The Best Hostel I've Ever Stayed In

As a perpetual backpacker, I love hostels — and how little they cost. They provide organized activities, tours and pub crawls, and a sense of camaraderie with the fellow guests. I’ve stayed in more than a dozen hostels across the world and made a lot of great friends this way – sometimes we’ve reconnected even after we went home.

There are some places I’ve stayed, however, that I’d rate as S-tier. My highest ranking is usually an A-tier, for a hostel that’s outstanding in all the regular categories – amenities, cleanliness, hospitality, activities, and general atmosphere. An S-tier hostel is one that has something that brings it above and beyond a regular hostel experience. I ask myself, “Would I come back to this city or place just to stay here again?” If the answer is yes, it’s an S-tier hostel.

Mad Cat Hostel and Bar is located close to downtown Osaka, Japan. It is a bit out of the way compared to other places to stay in the city, however the 15-minute walk from the Shōwacho station to the hostel is definitely worth it. The front of the hostel looks like a regular bar, with spaces for patrons to sit and relax. Hostel guests get a drink ticket for each night they stay there, and can redeem it for a free drink at the bar).

The hostel is accessible via a sliding door at the side of the bar that opens up into a cozy main common room and kitchen area. Cat-themed décor adorns the walls, and the living room table often has snacks that hostel guests leave for others to enjoy. My friends and I came back once to boxes of Tim Tams that Aussie visitors had left to share.

Making our way to the rooms, a wall-to-wall collage of polaroid pictures greeted us as we ascended the stairs up to the dorm rooms. Any guests that are feline up to it may send in a picture of their own cat back at home to be printed on a polaroid and shown to the world – well, at least to the other guests.

My friend decided to add a picture of his two cats back home.

The stars of the hostel, of course, are the two cats that live there, Maru and Kogo. Despite the hostel’s name, these are no Mad Cats, but gentle and quiet creatures. These rescue cats prefer to chill comfortably on the heated rug in the common room, or sleep under the table. This is their domain, and we are merely their (temporary) subjects. The two cats, secure in their station, were content to observe us from atop their cat tree perches in the kitchen, or beneath the common room table.

However, they seemed to take a liking to my friend from Kobe. As he sat by the table, the cats silently deemed him worthy of their presence, and Kogo decided to crawl out from under the table and sit in his lap.

The staff are all very well-traveled themselves, and speak both Japanese and English. The evening conversations we had sitting around the table were what really clinched the S-tier rating for me – it’s so rare to find such a cozy environment with warm, friendly people. It really feels like a home away from home.

The morning that we left Osaka for Hakone, my friends and I sat around the table eating cheap onigiri and melon bread. Maru must have known we were leaving, because to send us off, he leapt onto the kitchen counter and began to tear voraciously at the dried bamboo branches sitting on the fridge.