Emile Youth Hostel
Gibraltar's only hostel, with 42 beds inside the old city walls and a bar-lined square thirty seconds from the door. It scores lower than anywhere else we rank — and it is still the answer if you are not paying £150 a night.
- Beds
- 42
- Rooms
- Dorms · singles · doubles
- Setting
- Montagu Bastion
- To Casemates
- 30 seconds
- Stay Score
- 7.9
- Reviews
- 533
Our verdict
Written 2026-07-19
The Emile is the only hostel in Gibraltar, and everything about how you should read its score follows from that.
Forty-two beds in dorms, singles and doubles, inside the old City Walls at Montagu Bastion, thirty seconds from the pubs of Casemates Square. Breakfast, linen and duvets are in the rate. It is family run, it takes school and sporting groups, and it will cook for you if you ask in advance.
It scores 7.9 from 533 reviews — the lowest of anything we rank, and bottom quarter against a Gibraltar median of 8.9. The criticisms are consistent and specific rather than vague: tired bunks, lumpy pillows, and no lockers at all, which reviewers raise more often than anything else. Tripadvisor places it near the bottom of Gibraltar's specialty lodging.
None of which makes it the wrong choice. Gibraltar has no other hostel and no other budget bed. The next cheapest room on the Rock is roughly triple the price, so the real comparison is not against the Sunborn — it is against staying in La Línea and crossing the frontier twice a day, or not coming at all.
Book it for what it is: a clean, central, basic bed in a territory that otherwise has none. Bring a padlock and do not arrive after eleven.
What it gets right
- The only hostel in Gibraltar — there is no alternative at this price
- Genuinely central, inside the City Walls and beside Casemates Square
- Breakfast, linen and duvets included rather than charged as extras
- Family run, with group rates and catering on request
What it gets wrong
- No lockers, which is the most common complaint by some distance
- Bunks and bedding are tired — spacious dorms, unspacious comfort
- Reception closes at 23:00, so late arrivals need to plan
- 7.9 is the lowest score of any ranked property in Gibraltar
Our tip · Arriving
Reception runs 08:00 to 23:00, seven days. That is the single most important fact here — a late flight or a slow frontier crossing can leave you locked out, so call ahead if you will be arriving after eleven.
Our tip · Security
There are no lockers. Reviewers raise this more than anything else. Bring a bag you are willing to leave, or use the left-luggage store at reception during opening hours.
Our tip · Groups
Rates drop for groups and the hostel will cook for you with notice — the reason it fills with school and sports parties. Worth knowing whether you are booking one or trying to avoid one.
Photos
Photos: GibraltarHotels.net
3 room types
Every room here looks over the Bay of Gibraltar except the Rock View. Rates vary by date and room grade — check current prices before booking.
| Room | Sleeps | Bed |
|---|---|---|
| Dormitory bed | Shared, up to 6 | Bunk |
| The reason to come. Reviewers call the dorms spacious and the bunks tired in the same breath — both are true. | ||
| Single room | 1 | Single |
| Double room | 2 | Double |
| Cheaper than any hotel room in Gibraltar by a wide margin, and the closest thing here to privacy. | ||
Facilities
Included
- Continental breakfast in the rate
- Free linen and duvets
- Showers
- Left luggage at reception
On request
- Cooking facilities for groups
- Packed lunches and BBQs with notice
- Excursions into Gibraltar, Spain and Morocco
- Discounted group rates
Not provided
- No lockers
- No lift
- Reception closed 23:00–08:00
Practical
- Family run
- Thirty seconds from Casemates Square
- Inside the old City Walls
About Town Area
Gibraltar's historic centre and one of its seven districts, running from Casemates Square at the north end down Main Street to Southport Gates. Casemates is the point most visitors reach first, on foot from the frontier or up from the cruise terminal, and its old barrack arches now hold the bar and restaurant terraces. Behind and above Main Street the lanes are residential, and between them they hold more short lets than anywhere else on the Rock. Central and walkable to almost everything; loud on the square at a weekend, noticeably quieter three streets back.
We track 59 places to stay in Town Area. Compare them
Walk times
Estimated from mapped distance, not measured on foot. Gibraltar is steep — the return leg uphill takes longer than the number suggests. The cable car base is listed as a landmark: the cable car itself is closed for rebuilding until 2027.
- Main Street
- 7min
- Cruise terminal
- 14min
- Cable car base
- 21min
- Spanish frontier
- 22min
What reviewers consistently say
Our summary of recurring themes, written in our own words. We do not reproduce review text.
- Being the only hostel on the Rock dominates the reviews — most people are choosing it on price and availability rather than merit.
- Dorms are described as roomy; the bunks and pillows in them are not.
- Absence of lockers is the single most repeated criticism.
- Staff and the family-run atmosphere draw consistent warmth, even in otherwise critical reviews.
Where this score comes from
We do not reproduce other sites' review text. We do tell you exactly where the number comes from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Bottom quarter in Gibraltar
Gibraltar's median is 8.9, with the middle half of the market between 8.5 and 9.3. Guest ratings bunch up near the top of the scale, so 7.9 means less on its own than it does against the local market.
7.1median 8.910
Benchmarked against 140 ranked Gibraltar properties, 2026-07-19.
Booking.com rating as read on 2026-07-19 — our final Booking snapshot, since the feed that supplied it has been discontinued. Other platforms may score this property differently; we use Booking's rating consistently rather than picking whichever number flatters a listing.
What we read
Read the originals on Google or Tripadvisor. We would rather send you to the source than quote it back at you.
The facts
- Rooms
- 42
- Operator
- Family run
- Area
- Town Area
- Aspect
- Inland
- Address
- Montagu Bastion, 25 Line Wall Road, Gibraltar
Reviewed now
What guests say right now
The current ratings for Emile Youth Hostel, shown unchanged. Read 1 September 2026, from 16 recent reviews.
- It is the cheapest bed in Gibraltar and reviewers judge it as exactly that — the price and the central location are the two reliable positives.
- The people redeem it: staff are called genuinely kind, there's a community-of-locals feel, and one couple's review has the manager and a colleague standing as their wedding witnesses.
Worth knowing. The fabric is tired and reviewers don't soften it: damaged doors, reports of insects, no kitchen or laundry, towels not provided, and UK-only sockets. More than one guest felt the photos oversold it.
Worth knowing. The two platforms disagree (2.6 on Tripadvisor, 3.7 on Google) — read that spread as variance between rooms and expectations, not measurement error.
A bed and four walls at a price nothing else in Gibraltar approaches, run by people reviewers genuinely like, in a building those same reviewers describe as overdue serious work. For a backpacker who needs the cheapest night and packs a towel, it does the job; for anyone else the reviews say to budget up.