Gongti Youth Hostel (Gongti Qingnian Lushe)

Description:

• Located inside the Workers Stadium, in the heart of the San Li Tun bar area, this well-run YHA offers a quiet location above a three-star hotel (The Sports Inn), a view over pleasant gardens and a lake, and relatively new facilities. The fourth-floor rooms (not ideal if you have lots of luggage) are agreeably curved, and all face southeast. If you crave privacy, there are single rooms. The problems facing this YHA are common to all youth hostels in Beijing: There are not enough hostels to meet demand, so they're frequently overbooked (particularly in summer); turnover is high, as other hotels poach their well-trained staff; and they rely on the state-run parent hotel for housekeeping, which often leads to messy bathrooms.

• © Frommer's 2012