Belfast Belfast International Youth Hostel
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Belfast International Youth Hostel Photos
About Belfast International Youth Hostel
A short distance from Shaftsbury Square is the Belfast International Youth Hostel. The building was first opened on the 1St of April 1994 and had 120 beds divided between 38 rooms. It’s now more favourably known as Belfast’s Flagship Youth Hostel having undergone major construction to upgrade its facilities making it the largest hostel in the province.
Around the bright foyer are several paintings by Colin Gibson, a local banker and accomplished artist. They depict Belfast in various moods.
Surprisingly, in the hostel’s first year of operation some 35.000 people stayed here. This therefore led to discussions in late 1999 about future expansion. The new wing was built over a 2 year period and was officially opened by Dr. Harish Saxena, President of the International Youth Hostel Federation in December 2004.
The hostel has its own tourist information stand with plenty of tips and helpful guidance on local points of interest.
On the ground floor here is the Causeway Café aptly named after the famous Giant’s Causeway on the northern coast. The spacious area is also used to great advantage with larger groups or friends who want to pass time just chatting.
The hostel belongs to a larger group known as Hostelling International Northern Ireland (HINI). It’s a not for profit organization.
In the past, hostels have been perceived as offering only dormitory accommodation with shared facilities, and being exclusive to backpackers. With this in mind the International Youth Hostel is a slight departure away from this core group of travellers and decided early on to broaden their market towards the youth sector, groups and families.
Having initially opened 14 years ago in 1994, the hostel now boasts an array of top class amenities as a result of the extension including en-suite rooms, internet facilities, a games room and laundry and currency exchange facilities. 1
Under the new plan the hostel’s capacity increased from 120 beds to 205 over 54 rooms. The rooms are a combination of doubles, twins, dormitories and 2 large rooms on the top floor.
Figures show that from 39,653 bed nights in 2007 the hostel is continue to perform better than expected each year.2 It surely won’t be long before they celebrate hitting the 50,000 mark.
References
1 http://www.anoige.ie/ezine/0303/Belfastofficialopening
2 As above.
External Links
http://www.iguidez.com/Belfast/belfast_international_youth_hostel/