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Tag: Hostel Recommendations

  • Revolution Hostel – Chiang Mai Hostel Review

    Revolution Hostel – Chiang Mai Hostel Review

    Planning a trip to Chiang Mai? This hostel is a top pick for visiting, from top-tier trips and discounts, social evenings, free dinners, a pool, the list goes on! Carry on reading to find out exactly why we loved Revolution hostel so much, and how you can visit when you go Chiang Mai, Thailand!

    *There are affiliate links in this post – they do not come at any extra cost to you, but just means we can earn commission to help us pursue this further 🙂

    Revolution Hostel sign in Chiang Mai.
    1. Location
    2. Hostel Room Experience
    3. Other Rooms Available
    4. Social Areas
    5. Would We Recommend
    6. Want help planning your Thailand adventure?
    7. Find our Travel Essentials!

    Location

    Chiang Mai is one of the largest cities outside of Bangkok in the north of Thailand. However, the centre of Chiang Mai is a small quarter which is surrounded completely by an old moat with a few bridges crossing. The Revolution Hostel is located on the east side of the centre inside the moat allowing for easy walks to the centre and even perfectly placed between the two largest markets in the area.

    Also, around the corner are quite a few breakfast and food spots which are highly rated, and bars across the road if you like some nightlife. Don’t forget there is always a 7/11 around the corner which is always handy for snacks, drinks and more.

    Artwork in Chiang Mai's Revolution Hostel.

    Hostel Room Experience

    The hostel room we stayed in was a 4 person dorm right next to the pool which was perfect! The room itself had good space and much needed luggage room under the bed for storage. The bed were suuuper comfy and had shelves for storage as well as a curtain if you aren’t feeling too social.

    The en-suite is one of the better touches with a large bathroom. It’s rare to find an en-suite in Thailand with a hostel that is large enough to separate the toilet and shower to avoid any issues. The room overall was a great offering for the price and had all you needed in a dorm room in Chiang Mai.

    Other Rooms Available

    The Hostel has many other rooms available for your preference. These include a 4/6/9/10 bed dorms as well as private rooms. Some of these dorms have a unique style. The 9 bed dorm is a 3 tier bunk bed which we have never seen before. The other dorms are as usual and offer the same facilities as the 4 bed dorm we described above.

    The private rooms are a great spot for a small group of friends or couples. Sometimes you need a break away from the busy dorms so do check out the private rooms available. Some of the private rooms offer 3 beds so if you have 2 friends then why not. The rooms are super spacious and are actually tucked away from the social areas of the hostel which offer a quieter experience.

    3 Bed Private Room at Revolution Hostel in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

    Social Areas

    The hostel has 2 main social areas with one being the pool area. Here is it busy during the day with many enjoying the pool and the games in the area – whereas others might just be enjoying the weather and relaxing ready for the evening. Considering you are in a large city, it’s pretty surprising to see a hostel with a pool. But it definitely changes your experience so much! There are also tables alongside the pool for games such as beer pong and a newly opened drinks bar where you can enjoy alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks during the day.

    The main social area around the reception at the entrance to the hostel. Here you have benches which are ideal to social on with a bar to get drinks throughout the day and into the evening. This space also has an upstairs area which unfortunately was being renovated during our stay but is perfect for travellers who are working while they travel. Its can also be used as a quieter space. In the social area they have a large board which outlines the evening activities alongside tomorrows evening activities and a whole host of tours that the hostels provide – but we shall get onto this later.

    Activity Schedule in Revolution Hostel

    An important but small addition to this area is a water outlet for drinking. It costs 1 Baht to fill up a normal sized water which is crazy cheap but also stops people from reusing plastic bottles to help the environment. Lovely touch.

    This area is usually where the hostels evening events will start. The people attending will be given a time to meet in this area and mingle before heading out for the evening. It’s a great spot to meet people and have a few drinks before the event.

