It’s been almost a week since I’ve returned from my summer holidays (in a nutshell: 4 days in beautiful Portugal with the family, 2 days in wonderful Lisbon visiting old friends, 1 day in surprising Leipzig with the girls, 3 days on the amazing Melt Festival with my friends and 4 days chilling out in Berlin with one friend) and I’m still adjusting to normal life.  So many bags to unpack, so much laundry to do, so many photos to edit, so many impressions to process and so many blog posts to write!  On top of that, I’m starting my new job at a young architecture firm next Monday (yay!), so I might need some time to adjust to that too.

Anyway, when I was in Lisbon I stayed at the amazing Oasis Backpackers Mansion, for old time’s sake.  This is where I stayed for a week and a half during my apartment search in 2012 and the place that immediately made me feel at home in this new city.  It’s where I made my first friends (both hostel staff and guests, who were also moving to Lisbon or just visiting and decided to stay because they loved the city so much) when I moved here and where I still keep coming back.   I’ve already mentioned this hostel in my Lisbon city guide, but I felt that it still needed a proper introduction, so take a look after the break for more photos and information!

Oasis Backpackers Mansion, Rua Santa Catarina 24, 1200-402 Lisbon - website - bookings - facebook - instagram - twitter

First off, the location is amazing (so amazing actually that I moved to an apartment around the corner): the hostel is located on walking distance of Bairro Alto (bars, restaurants and cute shops), Cais do Sodre (clubs and the train station that can take you to the beach or Bélem), Chiado (shopping and the metro), one of the stops of tram 28 (often filled with tourists but the beautiful tram takes you along the best views of the city.  Bonus points: it also stops in front of my old front door!)  and one of my favorite viewpoints: Miradouro da Santa Catarina.

The hostel consists of the main building, where you find the reception, the communal kitchen where delicious meals are prepared for you (but more on that later), the living room, the bar, the courtyard and several rooms and bathrooms.  Apart from this building, there are two other buildings (one next to the mansion, the other one around the corner) where the dorms are small apartments in itself, including bathrooms and kitchens.   For example, I stayed in a ten person dorm, which meant I shared a small apartment (with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and cute little roof terrace) with ten other people.  I prefer this over an actual dorm anytime!

About that food: every nigh they offer a delicious 3 course dinner, including wine, for merely 7,50 euros (if you ask for it on time, they can prepare a vegetarian alternative for you), which is the perfect occasion to get to know the other hostel guests.  The standard (and usually disappointing) hostel breakfast is not included, but instead they offer three different decent breakfast options for only 3,5 euros.  If that ain’t a good deal, I don’t know what is.

But the real treat in this hostel is the atmosphere among the guests and the staff.  Even though most of the staff that made me feel at home 3 years ago, has left, I still recognize the welcoming atmosphere whenever I visit.  The Oasis staff members do their best to make you feel at home right away, offer a different kind of Lisbon tour (try the cais do ginjal tour which takes you here and here, or the chapito tour which takes you to, well, chapito.) and even manage to make pub crawls (which I usually avoid like the plague) fun by making it feel as if you’re going out with friends.  Proof that their approach works: that bartender in one of the previous photos is just pretending to work there for the photo, he’s actually one of the many regular guests at Oasis that I’ve met during my past few visits.  You’re always certain to run into a familiar face if you’re returning to Oasis!

In all honesty, I wouldn’t come to the Oasis Backpackers Mansion in Lisbon for a quiet getaway, but if you’re traveling alone or love to get social with other travelers, enjoy good food, prefer to skip the touristy stuff and get off the beaten track instead, this is the perfect place for you!

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Oasis Backpackers Hostel kindly gifted me a free stay.  All opinions are 100% my own.  Thank you for supporting partners that allow me to introduce you to new destinations!