Hostel Review: Villa Saint Exupery Beach, Nice, France
For a spring city-break in early May, we decided to take a trip down to the beautiful French Riviera.
We spent four magical days exploring Nice, France and several of the charming, medieval villages nearby including Menton, Eze, and Antibes.
We were pleased to have found a superbly located, safe, and spacious accommodation with the help of Europe’s Famous Hostels. In our search, we found the Villa Saint Exupery Beach Hostel, located directly in the heart of central Nice.
This was our second time staying at a hostel together so we were looking forward to gaining a better sense of what makes hostel experiences stand out.
For us, the central location of Villa Saint Exupery Beach was key to enabling us to see so much in Nice and simultaneously access the train lines that took us all along the coast for our day trips.
Opposite to our previous stay in Seville, we ended up staying in two different dorm rooms, a mixed 12 bed and 6 bed. These two different sized rooms can definitely have an impact on your trip, so make sure to go with which one works best for you! If you are hoping for a bit more personal space and quiet, we’d recommend the 6 bed dorm. If you are looking to be more social, make friends, or are on a budget, we’d suggest going with the 12 bed room. It sounds like a lot of people, but in our experience everyone was very respectful of each other and we made some new traveling friends! :)
Our ratings at a glance:
Overall: 8.6/10
Security: 8.0/10
Location: 9.9/10
Amenities/Activities: 8.0/10
Cleanliness: 8.8/10
Noise level: 8.5/10
Staff: 9.0/10
Vibes: 8.4/10
So, why Villa Saint Exupery Beach?
At a glance, Villa Saint Exupery Beach Hostel is a super social activities-oriented hostel with tons of space for every type of explorer. We really appreciate that each room (including mixed bed dormitories), had ensuite bathrooms, including a toilet-only bathroom and shower-only bathroom. We found our beds and pillows to be extremely comfortable. It was definitely the best we’ve slept in a hostel to date!
Security: Upon arrival, you are given a room-programmed key card that lets you into only your room (€3 cash deposit returned at checkout, make sure you have some euros!). There are good sized lockers available in each room for valuables, and a luggage storage closet which requires a special key from the front desk. As we arrived late in the evening, we really appreciated that they have a staff member manning the front desk 24 hours a day.
The one piece we would note is that in the main storage closet, a few lockers were broken. It didn’t cause us any issue as there were enough vacant, but it would be great if they added a few new ones!
Location: The location was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Located in the heart of Nice, Villa Saint Exupery is extremely close to everything. It’s on a quiet street a block off of the main road. A 10-15 minute walk to the main train stations, a minute to the public trolley, and a less than 10 minute walk to the beach!
This was amazing because despite getting in so late the first night, we quickly grabbed a baguette and walked down to the water to enjoy it.
We never had an issue finding somewhere to pick up a light bite or nice seafood meal nearby. There is a huge variety of restaurants and grocery stores all in the nearby area.
Amenities/Activities: The hostel has a ton of recommended activities and even hosts as the first stop on a well known pub crawl (cash-only) through Nice on Thurs-Sat nights which is a fantastic way to meet fellow travelers. There were about 50 people there! The hostel bar has plenty of camaraderie and is a great place to meet your bunk-mates :)
The hostel also has a small gym, which Joe got a quick workout in as they have a bench, squat rack, dumbbells, cable cross, treadmill, and a bike.
There is onsite laundry and they offer a service to do it for you for €11, which is great if you don’t want to spend a day doing it, but there isn’t an option to do it autonomously.
We also GREATLY appreciated that we were able to store our luggage for the rest of the day after checking out, and able to use the extra showers & bathrooms downstairs to clean off after a long day at the beach before our flight home!
Cleanliness: The size of the hostel is definitely on the larger side, so it is to be expected that the upkeep requires more hands and mindful fellow travel-mates. The mixed dormitories and several of the private rooms comes with an ensuite bathroom which we both found to be well taken care of. It definitely helps to keep extra TP on hand and be sure to bring your own towel and soap/shampoo!
Pro tip: Most hostels do not provide free towels and bathroom items so always plan ahead :)
Noise level: We found the hostel to be relatively quiet for the room size during night hours but we always recommend bringing your own ear plugs and eye mask if you’re a light sleeper. When sleeping in mixed bed dorms you never know how late the lights stay on, so always come prepared! We used our towels as privacy curtains and that worked out great!
Staff: One of the best perks of Villa Saint Exupery was the 24/7 front desk. There was always someone at the front desk to help answer questions, see who comes in and out, and provide helpful suggestions for local activities. We also spent some time chatting with the lovely bartenders!
Vibes: Villa Saint Exupery has no shortage of fun activities, a few of our favorites are:
Weekend pub crawls that start at Villa Saint Exupery Beach. The hostel’s Happy Hour is from 6 – 8PM. For 20€, you can participate in the pub crawl that includes four bars and ends at a local night club!
Scuba Diving Excursion, 60€, you can book a reservation through the hostel’s website!
Weekend morning yoga in a nearby park
You can read and learn more about all of the hostel’s local activities here!
Final Verdict:
We recommend visiting the French Riviera in springtime before the tourism crowds fill up and prices skyrocket. There is so much to do and see that even in our 4 days we easily felt like we could have stayed another 2 or 3!
If you are a traveller who spends their days exploring the town or relaxing on the beach and are looking for a budget-friendly accommodation, we’d recommend Villa Hostels Villa Saint Exupery Beach. With its central location, proximity to cafes, bars, and public transportation, it is the best pick for travelers who come and go.
Happy travels!
Caroline & Joe :)
VILLA HOSTELS
06 Rue Sacha Guitry
06000 Nice, France
Tel: +33 493 161 345
Mobile: +33 767 258 965 [whatsapp]
E-Mail: info@villahostels.com
