YHA Coverack

Pleasant
Traveller Type: Family with Young Children
  : The hostel is located in a small fishing town in a forgotten corner of Cornwall and can be reached through a maze of small country roads which are just wide enough for a single car brushing the grass on both sides. I don't know if it is really reachable by public transportation. The closest supermarket is at 10 miles from the hostel, but it saved us when we arrived late with all restaurant and pub kitchens closed, as we could heat up some ready-made meals in the single microwave of the well equipped self-catering kitchen. Breakfast is reasonably priced and abundant. Compared to the average price of lodging in Cornwall, this place provides an affordable alternative for families trying to save some pennies.
  : The presentation of the hostel at Booking.com and www.yha.org.uk is deceptive. They present only the nice four persons room with seaview, but most rooms are rather cramped and have partial or no seaview. The hostel is not right on the cost, there are some steep narrow streets to walk down to reach the harbour. They claim to have a fully licenced bar, but after 20.30 it's closed and no one is in attendance at the hostel. Given all the activities to do by day and the remoteness of the hostel, we weren't even able to return before that time. Anyway, how many people are interested in a fully licenced bar before 8.30pm? YHA is clearly more occupied with procedures and rules than with hospitality. Their reason to ask a photo ID appears to be that they consider any person over 16 as a potential child predator. I'd rather like to just present my ID with no reason given. There are safety lights even in the small rooms, which shine in the eyes of the persons in the upper bed of the bunk and don't allow to sleep. Consequently, people cover these lights, so they become useless, so why install them in the first place? The reduced reception hours are really worrying. If you don't arrive between 5.30 and 8.00 pm, you get locked out. What happens with delayed flights, missed busses, flat tires? You confront at least one of these every time you go on travel for some weeks. There are only two WCs and showers for a hostel with 9 rooms, which is clearly insufficient, particularly during the "peak hours" before breakfast.