Reviews of Help Yourself Hostels - Carcavelos Coast

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

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

Good place

4 eur city tax per night -

⚠️ 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.

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

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 pool facility

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.

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

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.

very dirty

The Location was easy to find

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Everything is clean

No thing

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