Yakety Yak Hostel

Great hostel in the Heart of Thamel. Thanks first to the lovely staff: R/Yakesh, Hrithik, Joti & Alina: they will allow your stay to be super-pleasurable. Friendly, fun, helpful with all sorts of Nepali info. (Sorry it took me so long to scrawl a review, folks: I was there for nearly a week in Oct 23; now it's Jan 24; but better late than never.) Some key benefits of staying here apart from the abovementioned lovely human yakky beings: Thamel is backpacker central, and Kathmandu is hectic, yet just through a well-maintained passageway & up a couple of flights of stairs is a safe haven of calm (not that Kath is dangerous - folk are so friendly, not too pushy, even in tourist areas, gentler than Indian comparisons - but it can wear down energy levels). There's a safe ATM area at the passage entrance where guards are at helping hand, 3 restaurants in the building, a fair variety of cuisines, so if Yakety closes early - as it often does by 7pm if guests are few - you can hop down the stair to one or other by 10pm & grab some decent nosh. Please eat at Yaks if you can tho: nothing fancy but tasty & wholesome enough - and the beer is decent value - a big wide balcony area, bit of an oasis. First couple of nights I stayed was lively, great people-meeting venue, chat, laugh, sing songs. Quieter as the week went on; hostels ebb & flow with personalities yadda-yakety. What is really great is that the rooms & dorms are behind a wall dividing the social areas & the slumber ones, so even if it happens to be a rowdier night, you're well padded for shut-eye. Toilets are at the end of the hall, clean & functional enough. If you're needing photocopies of onward flight tix etc, the cheery faces at reception will oblige. And Hrithik is a sports fan, so if there's a big game of football at 2am for example, you can ask to lounge on the sofas with him & cheer on your team; at a reasonable volume, because of the design, it doesnt disturb your fellow guests. Happy 2024 All Good People who work at & frequent Yakety Yak. Keep doin what yer doin & everybody's gonna be sayin Hello!

Most definitely the best hostel in Kathmandu. They are very well located have a great bar and seating area along with super friendly staff. My only issue was they never had hot water in the shower in the morning and it’s super noisy from outside so make sure to take some ear plugs.