Vista Hostel Jeolikote, Nainital

I and my wife stayed there for a week. It’s a beautiful place. Very calm & quiet. Overall 4/5 rating. Detailed review below: 1. Reaching the Place : since it’s located within the mountains , you need to trek 1 km into the woods by the village to reach the hostel. So carry less luggage & only backpacks. Also good trekking shoes are required. My wife was scared at a few places during the trek, but it was good 2. Stay at the Hostel: we stayed in a small mud & stone house ( private) ; it had the basics - bed , light , pillows and blankets. During the day it might warm if it doesn’t rain. And if it rains for a few days continuously the room starts feeling damp. There are dorms also with bunk beds. 3. Restrooms : these are common and water is a big problem if it doesn’t rain. We faced 2 days with almost nil water, washrooms become messy. Staff are helpful but they can only do so much when water isn’t there. This is the only reason for not giving a 5/5 4. Food : wholesome home cooked food . You can as the cook ( for us it was Babaji, the guy in yellow in the group photo) , he is a great guy, never says no to anything. We loved it. Fruits , Maggi, sandwiches, freshly baked cakes , pakora , tea ….. 5. People : This is one of the best things of this place, the people and their company is amazing. 6. What to do : there is 300 mbps Internet so you can keep on scrolling Instagram the whole day , but this is what I used to do : Wake up at 530 - see sunrise , have a coffee , feel the cold breeze , wait for the sun to become hot by 8 Yoga class : 8-9am Breakfast: 9-11 whole chatting and discussing life with all the guests Then I used to trek for 1-2 hrs Lunch Sit and chats again , read books , admire the nature. Trek again for 2 hrs to the sunset point or Temple Sit with fellow hostellers in the evening- do a class of boxing , sing by the bonfire, play card , jigsaw puzzle , discuss life , chill and go to bed at 11.

I stayed there in June 2021...I got stucked there because of lockdown.. First of all this is not the place for workation... During my stay...I faced lots of electricity and wifi problems and when I told all these to their host..He was like jungle mein to aisa hoga hi. why did you open the hostel if you cant provide these basic things.. and If you cant then don't promote your hostel for workation. .!! They have very less staff. They will host 30 people..But food arrangement for these people are pathathic...I as a guest helped them in kitchen.. Helped them to make rotis for 30 people..!! What they will do..when you will gonna stay there they will make you friend and ask you to do all these hostel related works for free. Their chef tried to kill me because uske upar kuch devta aaye the. One of their volunteer saved my life. No one said anything about this incident..!!Hostel owner and host never apologized me for that... After all these things I still considered them my friends and came there to celebrate my birthday.During my second visit, many things happened to me. Sonam (one of their guest, introduced by one of their host Akash) misbehaved with me publically at vista. Everyone ignored this incident and when I personally went to Akash to complaint this incident, he blamed me and he literally asked me to leave hostel. They celebrate birthdays of their close friends only and will project it like they celebrates birthdays of all their guests and people will think its a good hostel that they organised great birthday celebrations of their guests..!! This is their marketing strategies to attract customers/guests for their hostel..!! I had a worst birthday celebration experience in this hostel..!! I bought my birthday cake by my own ..I am not known to the roads of nanital and jeolikote ...I got late and it was very difficult to bought a cake in 2 wheeler sitting behind of a person(one of their guests) in that kind of a cold weather and then we have to trekk to reach hostel..!! On the way to hostel I told their so called host that it was a difficult journey to bring the cake and then he started throwing tantrums..kept my cake on trail ! that was so insulting, I didn't cut my cake and because of this insult I cried alot.. Next day the host cut my cake without asking me and ate it and thrown it and from that pieces made a cake and post it as a story, projected that I had a great birthday celebration...but that was a fake story..!! these people gives best treatment to their friends and treat worst to other guests...!! They had given me worst lifetime memories of my birthday...!! not a single person has ever apologized to me, on the other hand, they had denied all these things...!! During my first visit, many people saw my story and they are now their permanent customers still these people are not greatful for that..I had given them business still they treated me like this..!! When I have raised all these issues...they threatened me that

Thankyou Guys for a warm stay. Perfect stay for freinds solo trvaelers and workations. Tasty Food served with Warmth. Clean toilets , hot water. comfortable bunk beds , spacious dorms. No mosquitos. I had a peacfull sleep. If you r taking your car , drive with care the last motorable road to vista is not maintained .