This hostel is a jem. Great value. For a dorm room $10-15, depending on female or mix, you get a clean space, hot shower, lockers, kitchen, HBO, and a free breakfast with fresh coffee. Very safe, and walking distance from the major bus depots. Across the street from the hare Krishna center, so you can hear the chanting at 5:45 pm. I came back on a second visit to San Jose. Love la Cuesta!

This place is very cheap and the staff are super-friendly. I would recommend it if you are just staying for a night travelling through. The location is good too, very close to Central Avenue.

However, whilst the place is clean, it has its faults. The place looks cute on the outside, and the reception area is nice too. Unfortunately once you go down the corridor and turn around the corner, the looks go down quite a bit. My room was very basic, simple and smelled a bit musty. The bathroom was clean but just a little too basic. The whole room needed a bit of TLC. And it's quite noisy.

I'm writing this while I'm still staying here. This is a very charming old building. All wood with many windows and architectual quirks. It is in a good central location (we walked here from the bus station) and clean. The staff is nice and the public areas are bright and sunny with a few stained glass windows. Only problems are that most of the rooms have noise issues. Our room for instance, was surrounded on two sides with hallways. And, with old wood floors, their are lots of noises as people walk by. Another guest here has a room on the front side of the building and she told us she couldn't sleep because of loud music across the street.
Another thing on the plus side, the breakfast is pretty good including fresh pinnapple, cereal, toast, juice and coffee. So, if you are not noise sensitive or have your own earplugs, this place is good. If not there are probably better places for you.

This place is tired. For $40 a night we got a very basic room that you could barely swing a cat in, an ice COLD shower and a breakfast of cereal or bread. The guy on the desk seemed ok but other members of staff around the hotel are miserable and rude. The only redeeming feature is its location which is fairly central for San Jose.
Overall I was very disappointed, felt ripped off and would not recommend.