Are there actually any hostels in Macau?

Question

I'm considering a cheap flight from Taiwan to Macau but I'm not sure there are any truly budget accommodations.

The Wikivoyage page says there are two hostels, but does not go into details:

Coloane, which offers fewer and much quieter options, has accommodation ranging from the famous Pousada de Coloane to Macau's two beach-side youth hostels.

But when I try to track them down on the usual suspects such as Hostel Bookers and Hostel World, I only see a couple of non-hostels.

I've also tried Hostelling International, since they don't list their hostels on the aforementioned sites in some places. In this case Macao is not even listed either as a separate country, or as a region under China!

Answer 1

I walked by the two official youth hostels in Macao the other day. They are both in nice spots on the south coast of the south Island very close to beaches and hiking opportunities in the hills. Both have a bus stop in front of them with direct bus routes to Macau downtown and the casino area in Cotai.

All the links hippietrail is listing in his answer are broken. I found this official page.

There are several restrictions:

• You have to have an International Youth Hostel Card
• Maximum stay of two nights
• July and August may be fully reserved for local groups.
• You may have to book in advance.

Still, it's a nice quiet spot away from the city.

I've also been to San Va Hospedaria, a very basic guest house in the heart of the city. Not really a hostel but you may meet some other travelers there.

Answer 2

Yes, but ...

Further searching has led me to a few discoveries.

In a previous question about Macau, Ankur tells us about one hostel, Augusters Lodge there that had to close down.

Then I found an article on About.com, Top Three Macau Hostels by Rory Boland. It's obviously not up-to-date as it lists the aforementioned former hostel, but also two more:

• San Va Hospedaria
  Prices: MOP$100
  Address: 67 Rua Da Felicidade
• Ole London Hotel
  Address: 4-6 Praca de Ponte e Horta

Then somehow I managed to stumble across the two official Macao hostels via Lonely Planet:

• Pousada de Juventude de Cheoc Van
• Pousada de Juventude de Hác Sá
  (The links have broken since posting this.)

However, LP has this to say about the former:

This beachside hostel under the government’s Education and Youth Affairs Bureau is excellent value, but you need to book three months in advance and show an International Youth Card or International Youth Hostel Card upon check-in.

I also can't seem to find the official site via the link LP gives.

Looking back over the list it seems that San Va Hospedaria might come closest to what I think of as a hostel. It seems to be listed variously as a hotel, hostel, hospedaria, etc. It seems to be very quirky but cheap and has very mixed reviews on TripAdvisor. Here's its homepage.