Interesting Hostel in Snowdonia National Park (Wales)

I plan to take a look as soon as possible. I tried in October, but couldnt find a time that suited them and me. (It's about 2 hours drive away). It does sound expensive for a hostel, but also it looks to have quite a few useful frills. The area is superb for walking. It also tops the rainfall totals on many days!

Plas Curig hostel:

The owner, impressed by the sociability of hostels when she toured Malaysia, chose to start a hostel with the same aims -- a conventional hostel with mainly dorms, plenty of single bathrooms but none en-suite, an informal lounge area, and TV in a separate lounge with a door that closes! It is not a boutique hostel as commonly understood: it has no gimmicks and does not try to suit the flashpacker, although the price for a dorm bed is on the high side. But what it does, it does extremely well. No meals are provided, but the kitchen is one of the best I've seen, and there's a large dining area with large tables which also serves as a discussion area (eg planning hikes). The drying room is excellent, as is needed in a place that frequently comes top of the rainfall league! The dorm beds have individual curtains for privacy, although the top bunks seem to be a bit difficult of access. The views are superb, buses stop by the gate, and you can climb a mountain or take a more gentle lowland walk from the hostel door.

One interesting use of the TV lounge is for mountain training classes, with the large TV used as the display.

We must be grateful to the owner for being able to buy the hostel and continue its use; the YHA were very ready to let it be sold as a staff residence for the nearby mountaineering centre.

Incidentally, they don't use Hostelworld or other booking agents, quoting the 10% commission as the reason. Probably they have a substantial clientele who frequently visit this area.