The Best Hostels in London (2026)

Central and social: a bar downstairs and a crowd to go out with. These are the hostels to book if meeting people is half the point. Each has a bar or a nightly programme of events, and most keep a desk staffed around the clock. Wombat's City Hostel is my pick of the big social hostels. Every dorm has its own bathroom, every bed gets a lockable safe with a socket, and the guest kitchen is a proper one. The WomBAR stays open until 1:30am and runs free gigs, karaoke and comedy nights. A bed in an eight-bed dorm was £20.29 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and there are female-only dorms of four and six beds. It sits on Dock Street in Aldgate, nine minutes' walk from Tower Hill station, with the Tower of London a little further on. Our City of London hotel guide covers the area.

Location is the catch: Aldgate is on the eastern edge of the City, so the West End is a Tube ride rather than a walk. Breakfast is £8.50 extra, and dorm towels are rented. It holds 4.4 on Google from about 3,800 reviews, a strong score for a hostel this size.

Generator London is the big one, a design-led hostel on Tavistock Place with a late bar built around an old London bus. A dorm bed was £21.20 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, with breakfast thrown in for booking direct, and two friends could share a private twin for £78.70. Russell Square station (Piccadilly line) is six minutes on foot and King's Cross St Pancras nine. More places nearby are in our Bloomsbury hotel guide.

Size is the trade-off: about 6,100 Google reviewers average 3.7, and the shared bathrooms draw the most common complaint. The bar runs late, so a light sleeper should ask for a room away from it. It suits a first solo trip where you want company every evening.

St Christopher's London Bridge - The Village is the party hostel of south London and the cheapest Zone 1 dorm bed here: £15.11 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November in a 21-bed dorm, or about £22.71 for six beds. Every bunk has a curtain, a light and a socket, some beds are capsule pods, and women can book The Oasis, a floor of female-only dorms of 4, 10 and 14 beds with its own key card. It's on Borough High Street, four minutes from Borough station and a short walk from Borough Market and London Bridge. Our London Bridge hotel guide has more nearby.

Belushi's bar downstairs has something on every night, from live music to beer pong, so this is no place for an early night. You can't cook (there's only a microwave), towels and luggage storage cost extra, and dorms are 18 and over. Google reviewers give it 3.9 from about 3,400 reviews. Book it for the social life and the price, not for sleep.

Clink261 is the hostel for an early Eurostar or a train north, four minutes on foot from King's Cross St Pancras and its six Underground lines. A bed in a large mixed dorm was £19.60 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and there are smaller dorms of four to ten beds, female-only dorms and bunks with privacy curtains. There's a full guest kitchen, a bar and café, free in-room lockers and a desk that never closes. More places nearby are in our King's Cross hotel guide.

Nothing here is en suite, private rooms included, and there are no proper doubles, so two people get a bunk-bed room: the cheapest private for that Tuesday was a four-bed room at £98.72. Check-in isn't until 4pm. Its sister hostel Clink78, on King's Cross Road, is closed for renovation and plans to reopen in 2027. Google reviewers give Clink261 3.9 from about 2,800 reviews.

Onefam Notting Hill runs like a house party with a timetable: a free walking tour by day, a free dinner every evening, then drinking games and a night out together. Its own booking page is blunt about it: come to make friends and party. A bed in an eight-bed dorm was £15.30 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and the private double £65.45. It's on Prince's Square in Bayswater, eight minutes from Bayswater station (Circle and District lines). Our Paddington and Bayswater hotel guide has more nearby.

Only guests aged 18 to 36 can stay, every dorm is mixed (there are no female-only rooms), and it's five floors with no lift. Google reviewers give it 4.3 from about 1,000 reviews. For a solo traveller in their twenties, the free dinner alone makes it very good value.

Urbany Hostel London shares Prince's Square in Bayswater with Onefam, a few doors along, and runs a similar programme of free dinners, city walks and nights out, with a wider age range: 18 to 40. Dorms are four, six and eight beds, each guest gets a locker, and the desk is staffed around the clock. A bed in an eight-bed dorm was £17.10 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and a private double £89.10. Bayswater station (Circle and District lines) is six minutes' walk. Our Paddington and Bayswater hotel guide has more nearby.

