Zozo Hostel

Zozo Hostel is in Bartolomeu, the residential district at the northern edge of Brașov, on Strada Aurel Vlaicu 98. It is the only quality hostel near the train station — Gara Brașov is 5 minutes on foot, which makes it the obvious pick if you're night-train-ing in from Bucharest at 23:00 or out to Sibiu at 6:00.

The building is a converted Saxon two-storey villa with a small front yard, a covered terrace and a basement common room. It sleeps roughly 24 across 4-, 6- and 8-bed mixed dorms plus three private doubles and a family room. The bunks are wood-frame with reading lights, lockers and curtains. There are three shared bathrooms with proper hot water, a real shared kitchen with two hobs and a deep fridge, and a basement common room with sofas, a projector for movie nights and a small cinema-screen pull-down.

The trade-off versus Old Town hostels is honest: you are 20 minutes from Piața Sfatului by bus #4 (or a 12-lei Bolt), not 2 minutes. In exchange you get 9.3 over 579 reviews — the highest-rated hostel in Brașov by a significant margin — and the lowest dorm price in town.

Reviewer consensus (579 reviews, 9.3 average): cleanliness is the most-mentioned standout, followed by the comfortable foyer where the staff actually sit and tell you about Romania, and the proximity to the train station for travellers piecing together a Sibiu-Brașov-Bucharest loop. Common notes: the Old Town distance bothers some first-time Brașov travellers; bus #4 runs every 20 min and last bus is 22:30, after which you'll need a Bolt.