Project || A brand new 74-bedroom hostel was officially opened last weekend in an ancient building in the heart of Faro.
‘1878 Hostel’ – named after the year it was built – can be found in Rua Serpa Pinto and is the town’s largest hostel to date.
It is the result of a passionate project brought to life by two local couples – Marco Bento and Ana Águas and Hugo de Brito and Teodora Martins – who decided to join forces and invest around €900,000 into making the building what it is today.
Geared towards a “younger market”, it is nonetheless open to all-comers.
The 19th century building boasts 74 beds in eight bedrooms – one of them for “girls only” – and two additional double bedrooms and suites.
A night can cost as little as €15 – including free Wi-Fi, lockers, air-conditioning, bath towel and reading light!
The owners have said that they hope to give guests a truly “Mediterranean experience” by “rediscovering Faro’s Arabic mysticism, the rural inner areas of the Algarve’s Barrocal and the natural characteristics of the Ria Formosa”.
Thus they also organise a number of activities such as walks, bike rides, traditional dinners “to the sound of the Portuguese guitar”, fishing trips and more.
The couples guarantee that despite renovation work the building has maintained its architectural features, with some lovely examples of stone arches and tilework.
Before its transformation, the building had been used as a primary school and more recently it was the base for Faro’s Institute for the Protection of Girls.
This latest arrival on the capital’s hostel market brings the number of establishments up to 10. Mayor Rogério Bacalhau has welcomed the opening saying: “These hostels bring very specific tourists to Faro. They are young, stay many days in our town and bring economic benefits both to the hostel as well as the local economy,” he told Lusa news agency.
www.1878hostel.com
