Located on a side street just around the corner from the Zocalo – the main square in Mexico City, Hostal Moneda is your basic bustling urban hostel. It was a bit dirty on the outside but clean on the inside. The top floor has an open air, rooftop bar where dinner is also served. If you stand on tiptoes, you can catch a cool view of the sun setting behind the historic buildings in the Zocalo.

It was about $13 per night which included a buffet breakfast and dinner. The dinner especially included some strange, multinational combinations of food – like spaghetti with tortillas and hard boiled eggs, but if you’re on a budget as I was it fills you up. The bar is a fun place to hang out in at night, especially because there isn’t much nightlife in the area save the once- swanky and historic La Opera Bar on the other side of the square. As a young woman traveling alone I didn’t really feel safe venturing out into Mexico City after dark, so it was nice to have an option.

The hostel offers reasonably priced tours depending on the day of the week – Anthropology museum, Frida Kahlo house, pyramids, and my personal favorite, a trip to the Mexican wrestling match. Going to the Anthropology museum with the tour group familiarized me with using the metro system which is much easier and safer than most guide books make it out to be.

Some other travelers said Hostel Moneda was a lot nicer than the Hostel Cathedral which is located a few blocks away. My only complaint was that the whole building interior is made of cement and it has a courtyard that runs through every floor. Basically every sound echoes and is amplified so it was fairly noisy day and night. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone past the young, adventurous age for this reason. Overall it was a great, economical home base from which to explore Mexico City – they also have a locked storage area to keep your backpack which is a great idea if you take a quick day trip for a day or two away from the city.

The hostel's website is: www.hostalmoneda.com.mx

To get there, take the metro or walk to the Zolaco. Facing the front of the HUGE cathedral, Moneda is the road to the right. Go 1.5 blocks; it’s on your left. We stayed in Hostal Moneda all 6 nights we were in Mexico City. We don’t mind the crazy atmosphere, so thus we chose the 11-person dorm with two bathrooms/showers (10 pesos/person). Cost includes (and this is a good part) free breakfast each morning, free dinner each night, towel, linens, free locker storage, free Internet (24 hours), and two free group tours! Finally, Hostal Moneda is very close to the metro (about a block) and right in the middle of one of the largest markets in Mexico City (unofficially, Zolaco). Here are a few tips to keep it real.

1) Bring a drink to breakfast and dinner (even though there is a sign clearly indicating NO DRINKS). The food is free, but the drinks aren’t.

2) Buy your water from the corner store, as it is cheaper than what they offer.

3) Bring a padlock for your locker, as they are not supplied.

4) There are five computers total, but they each work intermittently. The Internet goes at a good speed, but the computers work better when less people are on them.