Cartagena
HostelsTop rated hostels in Cartagena
15 Reviews of Marlin Backpackers Hostel
The following reviews were written by minihostels members who stayed at the hostel. Please help your fellow travelers by indicating whether a review was helpful to you.
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17/10/09, 01:33
4
-1 
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10/02/10, 02:43
3
-1 Robert Nash
We enjoyed our stay, would recommend it to other travellers. a bit more expensive than the other hostels in the area but you get a good breakfast which the others dont provide so it evens things up. Dont book the olcano tour with them as we got it for 10,000 paesos cheaper around the corner at another hostel (casa vienna) Nice staff, clean hostels, private rooms are a little cramped but you get a masive fan which only has one speed - very fast!
Australia | 35-45 | Male
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02/04/10, 22:40
5
-2 Heather Kimmel
Marlin is on the same street as several other very similar hostels. It is about a five minute walk or less to the old city. I only stayed in this hostel my first night in Cartagena because my friend and I felt uncomfortable walking past the bums and prostitutes to get home at night. There are similarly priced hostels in the old city walls. We ended up staying at one we found while just walking around: "Hostel Porvenir." It was the same price as marlin, but didn't include breakfast.
United States | 25-35 | Female
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21/05/10, 20:36
2
-1 Niels de Carpentier
Nice hostel with aircon for a reasonable price.
Netherlands | 35-45 | Male
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16/08/10, 17:05
2
0 Jonathan Leicht
A pretty chilled hostel just across the street from Media Luna which seemed to the be happening place with swimming pool and terrace to relax. Marlin's offered a really secure place to stay within a neighborhood that bordered on the "shady" side. Positive was being close to the ocean, good places to eat and being within the old city.
Canada | 35-45 | Male
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26/08/10, 18:28
2
0 David Collis
Nice enough place. Dorms have aircon, doubles have only fan unless you pay a premium. Clean enough but rooms very small with only curtain separating bathroom area. Terrible breakfast, but it was free and there is a great aussie place down the road you can go to for great food. Staff are friendly and helpful and can book tours and busses for you.
United Kingdom | 25-35 | Male
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17/09/10, 20:43
1
-1 mark gremmen
Hotel Marlin has by far the most unfriendly staff of the places I have been to in Colombia. Rooms are small and could use some renovation. Dorm rooms seem ok. There are several better options in the same street or very close to Hotel Marlin.
Netherlands | 25-35 | Male
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05/10/10, 22:59
0
0 Selena Killeen
Our room was quite damp and perhaps too pricey as a result. A busy hostel but a good location and ok for the cost. Staff not overly attentive. Need more on the desk at busy times because you have to pay daily and its a big hostel.
New Zealand | 35-45 | Female
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07/10/10, 01:54
1
-1 Jace Cheal
basic, inexpensive and it has everything you need incl. b'fast, laundry service and wifi
Australia | 25-35 | Male
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14/11/10, 18:34
1
0 Andrew Hannath
We were very disappointed with this Hostel. When checking in they didn't have the room we had booked and moved us into one with bunk beds. The A/C only worked sometimes. The shower was horrendous, there is no shower head so the water just flows out like a tap, and there wasn't hot and cold, just one tap and one temperature - tepid. Wifi is included but only works in the lobby not the rooms. Definitely not worth the money, there are loads of better options for way less.
United Kingdom | 35-45 | Male
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25/11/10, 00:06
2
-1 Nicholas Lowe
We booked Marlin hostel for 3 nights and only stayed for one, for the location and cheapness but upon arrival the rooms were not as described. The first thing we noticed was the pungent smell of damp, the bathroom was tiny when i sat on the toilet my head and knees were jamed against the wall and there was no shower head. The shower curtain was the toilet door and the wall was incomplete. The room itself was not clean the bed was uncomfortable and the t.v. tube hissed like a annoyed snake and the pillows were rock hard. The kitchen area was so disgusting even after half an hour of cleaning it was unfit to use, the cooking utensils and pots and pans were of no use we were offered breakfast and declined with disgust. The next morning we walked 20 metres around the corner and found Casa Tatis for the same money without breakfast and was like changing from a grotty B&B to a 5 star hotel, a must stay in Getsemani, even a hostel across the road was better at half the price but no kitchen, almost everyone we spoke to who booked in advance changed hostels so dont book in advance just turn up in Getsemani and you will find cheaper and better.
United Kingdom | 35-45 | Male
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24/06/11, 03:51
0
0 Florian Flierenbaum
We spent there a week and it was not the best hostel I have ever been in. If you go through the floor it feels like a prison.. The room do not have windows, but our air-con was in a good condition. The price is the best argument to go there. I felt save anyway, but do not expect much...
Germany | 25-35 | Male
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08/08/11, 00:20
0
0 Ricardo Restrepo
Good location, nice staff. Really old building and too hot so better get AC room. If your plan is just to be out all day and come to sleep, this is it. Its over priced, but all hostels and hotels in cartagena are.
25-35 | Male
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08/08/11, 21:57
0
0 Julia Buddingh
Lonely Planet warns of this hotel that ´some visitors reported the rooms are damp´. ´Damp´ is not the word your looking for... its moldy. I checked out after one night instead of the planned 4 nights and had to wash all of my cloths at the new hotel because they reeked of mold. If I had to name one good thing about the room it would be that the fan worked. Other than that I really can´t think of anything... The lock didn´t work properly, the pillows felt like rocks, the room was so tiny I couldn´t fit my suitcase, there was one little window on the corridor that had matted glass but no curtains and the bathroom was so small that I could only sit on the toilet sideways will the sink was poking in my back.
Netherlands Antilles | 35-45 | Female
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10/02/12, 15:58
0
0 Kirsty Nethersell
Hostel did not seem to be aware of deposit paid through mini hostels website and initially tried to charge us the full amount.
25-35 | Female
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Liran J.Rosenfled
Hotel Marlin is the hostel with the best facilities I have been to in Colombia so far. Has a good price good comfortable rooms, with AC ( i think this was the only hostel in Getsemani, and the media luna stree that has AC) The hostel staff was extremely nice and helpful. Thanks Aura for all the attention.
Israel | 25-35 | Male