lol: