HO36 Hostel Lyon

HO36 Hostel Lyon occupies a converted building on Rue Montesquieu, one block off the Guillotière metro stop that feeds Line D — the fastest line in the city and your direct route to both Part-Dieu TGV station and Vieux Lyon. The 7th arrondissement isn't the postcard Lyon of Vieux Lyon or the Pentes, but it's where solo travelers sleep cheap and eat better: Avenue Berthelot and Rue Pasteur are Lyon's bánh-mì strip, with Vietnamese and North African places at half the Presqu'île prices.

Rooms are 4-bed, 6-bed and 8-bed mixed dorms plus a handful of private twins and doubles. Beds are proper wooden-frame bunks (not the metal squeakers you get in older properties), and each bunk has a reading light, outlet, and under-bunk locker. Bathrooms are shared, two per corridor, and reviewers flag them as consistently clean. Air conditioning on request in summer — Lyon hits 35°C in August and older hostels suffer.

There's a ground-floor bar and lounge that doubles as the breakfast room (buffet €8, skip it and walk two minutes to the Vietnamese café on Rue Pasteur for €4 coffee and bánh bao). Common area runs with house music and the occasional pop-up tattoo artist — it's design-hotel aesthetic, not classic hostel rowdy. If you want loud, stay at Slo Pentes or The People in the 1st arr.; HO36 is the quieter 20-somethings who want a decent shower and a metro pass, not a bar crawl.

Reviewers flag two things: the neighbourhood feels sketchy at night (it isn't dangerous, but the surrounding streets are unlit and local reviewers warn solo travellers to walk in pairs after midnight), and the building has no lift — bunks are up to four floors, pack light. Also: staff are consistently praised as genuinely helpful with city tips, which matters in the 7th arr. because the tourist signs disappear once you cross Avenue Jean-Jaurès.