Panba Courtyard Guesthouse and Hostel Reviews

The hostel is well located on the perimeter of the old town and the staff are friendly and helpful. Spent our time at Tiger Leaping Gorge which was sensational, so spent little time in Lijiang Old Town, which we found commercial and geared towards tourists but spotlessly clean and plenty of great eating places. Well worth the trip.

The staff was extremely helpful and friendly. Join them for dinner if you get the chance, the food is delicious and well worth the price!

Nicholas was such a great staff member! He was always friendly, filled with smiles, and always willing and patient to answer all of our questions. Thank you so much for recommending us to the Jade Emu and Roo Hostel in Dali. The decor and the atmosphere in the hostel was warm and welcoming. The staff members were very helpful in terms of suggestions of places to travel to in lijiang and booking tickets.

staff were amazing and i totally loved the atmosphere ^-^ pls note is a little far from the town centre and the doors shut at midnight - if this isn't cool then pretty pls stay somewhere else, instead of waking other people up when you get in at 2am!

I enjoyed mz stay at Panba Hostel very much and will recommend it to my friends. The location, a short walk from the noisy and touristy streets, was perfect for me. The room was a little cold (like mostly everywhere in the south of China during this time of year) and also the common room is not completely closed. But the heating matress assures that you are warm at night and the staff is amazingly friendly and helpful!

Impressed on Staff service mind and kindness. Nice hostel atmosphere and quite private and friendly with guests, But location just few far from Lijiang old town center (around 5 min. walk)

Our stay at Panba was great, we ended up staying six days in Lijiang and staying at Pnba for Christmas, the staff (especially M.C) were REALLY helpful and accommodating, they knew all the info we wanted to know and were more than willing to help us out. The beds are comfy. the electric blankets are as hot as you want and the shower and bathrooms are everything you could hope for. There's heaps of common space to meet other people and to hang out in, there's dvds, pool table and rooftop as well.

Had a great stay at Panba. MC's hospitality was outstanding. The only thing that would have made this hostel any better would be single private rooms.

Thanks a lot to MC and other staffs, you are the best. The structure of this hostel is lovely, with 3 floors, a small patio and a roof where you can have a nice sun bath. They provide loads of services, including bicycle renting, ticket booking, etc. Staffs are always helpful, whenever you need advices or information, they are ready to help you. There were even Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve party in the hostel. Though we didn't join, we had a very great time here.

We loved you guys! MC and the rest of the staff were all so nice, and they threw a great Christmas party. We loved the staff dinner, so great to hang out with everybody and the food was great.

My stay there was really good. I spent Christmas there and MC behind the desk who speaks perfect English took us to an awesome market which we would not have found without him and helped us to buy all the ingredients for a Christmas dinner. We were also aloud to use all the hostels kitchen and cooking utensils and BBQ. All the staff got involved and we had a cool party on the roof overlooking Lijiang. It really was a home away from home.

They need English speaking staff. Its tough to communicate especially if one needs directions and guidance about the city.

We stayed in an 8-bed dorm. The hostel was clean, had heating blankets, but no central heat. We booked a shuttle directly to the gorge. Our only complaint is that the staff have an attitude and are condescending when you ask them typical tourist questions. I don't understand why you'd open a hostel if you don't want to help travelers in even the most basic way. If you don't want to deal with this, there are many, many hostels within a stone's throw of Panba that seemed pretty nice to me.

The staff are really friendly and welcoming and the hostel itself is beautiful and very clean. English is spoken very well and everyone goes out of their way to help you. It's slightly outside the main tourist area in a quiet residential area.

It was a really nice clean hostel with alovely roof top courtyard, perfect for sunny days. Although it is located on the edge of the old town amogst some construction works, it was nice to step out of the tourist frenzy in the centre of the town and relax at Panba.

very good hostel and very friendly people there! go there!

Staff, especially Vanessa, very friendly and helpful.

When in Lijiang, the Panba is probably the most popular choice for westerners and western-minded travelers like myself. The guy at the reception (aptly named 'River'!) has an in-depth knowledge of the the Tiger Leaping Gorge as he is an avid hiker himself. Like most hostels in Yunnan, Panba's lounge is unfortunately quite smoker friendly, although River MIGHT be rectifying the situation after my grumbling. Could other reviewers keep up the pressure and make hosteling a smoke-free experience?

Friendly staff that goes out of the way to make our stay an enjoyable one. It's on the quieter side of town, there's a bit of walking to where the main action is, but it suits me fine.

great hostel, definitely recommended. very clean, nice beds, clean modern bathrooms. hard to find bc way down the street away from stuff, but still good location short walk from action. cold at night (probably all hostels in lijiang). cui at front desk is great. only negative is 2 complaints i cannot comprehend in a modern hostel: 1) midnight curfew which they don't even tell you; don't get locked out! 2) chef hardly ever there, so don't count on getting food even at prime times.