    Events

    The hostel offers a wide range of events for their guests and they really don’t disappoint. The one we enjoyed the most was the elephants we visited! This experience truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one we won’t forget. The best part of the experience really was that the elephants were protected and are allowed to roam. During our trip, we spent the time looking for the elephants and finding them. The elephants were of course eating and relaxing where we spent some time stroking and taking photos of them. Once we finished, we went on a short walk to a local waterfall and enjoyed the water which was super relaxing. For Aimee, it was her 1st waterfall so she absolutely loved it!!

    Ethical Elephant Sanctuary trip organised in Chiang Mai.

    We wandered back to the main area where the elephants were enjoying time in the local river and we joined in! We ended up washing the elephants and spending time with them before have a lovely lunch overlooking the elephants enjoying their lunch also. The experience was honestly amazing and we would totally recommend anyone who visits Chiang Mai Revolution to go on this experience! The other events include a pub crawl, watching Muay Thai fighting, Cooking classes, sticky waterfall and Drag Queen Cabaret!

    The events are very broad which caters to many people and are very reasonably priced for the experiences. We would recommend doing atleast 2 experiences while at the hostel as all the people we spoke with during our stay said they were totally worth it.

    Would We Recommend

    The hostel offers a whole host of room options to stay with the needed amenities in each. The beds were comfy and there was ample space for your luggage to store. The social areas are really the highlight of the hostel with a swimming pool and loungers! This is pretty rare for a hostel in the city and is a great addition. They also have a bar so if you want a chill day, you can enjoy the pool and drinks at the bar in peace. However, they also have an evening social spot to enjoy and meet people. It’s the perfect place to meet fellow travelers and like-minded people.

    Pool outside door rooms in Revolution Hostel

    The events and activities during the day and in the evening really are the star of the show for the hostel. You can enjoy some crazy nights and unforgettable experiences with the hostel and we couldn’t recommend it more!

    The hostel is more than just a nights stay, they provided a family feel and allow you to get the most of your experience in Chiang Mai whether it’s a 2-day stop or you are here for weeks!

    We also wanted to highlight a big thank you to Lyndsey, the manager at Revolution Chiang Mai; Jack fell extremely ill during his stay in Chiang Mai, and needed a hospital visit. Lyndsey and the Revs team did everything they could to help in this situation, and we were SO grateful of their help and assistance throughout our stay.

    We post weekly Youtube Videos! Please check out our newest Vlog from Bangkok!

    Looking for more Thailand inspiration? Find out how to see elephants in Thailand, or maybe our Khao Sok National Park guide!

    Find our Travel Essentials!

    We have a full list of recommendations for any travels! Check out our:

    We also recommend using these when planning your next trip!

    • Trip.com – Find amazing flight deals, with over 2 million flight routes, and being one of the world’s leading online travel agencies.
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    • Booking.com – Offering over 28 million accommodations to book, we will always use booking.com! Having a rewards system built in, the more you book, the more perks you get!
    • HostelWorld – You cannot budget travel without hostel world! Having over 17,000 hostels, boasting over 13 million reviews, hostel world is one our of top websites for budget travel! They are now offering more ways to meet people abroad, with meet ups, group chats and more available!
    • Get Your Guide – Book unique (and common!) experiences and activities worldwide, including skip the line tickets to big attractions worldwide!
    • Eat With – Experience authentic travel experiences with locals worldwide! Use eat with to book unique and intimate dining experiences, such as dinner parties in big restaurants, big feasts with a local family, cooking classes with a local and more!
    • ETKA – Every age from 3 to 85 can buy ETKA’s travel insurance, offering multilingual 24/7 chat support, and your insurance policy within 2-3 minutes!

    Bangkok is a bustling city that truly never sleeps so make sure your Instagram posts don’t either! There’s an endless supply of activity so make sure to keep your posts booming for all your followers and get them dreaming of their own Bangkok adventure’s!

    Also, check out our Social Media’s for our amazing travelling journey! Hint Hint: we have just came back from our trip to Thailand!!

