In our trip to Vienna in September we challenged ourselves to make it to a budget trip.
Meaning as cheap as possible accomodation or transport and only allowed to spend more on pleasures.
That’s why we stayed at the Wombat’s City Hostel (The Lounge) at Mariahilfer Strasse 137, nearby the Westbahnhof station in Vienna. (Such a great location!)
It was very easy to find the way over there, we just took the U3 subway from the Stephansplatz to Westbahnhof (a short ride) and from there it’s not far to walk, just about 5 minutes max.
The reception (open 24/7) is right in front of the entrance to the hostel and the staff where very professionally helpful and competent, despite the fact that they were very busy sometimes.
We had booked a double room for our stay – yes, some hostels have double rooms too. We don’t like to share room with total strangers if we can avoid it.
It also had a private bathroom, which was impeccable clean. And I really mean impeccable clean. Not a spot or dust anywhere to find.
I was really impressed, because it where cleaner than some of the 3 and 4 stars hotels we’ve stayed at and there is a HUGE gap when it comes to the price!
The view from the big windows in our room was not bad either. We’ve definitely seen much worse in some hotels we’ve stayed.
Only disadvantage with big windows with the fire escape stairs right outside was the warning they had put up to not leave the windows open at night, because of burglars.
That’s why we had a huge fan standing on the floor in front of the bed – yes, it was quite hot in the nights, since we had about 32 degrees Celsius while we were there.
The Wombats is one of the coolest hostels with lots of services for the guests, like a great leisure space with a pool table and TV, a shared kitchen, dining room, a proper laundry room, and not to mention the very cool basement with the womBar!
We also did get a free welcome drink in the bar, how friendly isn’t that!
No one seemed to mind that we two oldies (lol) were there in the bar and it got more and more crowded. A great place to meet people to chat to if one doesn’t want to go out.
We got down there early and stayed until a small live band played, they were not that good, but I still think it’s great of them to try to arrange something down there in the evenings.
It’s smart of them to have the womBar, because it means that the party people hang down there (it’s soundproof) instead of partying at the rooms and perhaps disturb the other guests.
There’s lots of events going on in the city every evening and the staff put up lists on the wall for you to pick among, which really makes it difficult to choose…
The computer area was totally OK, with a very low fee. If you bring your own laptop you have free access to their wlan.
There were also different kind of machines to help you out and I love their humor showing with one of them…
However that one wasn’t the one we used, we used the candy and soda machine, perfect with snacks for this hungry monster, but there were also several food stores very close in the neighborhood.
At the hostel there were an all you can eat continental buffet breakfast served and costs €3.50, a modest standard breakfast that you can expect for that price.
Sorry, no photos, I guess I was too tired in the mornings.(read: we barely made it to the breakfast in time every morning *giggles*).
We stayed for 3 nights and paid €150 for both of us, no additional payment for linen and towels – well worth the price I must say – don’t you agree?
Oh, and there are free lockers in every room too. They’ve covered it all.
If you want to go there, don’t forget to book well in advance – it’s very popular. We saw some very tired youngsters that arrived in the middle of the night and didn’t get any rooms and had to wander to other places.
My honest opinion is that in the hostelworld, this is a five star hostel and I can recommend it with a warm heart.
I just wish that ALL hostels in the world had the same high standards and great atmosphere….
See all Lifecruiser Wombat’s City Hostel Vienna photo slideshow.
Lifecruiser ♥ Vienna
I’ve never stayed in a hostel before. How cool this one is. I’ve heard stories about some of them. I do this one though. I’m with you on the privacy thing. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Have a terrific day. Big hug.
Very nice budget hostel. I am surprised by its facilities and cleanliness. Worth the money staying there
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This is a very nice hostel! I read about its good review years ago when we were planning to go Europe. We stayed in budget hostels when we were in Europe, some not so nice, but we didn’t go budget in Vienna; we stay in Hotel Praterstern.
I saw your other posts on Vienna that bring back fond memories… Check out my Vienna photos too! =D
http://travelerfolio.com/places/europe/austria/vienna/
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The place looks very nice to be a hostel. Looks very clean and all!
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Wow. Thanks!
There´s a misunderstanding about the burglar warning sign though: we ask the guests to shut the windows when they are NOT in the room.
We will make new signs to make this point clearer.
There are fire escape ladders on the backside of the building; evildoers can jump onto our roof from the neighbor building and then climb the ladders. We had two thefts last summer. We have now built a wall to the neighbor´s property, making that route more difficult, fortunately there were no thefts since then.
An open window of an EMPTY room is an invitation for thieves. Just shut it while you are away – common sense, isn´t it?
Anyway, thanks a million for this great review. And no – we don´t mind to have oldie guests at all! It´s a great compliment that people who usually stay in much more expensive hostels like our service. Exactly that is our plan! Some people want to party hard, others a good night´s sleep. We want to make sure you can have both. Some take cleanliness very seriously and the rest doesn´t complain about a clean bathroom!
If you´re planning a budget trip to Berlin or Munich sometime soon – you can have just the same there!
kära hälsningar
Klaus
Our pleasure Klaus, we were very pleased with our excellent stay at Wombats and would not hesitate to come back – or to try the ones in Berlin and Munich
I know that the sign were supposed to mean when the room was empty, but unfortunately it’s quite common with thieves entering hotels and even homes while people are sleeping also.
