I stayed here for 2 nights and had a ball. When i arrived i couldn't believe the location, it was amazing. Right underneath the Castle!
One of the nights i was there they had a free pub crawl, which included a half price dinner! There were a lot of people there from Castle Rock and also from another hostel and it was a reall good night. A great way to meet some fellow travellers.
I was in one of the bigger dorms, i think there were about 20 beds, but the room was massive, therefore you didn't feel like you were in each others pockets. The lockers were good, and i thought the bathrooms were really good as well!
The staff while i was there were fantastic, i lost the keys to the locks on my bags, they searched around and hunted out a tool that would help me fix that little problem so i very grateful for that!
The place does have a lot of long termers but i never once had an issue with them, in fact it turned out someone i used to play basketball against from primary schools was one of them, which made the stay!
Ps: I must add that i went on the Macbackpackers 1 day tour and it was brilliant, probably the best tour for backpackers i have done anywhere in the world! Anyone who has the chance, i can't recommend it highly enough!

I was in Edinburgh this past weekend for a conference, and chose to stay at Castle Rock. Having traveled a fair amount in Europe, I keep my expectations pretty low, but was pleasantly surprised at this hostel.

Finding the hostel was easy. It was closer to the castle, the Royal Mile, and our conference site than expected. Checkin was easy-just remember to bring some cash for the key deposit. Our room, an 8-bed male-only dorm) was just at the top of the steps. Despite its location adjacent to the main entry hall, it never got too loud at night or in the morning. The beds and floors were clean. The bedside individual lockers and safes make it easy to keep your stuff safe at night and while you're away during the day--this is the most secure hostel I've seen anywhere. The bathrooms and showers were great--clean, fully functioning, and have an inside shower curtain to keep your cloths dry while you shower! Breakfast is simple but adequate, and as always, cheap.

If you understand that youth hostels have young, and not always mature, guests staying at them, you should have a great time at Castle Rock. If you're looking for a quiet, no-nonsense place, you'll be best served to look elsewhere.

This was our second weekend trip of our semester abroad and we we really impressed with Castle Rock and Edinburgh.

We arrived into Edinburgh around 7:30 am after a long night on a bus from London. We found the hostel and though a room wasn't ready yet they allowed us to check in, store our luggage and have full use of the facilities.

The hostel was a huge lounge where a lot of people gathered at all times of the day. You could get breakfast (cereal, juice, rolls, etc.) for 1.90.

Later that night, before heading out on the town, we all met in the lounge for some drinks. The place was packed and everyone seemed to be having a good time. They have a pool table, juke box, and huge tables and couches for people to hang out. It was a really awesome environment and the best part of the hostel.

The rooms were clean and lockers with safes were provided. The staff was incredibly friendly and even allowed us free internet access to watch the Boston Red Sox play the Rockies in game 3.

When I head back to Edinburgh I will be booking my room at the Castle Rock and so should you.

My boyfriend and I stayed here one night before going on the MacBackpackers 3 Day Highland Romp. They booked it for us, and we were lucky and got in the 10 person room they have there. The hostel is quite large, I think it used to be the residence for the church it’s attached to, so the rooms have really high ceilings and there’s lots of space. Each bed has a locker with a safe inside, and I felt quite safe. The location is really quite wonderful. If you’re walking from the train station, be prepared to walk up a lot of hills, but the castle truly is just above the hostel! There is a huge kitchen there, as well as a common area that was always full of lots of people. There was one computer available, but we waited for hours and never got a chance to check our email on it. But if you have a laptop with you they have wireless internet for your use. The breakfast wasn’t very good. We walked down to the little convenience store instead. They do allow families to stay there (it isn’t a youth hostel or an under 30 or anything like that) and we had a family of 4 in our room. So there were young kids in our room which I found a bit uncomfortable. But for a hostel it wasn’t a bad place! The MacBackers tour was also AMAZING and I highly recommend it! The highlands truly are amazing!