It has been a few years since my wife and I were students, but when we check in we are by no means the most senior among the 200 guests at Sleepzone Galway City. It won last year's Best Hostel in Ireland award and it's easy to see why. The Australian at the front desk shows antipodean empathy in booking us a private room and the health corps of fellow-guest Scandinavian and Polish students show us the breakfast ropes next morning. It's clean, cheap, friendly, secure, well-situated and WiFi-ed. Who needs anything more? (Murray Waldron)