I liked the hostel in terms of location, it's great! And the staff was very friendly.

Stayed in March 2025

3 floor and train near

All hostel

Stayed in July 2024

The rest of the staff didn’t really seem nice, was okay overall. The room was messy , next to the big hall full of many many bads. However I got 4 persons room. It was very noisy, from inside of the hotel as well as outside - the location is next to railways. And taking into consideration all of those disadvantages it’s not even cheap. I paid around 23 euros.

I absolutely loved the reception guy from Colombia (don’t remember his name) . Big respect to him, very honest person. It’s not that far from very beautiful beaches and ocean coasts.

Stayed in May 2024

There is a big space downstair for around 20-30 people - very crowded Only 2 bathrooms - in peak season it can be difficult to get it (I was there in low season one day I needed to wait 1 hour to take a shower)

Close to the beach and to the railway station I am happy to get it booked for the room of 4 people instead of the big room/space, worth it .. It has a small pool Daily cleaning Flexibility with the check in and check out Shared area Locker

Stayed in May 2024

The hostel had poor noise regulation policies. You would often find other guests and sometimes members of staff making a lot of noise after late hours. Another thing I found disconcerting was the constant presence of feces in the toilet.

Stayed in April 2024

Did not receive the hostel that I requested and got put in the different hostel and to pay for extra taxi to get me in different hostel with a small bedroom in parede hostel without all the facilities that I requested

Little upset as I paid to be at hostel in carcavelos with private bathroom and balcony and got put in parede hostel that was different as I requested with nothing that I paid and requested with my booking with insuit bathroom that I did not have balcony and all the rest just was a small bathroom with charging bathroom in a building in parede

Stayed in March 2024

There's no desk and chair to work from except to go to the kitchen and use the dinning take. And mostly guests are always cooking and chatting in the kitchen.

Location. Close to the train station however, that is also a bad thing for some people because you will always hear the train come and go.

Stayed in July 2023

The cleanliness was not great at all. There was also no hand soap in the bathrooms, and also one bathroom for around 30 people to share! There wasn't a lot of space for privacy for changing and things when their was only two bathrooms for everyone. People would also smoke on the patio right outside the room, with the door open, so that was not pleasant to fall asleep to!

Most of the staff was kind. It was also in a great location to walk to the beach- not too far!

Stayed in July 2023

Loud environment with the nearby railway, lot of passing through the dorm to access bathroom and staff room lade it challenging to have a quite environment to sleep. The mattress wasn't so comfy.

Great kitchen and nice outdoor area with swimming pool

Stayed in July 2023

Noisy roommates. Noisy train every few minutes. You can hear the noise from the kitchen and living room from the top floor. Only 3 toilets for the whole house and 2 of them are inside bedrooms.

It has potential.

Stayed in April 2023

the house is very close to the trains, at night it can get a little louder

nice location, close to the beach Carcavelos, you live in a house

Stayed in September 2022

As I wrote before, it would be great to give up the beds in the small area undere the stairs and replace them with 1 shower and 2 toillet cabinets

I've been at the Hostel before and I wrote I would come back - so I did !!! And it didn't disappoint me: same friendly, nice, happy atmosphere that I value most where I'm staying - I feel like the "Granny" of the Hostel eheehhe Someone even asked if I was the mother of one girl from the Staff... the first time 2 girls thought I was the mother of a boy from the Staff - this can give an idea of the very friendly atmosphere. And they always include us (older Guests) in everything: we cook and eat together, go to the Café or the Supermarket I used the swimming pool almost everyday - and I witnessed the technicians coming to maintain it This time I noticed the Hostel was cleaner - I could witness the Staff's commitment to keep it clean, though it's difficult due to so many people staying there, but this time Guests were also cleaning more after using

Stayed in August 2025

4 eur city tax per night -

Good place

Stayed in July 2025

⚠️ Unprofessional and Unwelcoming Experience My stay at Help Yourself Hostel Carcavelos was disappointing and concerning due to repeated issues with staff conduct and guest treatment. I was denied access to the common area before check-in and told to leave the premises, despite visible seating and no alternative waiting space. Check-in was enforced rigidly and with unnecessary hostility. A staff member interrupted my use of the bathroom to clean, turning off the lights and insisting I leave — a clear breach of guest privacy and comfort. Throughout the stay, staff made inappropriate remarks, enforced rules inconsistently, and responded defensively to feedback. One staff member escalated a conversation by repeatedly threatening to involve law enforcement, despite no provocation. Attempts to contact management were unsuccessful, with no meaningful response or resolution. Booking.com refunded only part of my stay, despite documentation for both bookings. The hostel lacks professional oversight and basic guest support. I would not recommend this property to travelers seeking a respectful and reliable environment.

