Публикация 2026-06-12
If you’re cross-checking HostelWorld ratings and would like an honest review, look no further. —Summary— We booked a private room and loved our stay at Cheers Hostel Istanbul. If it’s your first time in this amazing city and you’re looking for a fun, clean and supportive hostel we can’t recommend this place enough. —What to expect staying in the old town— Addressing some negative reviews elsewhere, it’s important to note that the old town is inherently more pricey and noisy outside relative to the Asian side of the city. I doubt any hostels in the district would be immune to this. If you’re visiting Istanbul for the first time or travelling solo and wanting to meet some great travel buddies, this is where Cheers Hostel nevertheless excels. —Accomodation— We were impressed with the relative affordability and quality of Cheers’ private rooms. These are situated in a building across the road to the main one housing the shared dorms, which made it a lot quieter inside comparatively. Despite the 3-star rating, our private room was nevertheless renovated to provide the standard modern comforts. Not only did ours offer an AC and a fridge, we also lucked out and scored one with a view of Hagia Sofia! —Service— You will be treated to free breakfast daily, offering modest yet nevertheless delicious and authentic Turkish food. We also enjoyed the paid activities like the weekend BBQ dinner and pub crawl. While albeit on the pricier side for hostel activities, given it is after all on the old side of town, the pub crawl did include busses to and from the other European side of the city and a few rounds of shots on the house. A big thank you to the Cheers Hostel Istanbul team - John, Ozan, Tank, Uğur & Tammy - for looking after us during our stay. They helped us find the best deals across town, whether it be fixed rate airport taxis, ATMs with no extra fees, locally priced shopping locations and even competitive Cappadocia balloon tickets. We also appreciated John’s help recovering our debit card when it got swallowed by a nearby ATM. —Taxi advice— Avoid hailing your own yellow taxis from IST airport. You’ll get these even with ride share apps like Uber and Bitaksi. We used the latter to avoid fare negotiations, but ultimately still got scalped 4.2k lira because of the driver’s “app failing” meaning the trip never started so we couldn’t use the app’s support. Instead, chat to Cheers Hostel’s WhatsApp in advance and ask for their help securing a fixed rate cab paid by cash. We did this for our ride back to the airport at the end of our stay for just 2k lira (as of June 2026). You only need to pay reception and they’re chill with you doing this after you’ve settled in, so no need to withdraw at the airport ATMs!
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