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  • Ultimate 2-Day Fez Itinerary: Unveiling the Best of Morocco’s Cultural Gem

    Ultimate 2-Day Fez Itinerary: Unveiling the Best of Morocco’s Cultural Gem

    Morocco is a vibrant, scenic country which is full of rich histories! There is so much to love about and it is surprising with the amount of places you must visit in the country!

    Ideally, to get the most out of the country you probably would need 1 month worth of travelling to visit all of the must see places. These include seaside towns/cities like Tangier or Agadir with beaches that you need to see. But also they have many beautiful locations inland like Chefchaouen which is a completely blue town or Mergouza which is on the cusp of the Sahara desert which is perfect for a range of activities!!

    It’s definitely a location we will be revisiting but for now, 7 days is all we have so lets make the most of it!

    We have filmed a Vlog for Fes which is up on our YouTube which you can find here or below.

    *There are affiliate links in this post – they do not come at any extra cost to you, but just means we can earn commission to help us pursue this further 🙂

    How to spend 2/3 days in Fes!

    If we are honest, we looked at the cheapest flight across Europe and countries just outside and this jumped out as one of the cheapest! We initially were looking to fly to Ouarzazate for £30 return but we didn’t book them tickets in time- but rather saw a cheap flight to Fes for £50 which we couldn’t pass up!

    So it’s not as if we chose to visit Fes.. more-so it was meant to be. The city really didn’t disappoint!!

    As we booked the flights 36 or so hours before departure, we didn’t know a whole lot about the city. What activities to do, where to stay, what and where to eat etc! We pretty much spent the day before brushing up on the best things to do.

    For Fes, we kept an open mind on whether to travel around Morocco, or to just take it easy and explore the city more! We didn’t have many plans, but rather we would make decisions on a day-to-day basis depending how we were feeling, and if we wanted to venture to different places.

    As we landed in Fes first thing on a Monday morning, we navigated the city into the marina and wandered through the favela-like streets to our stay. We were very lucky, we outreached to hostels and AirBnB’s in Fes to see if we could get any gifted stays to keep costs down on our trip, and we spoke with a lovely hostel who were very happy to support our trip with content in return!

    If you have the tools, this is a great way to keep costs down but don’t be discouraged if you can’t get gifted stays, not everywhere does them!! Let us know if you would like us to talk more about how we have gotten gifted stays!

    So we had this hostel for 2 nights and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

    A traditional Riad building located in the heart of the Medina, and only a stones throw from local Souks that you can wander for hours on end! Find the link to this amazing Riad here.

    Our stay was magical! On arrival we were taken to the rooftop which had stunning views over the medina and the whole city, with old ruins standing tall like they once did centuries ago. At the rooftop, they offered sweet tea which is a family recipe.. one they were reluctant to spill the beans on!

    After settling in and dropping off our luggage at the Riad, we ventured out in the rough direction of the Souks, and took in the scenery around our new home for the next 7 days or so.

    We winded through the tight streets, passing children playing football in makeshift goals, and family members wheeling foods to and from their shop. The atmosphere was happy and subtly busy. The narrow streets creates a somewhat chaotic atmosphere as the buildings overhang to make the medina streets smaller.

    Once we hit the Souks, we started from (somewhat) the top and wandered down admiring the vast shops, activities and products on offer. Each shop was totally different and had it’s own stamp of traditional creativity. From local spices, to handmade leather bags and soft silky dresses, the Souk was full of product diversity- a place you can revisit later, and see completely different products on the same stalls as before.

    After wandering down the hill and the shops either side, we were looking to find a place to settle down to have our first proper meal in Morocco. Of course, we visited the country during the awkward period of Ramadan so all Muslims were fasting from dusk till dawn.

    If you are to visit during this time, we would recommend to be respectful to the locals and avoid eating or drinking in public/busy places if it can be helped.

    We found a highly recommended restaurant in the heart of the Medina called The Ruined Garden, which was only a 5 minute or so stroll from our hostel. As we arrived, we had a short 20 minute wait for the restaurant to open and we were actually the first people to enter for lunch. The aesthetic was amazing!