Every room in the London house shares bathrooms, all the dorms on sale that Tuesday were mixed, and stays are capped at seven nights in any 30 days. Google reviewers give it 4.5 from about 420 reviews, the joint-highest score here. For a sociable traveller in their late thirties, too old for Onefam, it's the one I'd book in west London.

Onefam Waterloo is the same formula south of the river, and Google reviewers rate it even higher: 4.5 from about 480 reviews. There's a free family dinner every evening, a city walk each day and something planned every night, from karaoke to pub crawls. A bed in a 12-bed dorm was £18 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and there's a small three-bed female dorm. Despite the name it's on Lambeth Walk, ten minutes from Lambeth North station (Bakerloo line). Our South Bank and Waterloo hotel guide covers the area.

The same hard 18-to-36 age rule applies, and some dorms have bunks three high. Private rooms are few: the twin was £109.80 that night and the double was already gone. Quiet travellers should look elsewhere.

Smart Hyde Park View is the social house of the Smart group: a bar with a terrace, a guest kitchen and a partner pub crawl, on Leinster Terrace, a short walk from Kensington Gardens. Every room has its own bathroom and every bed a privacy curtain. A bed in a six-bed dorm was about £19 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, a female-only one about £20, and a twin with a bathroom from about £96. Queensway station (Central line) is seven minutes away. Our Paddington and Bayswater hotel guide has more nearby.

The bunks are stacked three high in some dorms, and tall guests say the beds are short. Google reviewers give it 3.7 from about 2,000 reviews, with mixed reports on cleaning. For under-45s who want a bar and the park on the doorstep for under £20, it's a fair deal.

The Walrus is a pub with beds upstairs, three minutes from Lambeth North station and six from Waterloo, so the London Eye and the South Bank are a short walk. Dorms run from four beds to a 26-bed room with privacy curtains, where a bed was £22.50 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and there are small female-only dorms of four and six. Book direct and breakfast and a towel are free, and there's a proper guest kitchen. Our South Bank and Waterloo hotel guide has more nearby.

There's no 24-hour desk: reception runs 3pm to 11pm, then you're on door codes. The trains into Waterloo pass close by (the hostel hands out earplugs and has double glazing), and there's no lift across five floors. Google reviewers give the pub and hostel 4.1 from about 1,400 reviews.

Hootananny Hostel is for gig-goers. The dorms are upstairs from the Hootananny, a Brixton live-music pub, and guests get free breakfast and a discount at the bar. A bed in an eight-bed dorm was £34 on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and there are female-only dorms of four, six and eight beds. Brixton station, at the end of the Victoria line, is 13 minutes' walk. Our South London hotel guide covers Brixton.

It's almost all dorms (the two private rooms are singles), with no family rooms, no under-18s and no wheelchair access, and a Google reviewer warns that the bar shakes the walls until 3am. Pricier than the central dorms on a quiet Tuesday, it makes sense for a Brixton Academy show or a festival weekend in Brockwell Park.

Quiet and 18+: a kitchen table instead of a bar. These hostels take adults only in their dorms, and most cap the age too: 39 at the Astor hostels in Hyde Park, Kensington and Victoria, and 45 at Prime. The kitchen and the lounge are the social hub, and the nights end earlier. Astor Oxford Street has the most central dorm bed in London that I'd book: four-bed dorms (mixed or female-only) from £29 a person on its own published rates, on Noel Street in Soho, four minutes from Tottenham Court Road and five from Oxford Circus. Theatres, Chinatown and Carnaby Street are all a walk away. Our Soho hotel guide covers the streets around it.

Dorms are over-18s only, every room shares bathrooms (private doubles from £99 included), and there's no air conditioning, just fans. Most rooms are up stairs. Google reviewers give it 4.3 from about 750 reviews. For a solo traveller who wants to walk home from the West End, the location justifies the higher price.

