Hababusch Hostel in Weimar, Deutschland

Run by students, Hababusch Hostel is student shared living and a guesthouse. The house is 200 years old and has not been modernised.

Weimar is a very small, yet very idyllic place that lives on its history. There are not many cars but instead more castles, parks, museums and cafés. Some of the best attractions include; Bauhaus University/Museum and Buchenwald concentration camp.

Our reception is open from 8am-10pm. Some of the services we provide include a self-catering kitchen, free city maps and hot showers. Blankets are provided and sheets can be hired. Accommodation comes in the form of mixed dormitories and private rooms.

Open all year!


Warning: Out-of-the-ordinary hostel

"Hababusch Hostel" - student dorm and independent backpacker's hostel.
Provincial Germany is still dominated by the hostels of the traditional Youth Hostel Federation (Hostelling Interna-tional) which require a membership and some of which still sustain curfew, lock-up times and other hardship.
The "new" type of metropolitan private hostel on the other hand is mostly very modern and efficient.
Our hostel is different. It is small, old and something of a coll-a-bo-ra-tive work-in-progress house-project for living, working and sharing.
Our aim is to facilitate easy encounter and interaction between locals, students, the residents of the house and the guests.
We care for environmental issues. E.g. we ask the guests to separate their waste and reuse plastic bags.

The house is mostly inhabited by students who take care of the bookings and receive the guests. That way we do not need a per---manent reception. On a rare occaison it happens that there is no-one in the house at all. (If you want to be absolutely sure, give us a call or let us know beforehand when you arrive.)
We are not professionals. We do this for fun. We operate the hos-tel as a non-profit organization on a low budget and we ask low prices:

The night in a dorm is 13,5€
in a double room is 12-20€ per person
in a single room is 15-30€.

Bed sheets are an extra 2,5€. Towels 50¢ to 1€. You are welcome to bring your own.
The facilities are bottom of the range. There is one washroom, two toilets and two showers on the guest floor. There are no sinks in the rooms. Some rooms cannot be locked. (Bring a padlock if you want to use the lockers.)
Some of our singles and doubles are very small and Unless advised differently we will also assign very small rooms as doubles (or singles) which may only have a "queen size" mattress (1,2m wide) and be connected to a dorm.
We hand out electronic keys to the entrance door (de-posit 10€).

Arrival and departure should take place between 8am and 22pm.
¡ If your booking is not guaranteed by an advance payment (see below) it will not be held past 4pm on the date of arrival unless a later arrival time is advised beforehand !
Rooms should be vacated by 11am. Luggage can be left in the hostel until departure.

We do not offer breakfast. There is a fully equipped, self-service kitchen though and super-mar-kets, bakeries and cafés can be found nearby.

The house is located in the historic center of Weimar.
It was build around 1770 in the baroque style. The house is still a work in progress. We are slowly renovat-ing the building and trying to recreate some of the original feeling of the house. So please note that the building has NOT been thoroughly modernised and that it partly still is in a bad shape.
Some people consider the atmosphere of the house some-what "alternative". The character of a self-organized student dorm is prevail-ing and furniture is all second hand, GDR style.

Weimar is small enough to be navigated on foot. A bus or a bike will take you to the surrounding castles and parks and to the concentration camp "Buchenwald". There is also a scenic bike-trail along the river through a very varied landscape. Bikes can be rented at the office of the "Grüne Liga", Goetheplatz 9b, 3rd floor.

15 minutes walking distance from the station:

Head downhill & continue straight to GOETHEPLATZ. At its far end, turn left into GELEITSTR. After 100m TURN RIGHT (to follow Geleitstrasse which changes its direction!). Find the entrance by the fountain, behind the vines.
Most buses from the station also run via GOETHEPLATZ (that's 1,7€. Shuttle transfer by us would be 8€).

Once you are at the hostel basically everything you might want to see is within walking distance.

We have singles, doubles, quads and dorm rooms. Some of the private rooms are very small and contain a single shared mattrass on a raised bed. Please enquire about the details by using the contact form at our web site.
Kitchen, bathroom, 2 showers and 2 toilets are shared among all guests.
Everything docks onto the central hall & common room.

The students living upstairs help with check-in/ check-out since we do not have a permanent reception.

It rarely happens that there is noone in the house at all. In this case we leave a list of phone numbers on the entrance door.

We hand out electronic keys for the front door (no curfew/ no lockout).

We are an independent backpackers hostel (no membership), run by a non-profit society (not professionals), in the fashion of a student shared house with guest beds (not usual).

Usually the hostel is a quiet place. It can be crowded in summer/ autumn. Also when there is a group staying. If you wish to relax and meditate maybe enquire about group bookings beforehand.

We care for the environment and ask our guests to separate their waste, turn off lights and heating whenever possible and to reuse plastic bags. Also please do not smoke in the hostel.

Tiny Weimar - city of pleasure & delight.
Dinky Weimar - the place to unwind after having had enough big city hustling. Cars are mostly replaced by horse carts & bicyles.
Peculiar Weimar - furnished with a surplus of culture & art.
Remarkable Weimar - no German city has more theatres, cafés, independent cinemas, free art collaboratives, more music students, actors and activists in subculture per capita than sweet Weimar.
Precious Weimar - the smallest european cultural capital.
Outlandish Weimar - its extensive landscape park equals the size of the old town centre. It starts (right) behind market square and continues out to the river flats.
Gemütliches Weimar - rent a bike at the hostel and go castle-and-park hopping (there is four of each). Ride downstream through the landscapes of historic viticulture of the so-called 'Thueringen Tuscany', see the 'GDR-Museum' and the 'Auerworld Willows Palace', float in the mineral waters of the famous 'Liquid Sound Spa' and return by train. Ride upstream past the limestone cliffs of the splendid 'Ilm' valley. Innocent little villages all over, displaying traces from the middle-ages and amalgemating socialist functionality with newfangled stylistic ineptitudes and deviations.