    The front doors were huge, almost castle-like, with a small staircase leading up to the seating area. It was pretty enclosed up until this point but once you turned the corner onto the top step, the room opened up and in the centre was a fountain with beautiful gardens surrounding. Vines were strung from above to create a beautiful ambience and we were gratefully seated amongst it.

    As we sat down, we were greeted by 2 adorable cats who clearly are pets to the owners of the restaurants. We ordered traditional dishes – the B’stilla – being an oddly sounding sweet and savoury, pastry-like filled pie. Yeah this was typed right.. Once we received this, we were pleasantly surprised with the taste as it was dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar. This was a very enjoyable meal, and one we decided to recreate once we arrived back home. Wasn’t quite the same but one we did enjoy for sure!

    At the restaurant, we both shared the meal and the portion was super filling that we couldn’t finish it between us! It’s one that we would definitely recommend for any visitor to try. It’s really got everything, from traditional flavours to strange flavour mixes. If anyone has tried this dish we would love to know your views and know your thoughts as we both loved it!!

    Towards the end of the meal we were delight to have the visitors of tortoises who suddenly woke up from the back of the gardens and wandered around the courtyard. There were 2 large tortoises who decided to wander around and visit some of the lunch-goers. It was a surprising but welcomed introduction as it’s not one you expect in the centre of the old medina!

    Just as we were to pick up the bill and leave the restaurant, we looked back to see a tiny, baby tortoise who was slowly munching on a rather large piece of watermelon (for his size!). It was so small that the garden area it was in prohibited him from escaping due to a small 2-inch wall which he couldn’t master no matter how hard he tried!

    Upon leaving, we decided to wander back to our hostel and relax for a few hours, after travelling since 1 in the morning. We spent time on the rooftop and enjoyed the chilled atmosphere, while being served endless cups of traditional sweet Moroccan tea.

    As the sky darkened and the mood changed, we were informed that the hostel were hosting dinner as part of the stay! We ended up breaking the fast with the local Moroccans as they served a buffet fit for a king! A sea of plates filled the table, full of colourful traditional Moroccan foods with a soup perfectly placed in front of each guest and a freshly squeezed orange juice to wash it all down with. Here, we conversated with other travellers and ate till our hearts content!

    After finishing our meals and thoroughly thanking our hosts for the lovely spread, we headed back to the rooftop to carry on socialising and enjoy our first night!

    If you thought the hostel hadn’t done enough, we were also given free popcorn (salted of course) and provided a Shisha for all guests. We spent time eating the popcorn, playing card games and practicing our newly learnt skill… smoke rings!!

    We soon headed off to bed and called it a night so we could get ready for a fun and adventurous day tomorrow.

    Day 2

    The next day started with a little lay-in. We would always recommend that if you are travelling, or even on a holiday, to make sure to take time to rest when needed as no one can be on the go 100% of the time! So Aimee slept in to 9:30 am so she felt energised for the day!

    During this time, Jack went upstairs and ended up socialising with some travellers whilst enjoying a complementary breakfast. Once Jack finished, Aimee joined and had her fruit breakfast before we got showered, changed and ready for our busy day!

    By this point we didn’t have a plan beyond Fes; but just planned each day the night before and kinda just winged it! If you have travelled before, it’s probably the best way to do it (if you don’t mind the odd panic and stress that comes with it!).

    So today we headed outside the medina to a local shopping mall called Borj Fes which is recommended to visit while in Fes! It’s 4 stories tall and filled with a variety of shops! We initially wandered around some of the clothing shops just having a wander, and comparing it to home shopping malls. After a while, we stumbled upon a supermarket on the lower floor which we looked for snacks!

    We found a bakery full of cakes, pastries and many quirky looking sweet treats! We took about 10 minutes, but finally decided on grabbing a few of each, a drink and headed out! If you are looking for snacks or looking to make your own food in Fes, we would recommend visiting this supermarket! It’s a lot cheaper than most other shops as mostly locals shop here! It’s so cheap- we got a 2l bottle of water for 3.50 Dirhams which is roughly 30p which is a bargain! We spent £2 on 6 pastry/cakes, which we found a table outside and enjoyed! The snacks were lovely and it perked our appetite ready for heading to Burger King!

