SLO Hostel Lyon les Pentes
In the Pentes, one minute from the metro — Lyon's bar-adjacent hostel choice
Seventy-bed hostel in a 19th-century building on Rue Alsace-Loraine, deep in the Pentes de la Croix-Rousse — six minutes from Place des Terreaux and a one-minute walk to the nearest metro. The Pentes party-adjacent sibling of SLO Saxe: loud ground-floor bar, bar-hopping energy, bunk accommodation without pretension.
SLO Hostel Lyon les Pentes (known on Booking.com as Away Hostel, and run by the same local SLO family that operates SLO Saxe in the 3rd arrondissement) sits in a 19th-century building on Rue Alsace-Loraine — genuinely in the Pentes, not adjacent to them. You walk out of the front door and you're two blocks from Rue Sainte-Catherine, the spine of Lyon's best bar circuit. Croix-Rousse metro (Line C) is at the top of the hill; Hôtel-de-Ville (Line A) is at the bottom; the Pentes themselves are the walkable middle where you want to be if you care about Lyon's nightlife.
The building is a 1890s silk-workers conversion — high ceilings, original tiled floors in common areas, new bunks and fresh paint in the rooms. Seventy beds across 4-bed, 6-bed and 8-bed mixed dorms plus a handful of private rooms. Bunks are wooden-frame with reading lights and under-bed lockers. Bathrooms are shared, with two per floor on the dorm levels.
The ground floor is the social hub: a bar that opens at 16:00 and runs until midnight (Friday/Saturday until 02:00), a shared kitchen where guests cook and eat dinner communally, and a lounge that doubles as the check-in. Reviewers consistently describe the bar as Lyon's best hostel bar — cheaper than the nearby pub circuit, louder and younger than The People across the hill. Bar crawls depart Fridays around 21:00 informally; staff will point you to tonight's rotation.
The one caveat: Pentes = uphill, and the streets between Alsace-Loraine and Rue Sainte-Catherine are stepped — you'll do stairs. Coming home drunk at 2am is cardio. Reviewers also flag occasional Friday-night noise leak into the 1st-floor dorms from the bar — ask for a 3rd-floor room if you want to sleep before 01:00.
- 01IN the Pentes — 3 minutes from Rue Sainte-Catherine bar circuit
- 02Best hostel bar in Lyon — loud, young, bar crawls depart informally
- 031890s silk-workers building with original tiled common areas
- 04Walking distance to both metro lines (A + C)
- 05Wooden-frame bunks with reading lights and under-bed lockers
- Deep in Pentes de la Croix-Rousse, Lyon's bohemian nightlife quarter
- 1 min walk to nearest metro, 3 min to Rue Sainte-Catherine bars
- On-site bar until midnight (02:00 on Fri-Sat)
- Shared kitchen open until 22:00
“Location and beds were really good, also the staff and all common areas were great. We ended up at Rue Sainte-Catherine every night — the walk home is 3 minutes. Top-floor dorm was quiet.”
“Great location, central and close to major attractions, bars and restaurants. The premises are clean and the staff friendly. The 3rd-floor dorm was quieter than I expected from a bar hostel.”
“Good location, nice staff, ok breakfast, ok price, comfy bed, pretty clean. The bar on the ground floor is social without being rowdy past midnight on a Tuesday.”
- Hôtel-de-Ville metro (Line A)6 min walk downhill
- Rue Sainte-Catherine (bar circuit)3 min walk
- Place des Terreaux6 min walk
- Croix-Rousse market (Tue-Sun)10 min walk uphill
- Place Bellecour (city centre)15 min walk
- Vieux Lyon (UNESCO old town)14 min metro (Line A + D)
