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Where to start? Imagine, it's the final night of your holiday and you have an early flight the following morning...

What you want is preferably quiet accommodation with easy access to your chosen airport transport (in this case the shuttle bus). Something simple and clean is fine as it's only an overnighter.

We booked on the phone the night before from Cordoba based on the above needs following the review in the usually trustworthy TimeOut guide.
True, as most of these things are indeed facts, but in my mind this place should never have been recommended.

This is what they wrote...
"A friendly hostel with cheap, cheerful rooms. The best is number 15, with windows giving fine views over the port. There's also a communal balcony."

It should read...

"A friendly-ish hostel (on the 4th floor of an office block, with nighttime skinhead bouncer for the night shift who locks everyone in the hotel over night... eek), very cheap, cheerless rooms with paper-thin walls. The worst would be number 15, with windows giving fine views over the noisy/busy road. There's also a communal balcony (and lounge which stinks of fag smoke)."

What you get...
Communal toilets (communal showers if you're on a stupidly tight budget and really can't afford one in your room) - all complete with 80s plastic concertina doors. Super thin walls - chatty neighbours optional. McDonalds - on the corner full of local teens until the early hours with obligatory noisy Vespa.

Don't waste your cash... it should be turned into a museum; it's exactly what I imagine early 90s Malaga was like (which is perhaps when the review was written).

Frustratingly it's probably always fully booked in high season due to the volume of holidaymakers in the city, and therefore will never clean up its act.

Hostal Derby - "Don't forget your ear plugs, nose plugs..."]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18138 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18135
Yes, the decor a is a little OTT including the large basket of faux fruit, (check the web link) but it made for an amusing start to the holiday.

We only stayed for two days (late Feb 2008) so didn't spend much time in or around the hostel but the location was perfectly within walking distance of the Cathedral (2mins), the Albaicin quarter (3/4mins) and the Alhambra (10/15mins to the ticket office); however, if your holiday party includes people not as fit as most then something a little closer to or in the Albaicin might be better as the city is sited on a gradiant with the hostel at the bottom.

Some of the rooms (and the one we stayed in) are situated in a building two doors from the main hostel with the reception.
We had the apartment, but looking back this was perhaps a waste of 20 euros per night as the only things (I imagine) we gained was a flight of stairs to reach our room on the top floor, a tiny 'kitchen' food prep area and tiny terrace with no view.
The kitchen wasn't much use due to the lack of pans (for the two-plate hob) or kettle so no night-time cocoa or early morning tea. Only coffee drinkers were catered for with a stove top coffee pot, but all they provided was clean etc.

Everything in the apartment was clean, tidy and hygenic however the notice in the bathroom reading 'Please do not flush towels, use the bin provided'; with a rather dubious looking open-topped wastepaper bin beside the toilet was a little offputting...

Overall, I'd recommend a stay because the owners are so nice and friendly, making no fuss over the fact we were a gay male couple... but perhaps not in the apartment as it wasn't much use in the end. Save those additional euros for some tapas or drinks in the bustling bar on the plaza instead or the fantastic veggie restaurant Botanico on C/Malaga round the corner.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/18135