Hostels in Kracow

Last summer I was 44. Is that close enough? Our family of 5 stayed in what I think was the "original" Greg & Tom's, halfway between the train station and the ring around old town. The location was very easy. Central krakow is small. You are only a 5-7 min walk to the very center and maybe 15-20 min walk to the Wawel castle hill. The hostel is basically a large apartment in a mid-sized building that looks a little rough around the edges. They have other apartments in the same building and nearby that are "satellite" hostels. It is clean and safe. The atmosphere is very homey. When we were there there was no partying. Just a few people other than us hanging out, snacking, checking email, etc. It is very different than the dorm-like YHA hostels. Our children loved it. This was the best part; We arrived on the early morning train (6:30) and were told that we could our bags and have breakfast there while we waited for our room to be prepared. I figured we would be charged for the (extra) breakfast or it would just be toast - wrong & wrong. Free and tasty. Then in the afternoon we were surprised to see snacks out. We enjoyed that, too. Then when it came time to eat dinner we went out into the old town to find a casual restaurant. We had a decent, good value meal and then returned to the hostel. There was food for the taking all over the kitchen table! It turned out they also serve a FREE nightly meal! We didn't pay another cent for food the whole time we were in Krakow. It was an amazing bargain. As for being older; we felt perfectly welcome as adults in our 40s with children 7-14, but we were the oldest ones there. As long as you feel & act young, you'll be fine, I think.

The Greg & Tom Hostel in Krakow, a couple of mins. from the train station, is one of the very best hostels to stay at. I don't think it existed when I was in Krakow in 2001, otherwise I definitely missed something. If a hostel meets my check-list and has no age limit, I am staying there, party hostel or not, in a dorm room with room mates 1/3 your age. Greg & Tom has no age limit.

Thanks for the replies...we have stayed at other hostels and loved them.

I stayed there two years ago at the Krakow one, and it is one of my favorite hostels in Europe. I am in my mid 30's and was somewhere in the middle in the age range. There were two families that I saw, and two retired Americans (traveling separately) there as well. They all were very happy with the place too. There were a few partiers, but not out of control. I stayed there for three nights and had a 4 bed dorm and was never woken up from people coming home from the bars at 5 am. I did have ear plugs and a sleep mask on though.

Also, consider the GardenHouse Hostel, which is on Florianksa street literally steps away from the main square. http://www.gardenhouse.pl/index.php?action_lang=EN We ended up there a few summers ago because our original hostel overbooked us and ended up absolutely loving the place! You can't beat the location or the price (at least, not when we were there). The staff was a tremendous help, too.