Blackwater Hostel

Great location and facilities, clean and warm, kept in good order by dedicated and friendly staff. It was great talking with the manager and learning a bit of the history of the hostel and town. Also good resupply at the COOP and plenty of fab eating options - we tried the Bothy and Highland Gathering, both excellent food and again a welcoming attitude. Dave & Julie Nov 24

We stayed in one of the hostel rooms. While I appreciate the people offering affordable places for young people with less disposable incomes to enjoy the west highland highway, our experience with the stay was pretty bad. The toilet was heavily infested with mold to the point that a mushroom grew out of shower. The whole room had a very moldy smell because of that. Additionally there wasn’t any hot water available for the shower after 9pm which is quite inconvenient after a long walk through the Scottish Highlands. Also there wasn’t any internet connection through their WiFi. The kitchen however does have an extensive collection of utensils. The beds were also alright.

Walking the West Highland Way and this was my stopover in Kinlochleven. Staff very friendly, room with en-suite facility just what I needed after shared facilities over the last few nights. Clean, comfortable bed, lovely clean kitchen area . Really handy for getting into the village for shops, pubs etc

I was welcomed at the site by pleasant staff. The pitch areas are well maintained and flat. The toilet and shower facilities were clean. I’d recommend this site to anyone passing through on the West Highland Way. The sound of the near by large waterfall was pleasant to fall asleep to.

Very convenient small campsite on the WHW; nice pitches by the river; great showers and good facilities generally; fantastic vending machine with all sorts useful for hikers; easy to walk into Kinlochleven where there is a Coop supermarket and various places to eat

This is a review of the campsite, rather than the hostel. There was a good selection of tent pitches which were all clean and flat. The WiFi was excellent, I hadn't expected it to reach from the main building to my tent but it did. The women's showers were also good, each one had a good sized area in which to change and a cargo net to hold belongings. However, the reception area was small and very poorly lit. There was no laundry facility, and the drying room wasn't well laid out, one rather small heater and a single rack with hangers that had everyone's belongings all in the same place, so the air didn't really circulate. The dining area was poor, the awning wasn't wide enough to cover the picnic tables from the rain, the single kettle was on a shelf above one of these tables, along with a rather crowded charging point. Everyone wanting to use either of these had to squeeze past people trying to use the tables to eat, and it wasn't very comfortable.