    Burger king was a lot cheaper in Morocco and we bought some cool items which we have never seen before! All in all, this mall was a great place to spend a few hours eating lunch, venturing shops and taking a break from the hot sun!

    In the afternoon we left the mall to head back to the medina. We decided to wander the local souk and embrace the beauty of the old medina. Here we found ourselves wandering for an hour or so before finding a quaint, local restaurant which we chose to be where we ate our dinner.

    Luckily, we ordered and received our meal before the sun went down. As we received our meal, the Ramadan fasting ended as spoken through loud speakers informing everyone and the restaurant closed to any further customers. The owners and staff all sat down with their freshly prepared meal and broke their fast!

    If you are ever to go to a Muslim dominant country during Ramadan, it is important to find out when the sun sets and the fasting stops as all restaurants will close. The last thing you want to do is go out for your dinner but be stuck wandering looking for a place that is open (like we did…). Once we finished our meal we headed back to the hostel to relax in the evening, look at the beautiful nightly view and social with some travellers.

    We soon played cards into the evening before deciding to go sleep!

    Once the morning came and we woke up, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to explore more of Morocco, and decided on moving to Meknes which is a small city, 40 minutes west of Fes on the train. We got our breakfast, picked up our snacks and headed to the train station!!

    We really enjoyed Fes and it is a beautiful place which we couldn’t recommend it enough. We would say that 2/3 days is enough time there and there are so many places to visit in Morocco so we wouldn’t stay much longer!

    Did you like Fes?

    This blog is the 1st of a 3-part blog. Next up is our experiences and activities in the small city of Meknes!

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  • Aarhus, Denmark – The Ultimate Travel Guide

    Aarhus, Denmark – The Ultimate Travel Guide

    When we were researching somewhere to go last minute late last year, we stumbled across this hidden gem of a city called Aarhus. We managed to find flights that were incredibly cheap… and went on a crazy 24 hour holiday! After taking off at 6am, we landed a few hours later, ready to bus into the city! And wow what an incredible surprise. Sadly we left at 2pm the next day (it was intense but fun!), we could’ve easily stayed a lot longer!

    Considering Aarhus isn’t the capital, this Danish city is the perfect weekend break location, and somewhere we would definitely visit again. It is bursting with colourful sights, boasting an urban and youthful atmosphere – and has so many unique activities it’s always worth a visit! So, after finding our newfound love of this city, we wanted to share a complete guide with you to inspire you to visit this upcoming location!

    *This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions are our own!

    How long should I stay in Aarhus?

    We would recommend not following our route of only 24 hours! This city would probably be best for a 2-3 day break, however it could be done slower or faster, depending on your preferences and time frame! If we were to go again we would likely stay 3 days. If doing a European road trip, this location could likely be shortened into just over 1 day or 2!

    When to visit Aarhus?

    We visited Aarhus at the start of September, which for us was great. The weather was good, it wasn’t too hot, the sun was out and was very green all around!

    Due to a vast amount of outside activities, we would recommend visiting this city as a spring/summer trip, rather than a winter destination.

    Quick Facts about Aarhus

    Currency : Danish Krone (DKK). We didn’t once use cash, as we found card-usage everywhere we went. We used an international card and it worked great for us!

    Data while abroad : We used international roaming, which was part of our sim-contracts in the UK (most providers offer this so check with your contract).

    SIM card : If you do not have roaming opportunities, you can buy an e-sim from as little as $4.50! We usually use Airalo which you can find here.

    Where should I stay in Aarhus?

    This city is home to one of the best European hostels we have stayed at! Having a full mini golf course within the hostel, alongside a sauna and bar facilities, this hostel was for sure a unique one! Included in our stay was a buffer breakfast, and a very different sleeping arrangement!