Astor Hyde Park has the grandest address here: a big house at the top of Queen's Gate, four minutes from the Royal Albert Hall and close to Kensington Gardens and the museums. Most dorms have their own bathrooms, there are female-only rooms of four and ten beds, and there's a large kitchen and lounge. A bed in a 12-bed dorm was about £26 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. South Kensington station is nine minutes away. Our Kensington hotel guide has more nearby.

One reviewer calls the ceilings paper-thin, there's no lift, and summer nights can be hot. It holds 4.0 on Google from about 1,240 reviews. Private en-suite doubles start at £99 on its own site, which makes it a fair couple's option for a Proms night.

Astor Kensington is actually in Bayswater, on Queensborough Terrace, five minutes from Queensway station (Central line) and seven from Bayswater, with Kensington Gardens at the end of the street. A bed in a 12-bed dorm was about £24 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. It has a guest kitchen, a 24-hour desk and staff-run games nights, and its recent Google reviews are warm about the staff. Our Paddington and Bayswater hotel guide has more nearby.

The overall Google score is a more modest 3.9 from about 640 reviews. Private rooms are en-suite twins and triples from £99 on its own site, but none were offered for two on Booking.com that Tuesday. It's the pick for solo travellers under 40 who'd rather cook dinner than go clubbing.

Astor Victoria is the budget base for Victoria's coaches and the Gatwick Express, in a tall terraced house on Belgrave Road with a full kitchen, a laundry and a 24-hour desk. A bed in an eight-bed dorm was about £26 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and women can choose female-only dorms of four to ten beds. Pimlico station (Victoria line) is five minutes' walk and Victoria station ten. Our Victoria and Westminster hotel guide has more nearby.

A recent Google reviewer found no lift and no air conditioning, just fans, and a climb to the fifth or sixth floor with luggage. It scores 3.8 from about 1,500 reviews. Private rooms are twins with bunks, about £122 for that Tuesday, so couples do better elsewhere.

Prime Backpackers is a small hostel on City Road in Angel with house rules to match: quiet hours from 11pm to 8am and no drinking in the dorms. It still has a social week, with a family dinner on Thursdays, a cocktail night and pub crawl at the weekend, free pancakes on Saturday and Sunday mornings, a proper kitchen and a laundry. Women can book female-only dorms of eight or twelve beds. Angel station (Northern line) is five minutes' walk, and the hostel puts Regent's Canal about ten minutes away. Our Camden and Islington hotel guide covers the area.

It isn't cheap for a dorm: £34.20 for a bed in a 12-bed room on its own site for Tuesday 10 November, and bookings made direct can't be refunded. Guests must be 18 to 45. Google reviewers give it 4.2 from about 480 reviews, though one recent reviewer found a nine-bed room cramped. It suits someone staying a week or more, since the hostel welcomes long stays.

All ages and families: YHA and Palmers Lodge. The YHA (Youth Hostels Association) is a charity, and despite the name its London hostels take guests of every age. Their dorms are split into male and female rooms, and their private rooms of two to six beds are a cheap way for a family to share a room. YHA London Central is the one I'd book with children: a modern building in Fitzrovia with a lift, key cards on both the bedroom doors and the corridors, a guest kitchen, a café-bar and a 24-hour desk. A dorm bed was £25 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, and a four-bed private room with its own bathroom £135. Great Portland Street station is six minutes on foot. Our Marylebone and Fitzrovia hotel guide has more nearby.

The cheapest private rooms share bathrooms, rooms can get warm in summer, and you can't bring in your own drink. Google reviewers give it 4.2 from about 1,800 reviews.

YHA London St Paul's sleeps you beside the cathedral, in the old choir school on Carter Lane. For Tuesday 10 November a dorm bed was £20 on Booking.com and a private double sharing a bathroom £77, cheap for a room a minute's walk from St Paul's. St Paul's and Mansion House stations are six minutes away, and the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern is close by. There's a bar, a TV lounge and a desk open around the clock. Our City of London hotel guide covers the area.

