Joy Plus International Youth Hostel

This was a pleasant hostel located in a quiet residential area with a market and some small eating places (noodles, dumplings, liang pi) down the road. It is also quite close to the city center and the Zhong Shan Road axis, as well as the train station. Be aware though: any seaside location (including e.g. Tiger Beach) is at least some 5 kilometers away, which requires either a longish bus ride or a taxi. So, if you're in Dalian for seaside activities this hostel is probably not the most convenient one for you. The hostel itself is an old building that has been hollowed out and houses another block that actually encompasses all the rooms. The top of that block is open at loft level and forms a huge, cozy communal area. There are also some special guest rooms, like a tatami room. All areas were comfortably furnished and very clean. Unfortunately, the water heating in our en-suite bathroom was either broken or so slow that we never got warm water. Eventually we just gave up and used the communal showers instead. The hostel was run by a friendly, young couple who spoke good English. In fact, I didn't see anybody else staffing the reception or making up rooms. Still, this worked surprisingly well most of the time although once or twice it wasn't quite easy getting hold of our landlords. What I didn't like was the curfew at 23:30, at which time the owners locked the door and went to bed. If you came back later than that you had to call them on their phone and ask to be let in. Unfortunately, this happened on both nights we stayed. In my opinion, this goes a little against the spirit of hostels which usually cater for young independent travelers, who (in my experience) often like to spend the night out eating, drinking or otherwise enjoying the local night life. Having to be back by 11:30 reminded me a bit of living with my mum. I think a simple combination lock on the front door might save the owners the trouble of being woken up at night and their guests the embarrassment of having to wake them up.