    This was our choice of room (they do offer ‘standard’ size hostel dorms, alongside private rooms)… but they have a 46 bed room! How insane! We decided to stay here to see what it was like and it was really cool. It felt weirdly very private and quiet considering the amount of beds! There seemed to be a noise-reducing barrier between the room and the social areas, as the room was so peaceful.

    The bed came with a keycard entry, and also a keycard-locked locker in the room (which was a nice surprise). Everything felt extremely safe and comfortable, and we would recommend it even as a solo traveller.

    We will link this hostel here, we would be back here in a heartbeat if we were to stay in Aarhus again! We will also include a few photos below!

    What to do in Aarhus? A comprehensive list!

    ARoS Art Museum

    Known for it’s rainbow roof art instillation, this museum holds a lot more than just this! We hadn’t seen much hype for the museum apart from the roof, so we were surprised to see some of the stuff we did. We met a giant! Home to the artwork by Ron Mueck, this museum is home to ‘boy’ which is a 4.5 meter sculpture… wow. It was huge! The attention to detail was really special and made it a key feature of our trip.

    There was also an exhibition space of an extremely NSFW collection… but we will let you investigate that one!

    Visiting the Marselisborg Deer Park

    Considering this is a free activity, this was probably one of the best experiences we’ve had!

    You have to take a bus to slightly outside of the city centre, and then have to do a lot of walking to get into the actual deer park… but it was so worth it! This isn’t really an accessibility friendly location sadly, but for those who can do it… it’s so amazing.

    Displaying facts and information surrounding being near the deer, this park gives you the opportunity to be up close to wild deer- you can see them interacting together, and we even saw babies! We chose to only let the deer approach us as we didn’t want to cause any stress, but the experience was really unique. You could purchase carrots and apples to take in and feed them, or there are always the odd few laying about to grab!

    Aarhus Street Food Market

    Perfect for a social lunchtime, this food spot is full of varied international cuisines which are all SO yummy! We think this spot is great for groups to go to, as you could get dishes from each place and share them all to try all the worldwide flavours!

    We tried food from ‘The Everest Kitchen’, which was Nepalese cuisine, Chicken from ‘Super Bao’, homemade popsicles from the self titled ‘popsicle’, and a traditional Danish pastry called ‘tarteletter’ from Mormors Køkken.

    Imagine living locally and being able to stop here for lunch! We are so jealous! Food in Aarhus was good, but this spot was probably one of our favourites.

    Go on a night out

    Whilst at our hostel we met someone from America who we got on really well with, and ended up deciding for all of us to go ‘out out’!

    Being a very youthful-feeling city, the streets felt vibrant and were buzzing! We decided to get ready at our hostel and chill there for a bit, then headed out to a local nightclub called Kupé. The music was a lot more modern, so not necessarily catered to all tastes, however we found the atmosphere to be great! We all ended up dancing with some Danish people we had never met, and it just felt like such a fun atmosphere.

    Now, here is where 24 hours wasn’t enough… we left the club at around 2am, then went for a slice of pizza… let’s just say we went sleep at around 4am, ready to wake for 8am in time to get ready for the flight home. (It probably wasn’t our wisest idea)

    Den Gamle By

    Sadly, we didn’t have time to experience this place. However, we did feel like it deserved a place on this list. Den Gamle By is an open air museum depicting the history of Danish market towns over 4 time periods. Immerse yourself in the past, and learn about the life of a local through history.

    Entry is roughly 125DKK (so around £14.30/€16.70/$18.00), and looks amazing. Under 18’s go free, and there is a student discount!

    The Infinite Bridge

    Another place we didn’t manage to visit was the infinite bridge. It does explain itself- it is a bridge that doesn’t have a start and an end, and it partially over water. It is a really beautiful spot, and would be so lovely on a summer’s day!

    We have seen some amazing photos of this over social media, and for drone flyer’s this spot would be so good!

    Where will your adventure take you?

    We hope you enjoyed our travel guide to Aarhus, and that it helps with your future (or current) travel planning! Let us know below what you thought of our list!

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