YHA South Downs

Hostel

Lovely place… had just run across the downs to Alfriston and back. Had a much needed pot of tea, sandwich & cake. Amazing. Staff couldn't have been more helpful or friendly and everywhere was so clean and spotless… will definitely be popping in again!

Very friendly staff, usual high standards from the YHA, the pods are great fun, with a small area for BBQs. Can be a bit of a wait for a shower in the morning. Great access to the south downs.

Great place to stop on your South Downs Way challenge! Friendly staff in the cafe served us an ice cream treat. Clean toilets were child friendly. Parking available for visitors. Beautiful barn conversion for lodging. Would be idyllic if it was situated further away from the busy road.

Great location for us. Room basic, but what you except from YHA. Room was clean and bed made up. Staff friendly and helpful. Food in cafe good.

Beautiful place, too bad the road is so close.

In 30 years of hostelling, YHA South Downs is the best hostel I've been to. For location, staff, cleanliness, price… everything, this hostel can not be beaten. We received the warmest and friendliest welcome, and the staff were willing to help us with our dorm allocation request. We were shown to our dorm, which was quite unnecessary but entirely welcome. The dorm was clean, everything was well equipped, the building was interesting, our fellow guests were pleasant… We had a great time here. We opted for supper club and breakfast, and both were very good. The location is a perfect distance along the downs between Brighton and Eastbourne, a day's easy walk either side for a lovely walking/hostel weekend. (We stayed at YHA Eastbourne on the first night, a decision I very much regret — see my other review). We will very definitely return here to try out the camping pods as soon as we can.

A flagship Youth Hostel located on the South Downs Way. This place could easily be converted into a 5 star country hotel. There is a cafe restaurant with a limited menu and a range of room/dorm options.

Always consistently good. YHA got it right with the pods. Clean facility. Good service.

After a long drive isle if wight 2 London London to here gr8 reception from staff took us to our room very comfy and clean need at least 1chair In room 4 back support the staff pointed out all the facilities had a lovely bath now looking 4word to cook brk fast in morn they do do continental as well if brk fast is good will be back very soon thank u team y h a lots love Keith n sue I o w xx.

A nice place to stop if walking the south downs way and can even stay here Friendly staff and dog friendly too.

Clean, modern, friendly. Right on the South Downs wat, perfect for walking holidays or, as I did, recovering from hard core antique shopping in nearby Lewes. Sort out your train though, they don't all stop at the South Ease station on the way to Newhaven.

Excellent site… In spite of not speaking well the English the girls behaved great with me. I loved It and would go back. Sure!

Just used their meeting room. Seemed like a great place overall though. Good cafe.

Place was lovely and remote. Everything was available that you might expect for a hostel in the middle of Sussex. Everything clean, including bathrooms. Wi-Fi wasn't available in rooms, breakfast serving times were way too early and the walls were too thin, so you could hear the traffic at night.

A very nice hostel, with delicious food. Better than the food of the YHA York.

The place was a little bit too decentral. The rooms and toilets was OK. The Breakfast was OK. The lounge was good. The kitchen was a good option for saving money.

Pleasant people. Good cooking facilities and clean bathrooms. Rooms are a bit noisy. The breakfast was oke. Had a comfortable stay here!

Great location, but extremely noisy rooms in the Farmhouse building (you could hear everything that was going on inside and outside the building) which made it really hard to get a good night's sleep unfortunately. Other than that, extremely friendly and welcoming staff and very clean premises. Maybe a bit too expensive for dorms with shared bathrooms.

Used the cafe as a stop gap on a long hike. Had a nice cuppa and had ok service. It was no more, or no less, than I expected. Would go back. The place in general looks lovely and would have no qualms booking to stay here in the future.

A quick stop at the YHA to top on essentials whilst doing South downs way by bike. The hostel was clean and the staff were friendly. Topped up water for free, charged my phone and enjoyed a nice ice cream. 0 complaints.

I generally stop here on bike rides to use the loos and sometimes for a coffee & cake (check for the £3 specials). Service can be very slow and chaotic if there's a big group or it's busy. It's ideally placed on the South Downs Way near a railway station and the Egrets Way, and the limited views are lovely if you can sit outside in the flint-walled courtyard. The outside benches are on a slope, so it's not ideal. For cyclists there's public tools & stand. There's also an outside tap and hose. Also two other taps, one outside the cafe near the side road and one on the nearby church wall in Southease.

We chose it for two reasons, introducing our boys (3 & 6) to camping, via their new glamping and camping pods with the convenience of all the hostel facilities and it is really convenient for visiting Drusillas Park. The tent was bigger than expected and the boys really enjoyed it, it got really cold at night (3℃ outside! ) but there were plenty of duvets and futons so we were warm and cosy. Good to have a solar powered light and phone charger which worked well considering it was overcast and rainy some of the time. Staff at hostel were very friendly, helpful and accommodating. Camping shower/toilets good and self catering kitchen facilities really good condition.

We stayed in one of the bell tents in early April, it is absolutely freezing, but quite an adventure and great fun. Plus the breakfast here is probably the best I've had at a YHA hostel. Particularly the scrambled eggs. Friendly helpful staff, great facilities, highly recommend it.

Friendly staff. Clean and affordable accommodation with great location.

The staff in the café were very nice although the baked potato was underdone.

The hostel consists of 2 main buildings, the farmhouse and the long barn, farmhouse rooms have a mix of ensuite and shared bathroom rooms, the long barn rooms are all shared. Rooms range from 2 to 6 bed rooms and 2 dorms, of which are only 6 beds and non mixed. Cleanliness is very good and beds are now made up for you rather than having to make them yourself. Location is very good, being 2 mins walk from a train station and 10 mins drive from lewes. It is located close to a busy road, but you barely notice it. The lounge is spacious and self catering facilities well stocked. The cafe is open to the public daily and provides breakfast and eveing meals at a fantastic price point. Staff are very friendly and will try to help wherever possible.