⚠️ Unprofessional and Unwelcoming Experience My stay at Help Yourself Hostel Carcavelos was disappointing and concerning due to repeated issues with staff conduct and guest treatment. I was denied access to the common area before check-in and told to leave the premises, despite visible seating and no alternative waiting space. Check-in was enforced rigidly and with unnecessary hostility. A staff member interrupted my use of the bathroom to clean, turning off the lights and insisting I leave — a clear breach of guest privacy and comfort. Throughout the stay, staff made inappropriate remarks, enforced rules inconsistently, and responded defensively to feedback. One staff member escalated a conversation by repeatedly threatening to involve law enforcement, despite no provocation. Attempts to contact management were unsuccessful, with no meaningful response or resolution. Booking.com refunded only part of my stay, despite documentation for both bookings. The hostel lacks professional oversight and basic guest support. I would not recommend this property to travelers seeking a respectful and reliable environment.

Stayed in July 2025

They had a problem with overbooking and made me wait at 22:00 for like 30 minutes.The fridge is packed with food and the kitchen looks dirty. It's far from everything but the train station. The beds are bad, the sheets and walls are strained, the rooms stinky and packed, the toilets old and wet. Very thin mattress. There's a lot of sounds outside and it's soo hot that we need to keep the main window open and theres only a little fan for the whole room. By the way I'm staying in one of the good rooms.... The solution they find was that this couple who sleept in different beds in the room I'm suposed to be in --- well, they're sleeping on the floor toghether now... on the small mattress from one of the beds so I can have a bed. It's weird, absurd and super unprofessional for the staff to allow something like this. They told me that the hole hostel was packed and there's no more beds available only to ask me later if I wanted a private room. Why in the world didn't they give the couple a private room?? Even if the couple accepted to sleep like this it's not owr fault that the overbooking happened and the hostel should have either find me another hostel or give me another bed (it doesn't matter that there's a price difference.) --- I've worked in the hotel industry and it's standard practice in this situation. And I'm pretty sure they didn't change the sheets of the bed I slept in because they looked crumpled like someone has already slept in them, but it was so late and I was so tired at this point that I just went to bed. I traveled around a lot in europe, staied a lot in cheap hostels and I just finished El Camino Frances and I'm one of the people that stayed mainly in the municipal albergues... I never had a situation like this one. The pictures that they have online are not what you'll find, I'll attach some curent ones just for reference. This is more like a bordel than a hostel.

The staff seems nice but I think they're volunteers that don't know what they're doing. It was nice that they kept my luggage while I went to the beach

Stayed in July 2025

I was told I was going to stay in a female only dormitory and when I got there, there were men sleeping there, at least three man that I saw.

The pool facility

Stayed in July 2025

You have to flee this hostel. First and foremost, this was the worst bed I ever slept in, considering I’ve been travelling and sleeping in hostels for 3 years, it’s really means something. The bed was bent, I could feel metallic bars on my back and I had to finish the night on the ground. Swimming pool was green and closed. But the worst part was the SEXIST AGRESSIONS I had to go through the entire time I was there (3 days). I all started the first day when I was working on my bed wearing shorts and a shirt, I was alone in the dorm and this 40 year old woman came in asking me to cover my legs and sit in a position were my legs was not showing because she didn’t want her husband to see me, her husband Andres being a volunteer. When I respectfully answered that I was not responsible for her husband gaze, she started freaking out and called her volunteer husband. Both of them came to me (me still being on my bed) and started screaming at me, telling me to cover up, telling me that because it was a mixed dorm I had to cover up for men not to see me. We called the manager who said to me I have to respect other guests. As I didn’t want them to win this fight by disappearing from their sight, and mostly because the manager didn’t wanted to refund me for the nights coming, I chose to stay. For the rest of my stay, they continue harassing me everyday, trying to intimidate me, manipulate other volunteers, trying to make me leave my bed, the room and the hostel. THE SECOND DAY, the women woke me up BY TAKING PICTURES OF MY SLEEPING SELF at 7am. As she had put the flash on I woke up right away and I had to scream at her for 10min in order for her to delete them. When trying to reach Booking, Andres lied and said I was working out in lingerie, but I was always in my bed, never working out, always wearing shorts. Calling the manager again, they haven’t done nothing to help me and kept saying I had to respect them and their culture by not being too sexy.

Maybe the sexists harassement I had to go through several times a day ? No, actually nothing.

Stayed in July 2025

Just some small things, like the WC. They closed it because they need to work on it so I had to go to ground floor to take a bath

The Location was easy to find

Stayed in June 2025

Veey nice helpful staff, clean appartement and room, good location and price.

Stayed in April 2025

This was my 3rd stay - I extended my stay 2 times, so I already wrote all the Pros and Cons on the review on my previous booking

This was my 3rd stay - I extended my stay 2 times, so it's true I enjoyed it I already wrote all the Pros and Cons on the review on my previous booking

Stayed in April 2025

A bit noisy, not for light sleepers but overall good value for money, especially off season.

Very clean. Helpful staff. Old equipments and I'd recommend booking a smaller dorm bc the huge dorm downstairs is a bit noisy and intense.

Stayed in January 2025

Everything is clean

Stayed in December 2024

Everything not clean very bad service not safety Asking for extra charge My checkin 7 at night wait 6 hours and my room was empty I booking to rooms and I stay in 1 Rome

No thing

Stayed in October 2024

Nothing to say

Staff behaviour was outstanding.

Stayed in October 2024