5 Isfahan Dorms: Cheap Accommodation for Budget Travelers in Iran
Isfahan is a city bustling with activity, filled with the most amazing sights and attractions, and just waiting to be visited. Like most major cities in Iran, it offers a variety of places of accommodation, but none of them is as affordable as dormitories, and none is as exciting and enjoyable when properly run. We want to get deeper into Isfahan dorms and Isfahan hostels here, but first, let’s talk a bit about the concept!
Dorms
Ever since the first youth hostel in the world, dormitories have been an integral part of these places of accommodation. Moreover, a lot of people have had the experience of state-funded or private university dorms, so the concept should not be foreign to anybody. What we’re trying to define and differentiate here are dormitories in hostels.
While they are still the cheapest option, dorms in hostels aren’t the poorly managed, inattentively put together, cramped images that come to mind. In fact, since they are the most frequented option for tourists, a lot of Isfahan hostels put their focus on their dorms and put in extra effort to add to their comfort.
Pros
The best thing about dormitories is their pricing. When you’re traveling on a budget and would rather not spend too much on your accommodation, they’re the best option. In Isfahan, the price range for private rooms starts from around 15 Euros in hostels to 80+ Euros in hotels and boutique hotels, while you can get a dormitory bed for as cheap as 4 Euros per night, saving you at least 11 Euros to spend on buying handicrafts and souvenirs, buying food, getting tours, and more.
The other thing is, in dormitories, you get to meet people from all around the globe, and since you’re sharing a room with them, you will end up interacting with them in different ways no matter what. If you like socializing with different folks, or if you’re trying to be better at doing so, staying in a dormitory for a few nights can be ideal.
Cons
Let’s face it, you may just not be the kind of person who can stay in a shared room. Aside from the conceptual issue, the real problem arises when a dormitory is not well attended to. Hygiene should be taken extra seriously in dorms, both by the people who are staying there and the people who are responsible for them. Otherwise, everything falls apart. There’s also the issue of different habits that different people have, which may or may not bother you. Some people snore, some move around a lot when asleep, some aren’t so tidy, etc. You generally just have to accept these habits, since there’s not much you can do about them.
Are There Mixed Dormitories in Isfahan?
There’s a concept in Islam called “Mahramiiat”, which essentially forbids men and women who aren’t related by blood or the bond of marriage to interact with each other, especially physically. Case in point, Iranian men and women who aren’t “Mahram” with one another cannot stay in the same room, but you may have seen Isfahan hostels advertise their mixed dormitories. That’s because this rule does not apply to foreigners, so unless you have a personal issue with staying in a mixed dorm (in which case most hostels offer female dormitories as well), you’re good to go.
Student Accommodation & Isfahan Dorms
Most places of accommodation -including hostels- offer discounts for guests intending on having a long-term stay. If you’re in Isfahan for work/study purposes, hostel dormitories would be ideal for you. There may even be the option of working for room and board in some cases, which might be of interest to you. Since we will talk about student hostels in a more thorough blog, let’s just suffice to say that Isfahan dorms are the best options (fiscally and personally) for student accommodation.
Standards
Quality of Accommodation:
There are some base standards that you should expect from any Isfahan dorm. Now some hostels go above and beyond to cater to you, but we will get to them a bit later. First of all, there’s the matter of the bedframe, mattress, pillow, and linen. It makes a lot of difference if you’re lying on a mattress that’s on a wooden bedframe, and a mattress that’s on a metal bedframe.
You obviously expect to have a clean bed too; it’s a huge bummer to see someone’s hair or a stain from some unidentifiable source on your mattress or linen. Isfahan hostels tend to change each linen set after every checkout, but if something has slipped their eyes, you absolutely have the right to tell them about it and expect a solution.
Dorm Rules:
The second standard every Isfahan dorm must abide by is to put in place some rules, because in any communal space, without a certain guideline, things will go awry. These rules could be curfews, they could be about how personal belonging are placed, or about making noise. In any case, it is the hostel’s responsibility to place said rules AND to provide the amenities that they might require.