Anyway: It’s GREAT that you’ve made it more difficult for the thieves with the wall and haven’t had any attempts since
Keep up the good work!
I always figured if you spend a lot on a motel or hotel room you’re wasting big money ’cause you only use it to shower and sleep while you spend the day sightseeing…so why hand out a lot of money on a room you rarely use when you can use the extra cash that you save on a cheaper place for more fun things.
Happy Monday to you Captain.
I’d like to make use of that Wombat machine. Do they sell em, or do we have to go to the hostel to make use of it?
That looks like a great place. I wouldn’t mind staying there at all.
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You must be joking Lifecruiser! It seems to me a 3-star hotel, or at least 2-star!
Why I say so? I had a bad experience staying in a so-claimed 3-star hotel with smelly bathroom, broken basin, and not even a locker in the room… 
Thanks for sharing. At least we know where to stay if we had a chance (or had the money and time) to visit Vienna, one day, before Wombat raising their rate!
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Hey Cecil Lee,
Those star-ratings for hotels can be a bit misleading. They don´t tell you anything about the cleanliness of a place or the professional attitude of the staff and management. It all depends what you expect as well. Our rooms don´t have TVs or minibars for example, so we wouldn´t get even a single star – but we don´t care. We are proud to call our venues “hostels”, not “hotels”. Hostels offer something hotels usually don´t – a welcoming atmosphere and a social scene among the guests. People who stay in hostels usually don´t care so much about their privacy, but want to interact with likeminded travellers. Hostel standards have improved a lot in Europe during the last ten years: many hostels are now better than your average 3-star hotel in a lot of ways. Most of our rooms are still dormitory-style, but since airfares became so cheap many people don´t travel backpacker-style, but (like in this case) only to one city at a time and prefer a private room. So we supply for this demand, like many other hostels do as well.
When you plan trips, check sites like hostelworld.com. Places like ours are everywhere in Europe. Hostelworld has a rating system, too, but it´s the actual guests of each place who rate, not a bureaucrat at the local tourism authority. Read the reviews and look at the average ratings – especially on “cleanliness” and “staff” – if they are good (say, 85% or higher), you won´t be dissappointed.
Happy travels,
Klaus
We love such places – a place for people all kind to meet and talk and stay overnight without beeing “robbed by prices and luxury not need to have a bed to sleep in”.
It’s really something for the hospitality industry to think about:
You can go for 2 hours in a jet-plane and return than for less than a bed for a Night in a modest hotel.
Business travel has a strong peak down (collaboration technolgies will replace 80%), but privat travels will still excists – even during the Finacial trouble the world copes with for the moment.
Thanks for this great advice
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Sounds like good value for money. Tell me, with the name of Wombat’s, is it run or owned by Australians?
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That hostal sounds perfect to me!! and I love the fact that they have duvets, of course, we have a terrible time sleeping with sheets and blankets like the French or Americans do…
Mars last blog post..wordless wednesday: tilted
“Tell me, with the name of Wombat’s, is it run or owned by Australians?”
No, it´s owned by two locals, but the idea was born in Australia. See here: http://www.wombats-hostels.com/wombats/about/
In addition to that, at the time when most hostels in Europe were still spartanic places with only an abundance of crazy rules, there were already some very good hostels in Australia – so, much of what you see in our hostels is modeled after what the owners first saw Down Under.
Happy travels,
Klaus
Thank you so much Klaus for being such a good host to this post and helped me answer my readers meanwhile I was out xmas shopping
I love that you’re so passionate about what you do!
I never imagined that a hostel could be so ’5star’. it looks really great! Must jot it down in my ‘places to visit’ book.
Nice photos!
Hej Lifecruiser!
No worries mate, I have to thank you for getting the word of mouth out there. Apart from our website and a small amount of brochures, we don´t do any marketing whatsoever – we totally depend on recommendations like your post.
I´ll tell you why I liked your post so much: We always thought that hostels shouldn´t ONLY be there for backpackers. We were critizized for that by other hostel owners – they accused us we spoil the backpackers by raising the standards too much and we´ll never satisfy other travellers anyway, because people like you would still miss a bellboy, a concierge, a restaurant and the room service. Well, obviously you didn´t!
I put in 40 hours of my time into this hostel every week and I´m not ONLY doing it for making a living – I could earn more elsewhere, but I like working in a hostel too much. I really enyoyed reading your post – it proves I´m not wasting my time here.
Cheers,
Klaus
The wombat’s City Hostel seems the perfect hostel for a trip in Vienna! I have noticed it in my little adress book!
Amazingly clean hostel wow! It’d be worth a stay!
Never heard about hostelworld, but it sounds like a great recommendation.
You really know how to live life the fullest and thanks for sharing!
I’m going to Vienna for three days, and I will stay in this hostel, it just seems like the best hostel in Vienna…
Thanks for this overview, it helped a lot.
Wombats is definitely Vienna’s top rated hostel and also as a chain the highest rated hostel chain in the world. I have heard nothing but good comments from travellers who stayed at Wombats.