Zostel Munnar

I had a horrible stay at Zostel Munnar. The rooms were old and poorly maintained, with cockroaches in both the room and bathroom. The bathrooms smelled awful, with paan stains everywhere, and when we asked the staff to clean, they lazily used just a handful of water. The furniture looked older than my grandmother, and the bedsheets were filthy, covered in stains. The only saving grace was the view, but everything else about the stay was absolutely awful. If you value hygiene and comfort, stay far away from Zostel Munnar!

In short - it is dirty, noisy, with cigarette smoke filled everywhere. It's not a backpacker hostel. It's a cheap (not really so cheap anymore) place for groups and couples to smoke, drink, and make noise. Even the hostel encourages noise. They have kept huge speakers right in the reception on the ground floor where there's loud noise until 11:30-12 in the middle of the night. When complained the response was - people are having fun, we can't stop them from having fun. The rooms are dirty and are not cleaned properly. Bathrooms have mould, rooms have mould, lockers (those are barely lockers) have mould. Windows and doors are such that mosquitoes would enter effortlessly even when closed. Common areas are cigarette smoke filled, people even smoke at the entrance which is right next to reception. You walk on any floor in the corridor and there's a strong stench of cigarette all around. The sofas had a layer of dirt on that, looking almost like those were polished with dirt. Food is nice. But it's the only option really, because there's nothing else within few kilometres of that place. Also, if you don't have your own vehicle it will be difficult for you to get around - you should know that. Linen felt used. When I was checking out they were actually changing the linen and the "fresh" linen they brought was so soggy and slightly dirty. tl;dr: Do not go there for peaceful or backpacking hostel experience. It's not that place. Do you want to find an affordable place to go in group and party. Yup, that's the place. Also, the place is not at all clean and hygienic, especially the bathrooms; and linen.

Stayed 2 nights at Munnar Zostel. The location of the Hostel is quite remote from Munnar "center", about 15 minutes by rickshaw. The trip would cost you 250 INR should you book from the Hostel and between 150 - 200 INR if you get one outside, which added up, represent quite an extra expense overall the stay. The cleanliness of the establishment was good. Not much information provided on potential activities and overpriced excursions (in my humble opinion). It is to be noted that during my stay, only 2 staff members were taking care of reception/attendance area for an establishment which seemed fully booked. This might explain a few gaps in service quality, although efforts were definitely visible thus big Kudos to the local team. Overall this establishment has a great potential but is not quite there yet.

We made a reservation here and had a family emergency. I canceled the reservation five days in advance, and they refused to refund the payment. They even had the nerve to tell me to “consider the situation from their perspective” without even acknowledging my family emergency. What an awful business.

I will do Pros & cons list for this one Pros: view is mesmerising from the room colours and interiors are aesthetically pleasing as it appears. Nice place to work too good wifi. Cons: Food was okaish. For the okaish food we have to wait at least an hour. Seriously. Order and wait for an hour to 1:30 minutes. Think about having an extra dish. Can't even think about is because it will take infinite time. We can't order from outside. can't cook even basic stuff in Zostel. ( not even instant maggie - or heat the pre packed food) Reaching with a sedan is one hell of a task. Reachable but really difficult to reach. PS: DJ party every night from 10PM. It will be on ground floor if it's your thing, great. But if not and staying in room on ground floor the sound may disturb. But anyway they will stop around 12, so must not be that big a problem. Also they have separate working space on top so if you want to work till late that won't be a problem. Only thing I dislike is the food arrangements. Their dishes takes infinite time to be ready. Also, if we are doing staycation then it's again a problem. Everyday we are bound to choose from few dishes that they offer. They don't allow food from outside. Also they won't allow to eat in the room. And as it appears going out for food every time is little tedious task since most of the restaurants are in city which is at least 4-5 km far from the property. If food is no problem then go for this one.