The Matter of Privacy in Dorms:
The third and one of the most important is the matter of privacy. No matter how sociable you are, no matter how much you like meeting new people, you have certain limits. A privacy curtain for your bed is the first step, as well as a personal locker. The size of the room also factors into this, if your dorm is too small, you can’t have any privacy no matter what.
Amenities Provided by Your Hostel:
Lastly, there are the basic amenities that Isfahan dorms must provide. Having a reading light above your bed is nice, but not so much so if the room doesn’t have good lighting. You need a power outlet next to your bed to be able to charge your electronic devices with ease; You need an air conditioner that can service the entire room; You need a personal locker; you need to have access to at least one bathroom. These are just part of the things you would require.
Isfahan Hostels with Good Dormitories
Obviously, staying in a better-equipped Isfahan dorm means staying in a more expensive dorm. Finding that hostel that strikes a nice balance, with the right value for money is the goal for everyone, so we want to try and help you with that. We’ve already listed some of the best Isfahan hostels in another blog, but now we’d like to talk about the best Isfahan dorms.
Isfahan Dorms:
When it comes to prices, you can’t find cheaper accommodation than Isfahan Heritage Hostel. Their dormitories (they offer 12-bed, 10-bed, 8-bed, and 4-bed dorms) may be a bit too cramped, which is not great, but then again, their prices. You do have to consider that you won’t have much privacy, and that you may spend many a restless night in Isfahan Heritage dorms.
Ragrug Hostel offers 12-bed and 10-bed dorms at some pretty cheap prices as well. The matter of personal space can still be an issue, but the rooms are a bit bigger than they are in Isfahan Heritage. Chilla Hostel’s dorms (two 6-bed dormitories) are pretty good, since the hostel is new, and a lot of care has been put into these rooms. They’re a bit more expensive compared to other Isfahan dorms, but still reasonable, especially when considering their bigger size.
Howzak Boutique Hostel in Isfahan is one of the few hostels in Isfahan that offers a dormitory without bunk beds. There are 3 single beds in their dorm, in an approximately 15 m2 space that can also be offered as a private room. This Se-Dari dorm is not as inexpensive as one might hope, but is quite beautiful, and the hostel itself offers some pretty great services.
As previously mentioned, there are some hostels that go above and beyond when it comes to services and amenities. For example, having multiple bathrooms, or separate toilets and showers is certainly more ideal. Free breakfast and Wi-Fi, workspaces for students/workers, exclusive bathrooms, a central location, and access to a communal kitchen are just some examples of how a hostel can modify its dormitories.
Mahbibi Hostel’s Dorm
In Mahbibi, the first experience we had in running hostel, we tried different ways to modify our dormitory. We decreased the number of beds -even though we had the space- to make sure the room wouldn’t feel like a university dorm, did many redesigns, and used the feedbacks our guests gave us to finally make a dorm that would be fit for everyone. After that, in Sarv, we were able to use our experience from Mahbibi to create the best Isfahan dorm possible.
Sarv Hostel’s Dorms
We have the largest Isfahan dorm rooms by a large margin (75 m2 for our 12-bed mixed dorm and 60 m2 for our 8-bed female dorm), and all the amenities you could possibly need, at only 6 Euros per night! Sarv’s dormitories are ideal for both long term and short term accommodations:
In our dorms, you will have your personal locker, privacy curtain, reading light, and a power outlet. The room is lit from the ceiling as well as multiple lamps. Additionally, you will have access to your own exclusive bathrooms right next door (separate toilet and shower, three of each, so that you won’t have to wait until someone’s out of the shower to use the toilet or vice versa), our fully equipped communal kitchen and fridge, a workspace where you can be sure you won’t be bothered, clothes’ racks and shelves, and laundry service. Breakfast and free Wi-Fi are also included in your stay.
What more could you want? Book direct right now!
Read our latest post about hostels in Iran here! You can also read our blogs about hostels and dorms in other cities of our country!
make sure to take a look at our other Isfahan blogs!
