Hostels in Cape Town
How many there are, what guests score them, which district they sit in, and a live search that returns hostels only.
Book a hostel in Cape Town
Live dorm and private-room availability from our booking partner, hostels only, booked and paid for here. Free cancellation is marked where it applies.
Hostels are sold here by AirOrSeaTravel through our booking partner, Nuitée, which takes the payment; the reservation is held with the hostel. The search returns hostels only, not hotels with a cheap room. How this works, and who to contact.
Our booking partner lists 43 hostels in Cape Town, out of 6,750 places to stay of every kind — 0.6% of everywhere it lists in the city, a small share: this is a city where nearly everything on offer is a hotel or an apartment. Across 22 hostels with at least 50 reviews, the average guest score is 7.9 out of 10, 1.1 below the 9.0 its hotels average. Guests have left 16,929 reviews across them.
By postal code, hostels here cluster in 8001 (8), 8005 (3), 7925 (2). That is also where the city’s hotels are densest, so the cheap beds are in the same district as the expensive ones.
Groups with more than one hostel here: Nightsbridge (2). A group hostel is the safer booking when you cannot read the reviews in the local language; an independent one is usually the better room.
| Hostel | Reviews | Score | Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 91 Loop Boutique Hostel | 3,701 | 8.2 | 8001 |
| Villa Viva Cape Town | 1,944 | 8.5 | — |
| Long Street Backpackers | 1,399 | 8.2 | 8001 |
| Urban Hive Backpackers | 1,357 | 8.4 | 8001 |
| THE BIG - Luxury Backpackers | 1,275 | 9.8 | 8005 |
| Never at Home Green Point | 1,236 | 8.8 | 8005 |
| Never at Home Kloof Street | 983 | 8.6 | 8001 |
| CURIOCITY Green Point | 968 | 8.1 | — |
| A Sunflower Stop Backpackers | 834 | 8.4 | — |
| Big Blue Backpackers | 770 | 7.1 | 8051 |
Review counts and scores are the partner’s, recorded when this page’s data was compiled. They rank properties; they are not a substitute for reading recent reviews before you book.
If none of them suit
Cape Town has 6,750+ places to stay of every kind. A private room in a hostel and the cheapest room in a small hotel often cost about the same, and which is better depends on whether you want the common room or the quiet. Every kind of stay in Cape Town.
Common questions
How many hostels are there in Cape Town?
43 are listed by our booking partner for Cape Town, out of 6,750 places to stay of every kind — 0.6% of everywhere the partner lists there.
Are hostels in Cape Town any good?
Guests score them an average of 7.9 out of 10 across 22 hostels with 50 or more reviews, against 9.0 for the city’s hotels. A gap that size is worth reading the reviews over: check whether the complaints are about noise and cleanliness or about the fittings, which a hostel is not sold on.
Which part of Cape Town has the most hostels?
Postal code 8001 has the most (8), followed by 8005 (3). Check that against where you actually want to be at night; the cheapest cluster is not always the one near the stations you will use.
Can I book a hostel in Cape Town on this site?
Yes. The search on this page shows live dorm and private-room availability for hostels only, and the booking is completed here; payment is taken by our booking partner and the reservation is held with the hostel.
How are the journey times on this page worked out?
From straight-line distance and typical speeds for each mode, so they are estimates for planning, not timetables. Road and rail routes run 15–25% longer than the straight line.
Where these facts come from
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
- Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
- OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
- Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines
Data compiled 14 September 2026. Hotel and hostel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.