Three drawbacks: there's no lift, there's no guest kitchen, and school groups book it heavily (one recent reviewer found the noise from them hard going). It scores 4.0 on Google from about 920 reviews. On a weekend, when the City empties, it's a very good base.

YHA London Earl's Court is the quiet one: a Victorian house on a residential street, with a courtyard garden, a self-catering kitchen and a 24-hour desk, five minutes from Earl's Court station (District and Piccadilly lines). For Tuesday 10 November a private twin sharing a bathroom was about £68 on Booking.com and a four-bed room with its own bathroom £115, which makes it a cheap family base for the South Kensington museums. Our Kensington hotel guide has more nearby.

Dorm beds weren't on Booking.com that night, so book those on YHA's own site. Breakfast finishes at 9am on weekdays, and one guest found the room very hot, with no air conditioning. Google reviewers give it 4.4 from about 950 reviews, the best score of the YHA hostels here.

YHA London Thameside has the cheapest family room here: £81 for a four-bed private room with its own bathroom on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November, or £50 for two in a bunk-bed room. It's a purpose-built hostel in Rotherhithe on the south bank of the Thames, with a lift, a kitchen, a bar and a full cooked breakfast, and every room is en suite. Canada Water station is 12 minutes' walk, and the Jubilee line from there reaches London Bridge in two stops.

It's the furthest out of these, in a quiet residential corner with little nearby in the evening, and it takes a lot of school groups. Google reviewers give it 4.0 from about 1,100 reviews. For a family on a budget who'll ride the Tube in each day, it's hard to beat.

Palmers Lodge Swiss Cottage has no upper age limit, which makes it the easy answer for older backpackers who'd be turned away from the under-40s hostels. The hostel says the house was once the lodge of the Palmer biscuit family, and it's three minutes from Swiss Cottage station, where the Jubilee line runs to Baker Street, Bond Street and Westminster. There are mixed and female-only dorms, private rooms, a bar and a 24-hour desk. A dorm bed was about £27 on Booking.com for Tuesday 10 November. Guests can park for £10 a day.

The kitchen is basic (a fridge and a microwave), the big dorms sleep up to 24, and it's in Zone 2, so evenings in the West End mean a Tube ride home. It scores 4.2 on Google from about 1,700 reviews.

Cheapest by a mile: a bed for about £10 to £17. Three more rock-bottom dorms for Tuesday 10 November, each with a clear catch. Safestay London Kensington Holland Park is the cheapest bed here, from about £10 a night in a dorm, and it sits inside Holland Park itself, in a wing of Holland House, a Jacobean mansion. A private double with its own bathroom was about £40. Holland Park station (Central line) is about ten minutes' walk through the park. Our Notting Hill hotel guide covers the area.

Google reviewers give it 3.5 from about 2,400 reviews, and the recent ones complain about cleaning, hot rooms and bugs. One woman found the park entrance frightening after dark. Book it for the price and the setting, and keep your expectations low.

Safestay London Elephant & Castle is the cheap en-suite dorm: £17.08 for a bed in an eight-bed dorm with its own bathroom, booked direct for Tuesday 10 November, with female-only and male-only dorms as well as mixed ones. There's a café-bar with a pool table, a garden and a 24-hour desk, and Elephant & Castle station (Northern and Bakerloo lines) is seven minutes away, so Waterloo and the South Bank are a stop or two up the line.

There's no lift and no guest kitchen, and towels cost extra in the dorms. It scores 3.7 on Google from about 3,200 reviews, with recent complaints about broken showers. At this price, bring flip-flops and don't expect polish.

Smart Camden Inn puts a £15 dorm bed ten minutes from Camden Market. Dorms have their own bathrooms and air conditioning, there's a kitchen, a terrace and a desk staffed around the clock, and there are female-only dorms. Mornington Crescent station is five minutes away and Camden Town six, both on the Northern line into the West End. Our Camden and Islington hotel guide has more nearby.

A recent reviewer couldn't sit up in a bunk stacked under a low ceiling, and the street-side rooms are noisy. Google reviewers give it 3.6 from about 1,100 reviews. Fine for sleeping, not for spending time in.