A&O Leipzig Hauptbahnhof

“Bad Laundry Machines & Ear Plugs Provided”

As part of a nearly two-week trek throughout Germany in May/June 2024, my son (age 17) and I stayed at a&o Leipzig for 1 night. Our attraction to this hotel was its location and price as well as the fact that the hostel offered laundry services. You won’t be disappointed with location; being a sh... more

As part of a nearly two-week trek throughout Germany in May/June 2024, my son (age 17) and I stayed at a&o Leipzig for 1 night. Our attraction to this hotel was its location and price as well as the fact that the hostel offered laundry services. You won’t be disappointed with location; being a short walk to the massive Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and a 10–15-minute walk to the Marktplatz, the hostel is idea. The train station offers plenty of dining options as well as food markets and other shops. A run to the train station for McDonalds take-away or a few drinks is quick and easy. Of course, being a hostel gives you a low cost stay but being a hostel that is full of students brings problems such as noise with children screaming and opening/closing doors all night! Any check-in desk that offers ear plugs has certainly experienced issues with loud guest in its history; I recommend taking the ear plugs. However, our issue was not with the noise as children/students eventually go to sleep, our issue was with the laundry machines. As mentioned, the fact that the hostel offered laundry service was a selling feature for us as we needed to wash cloths by this point in our travels and several other hotels nearby only offer expensive off-site service. After washing cloths in the machines at a&o, our cloths came out smelling of “cigarettes with a twist of peppermint”... not a smell that you want to have fill your luggage for a week or more, yet alone of how you want to smell after putting on clean cloths in the morning. The laundry service was €4 for use of the washing machine (which comes with soap pucks) and €4 for use of the dryer. Something needs to be done about their dryer! Apart of this issue (and yes, the screaming students running up and down the hall until midnight), the room was ok, with clean beds and provided towels. We did get two twin beds as requested, but we had to tear off the duct tape hold the beds together and arrange the beds ourselves. There was plenty of hot water and water pressure in the morning. There is no air conditioning, only a typically large window that opens completely up regardless of being up 1 or 5 floors from the street below (something that you never find in hyper safety concerned North America). There is a large parking garage directly across the street (cost). A plus is that the lobby offers snacks and drinks at a reason cost (but the train station does as well). In review, if you are looking for a centrally located accommodation near the train station on a tight budget, yes a&o is a good option. But if price is not a major concern and you want to avoid students, look elsewhere. Be honest with the evaluation of this spot, it is not a hotel, it is a hostel.

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