Blue Almond Hostel
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Blue Almond Hostel
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Life at Blue Almond

Come for the island. Stay for the people.

Scooter gangs, tablecloth tricks, ukulele nights and a lot of shared dinners. Here’s the house through the years — every photo real, every photo dated.

See the wall Meet Juan
The common room in 2026: wooden plank ceiling, a painted surfboard on the wall, a standing fan, TV and shelves.
Common room, 2026

The wall

Years of good times, pinned up.

Every picture comes from the hostel’s own Instagram, with the month it was posted. Old ones are old — we’d rather say so.

  • A group of guests in an eight-seat golf cart on a San Andrés street.
    Why take the bus?
  • Four guests posing on rental scooters on a sunny San Andrés street.
    Unofficial scooter gang
  • Blue Almond’s common room: guests on laptops and phones around a green table painted with sunflowers, under a huge turquoise wave mural with a surfer.
    The wave mural & the sunflower table
  • Two guests in the common room, one carefully photographing the other in front of the green surf mural.
    Instagrammers at work (1,000 tries)
  • An old hostel room photo from 2019: bed, red curtain, standing fan and a mannequin nicknamed Stacy peering through the window.
    Stacy, quietest staff member (2019)
  • Two guests on a motorbike outside the hostel’s white wall and blue metal gate.
    The blue gate. You’ll know it.
  • A guest relaxing on the purple and cobalt-blue sofa in the lounge.
    The purple sofa
  • A guest posing next to a giant painted face with a third eye on the courtyard wall.
    Courtyard murals
  • A bright pink door opening onto a room with a pink curtain.
    Pink doors everywhere

  • Every face on this wall was a stranger on day one.

  • Every nightPopcorn o’clock

    11:59 p.m.80/20 rule

Rolling: four little loops

  1. ukulele hour (sound off)

  2. tablecloth trick: nailed it

  3. a lap of the lounge

  4. mural photo shoot

Juan, Blue Almond’s owner (left, curly hair, black T-shirt), sitting on a wooden bench with a guest.
Juan (left), 2018
36/58

Hostelworld reviews from the last three years (Nov 2023 – Sep 2026) that mention Juan by name. Read them on Hostelworld (opens in a new tab)

Owner · host · local

Meet Juan.

Juan owns Blue Almond and hosts it. He’s a local — the hostel’s own listing calls it “family run by locals” — so the island briefing you get on arrival comes from someone who lives here, not from a brochure.

Ask him which boat to take, where to rent a scooter or how to set up a dive. Judging by the reviews, guests do.

What guests keep mentioning

  • A host who sorts out scooters, snorkel gear, diving, taxis and tours
  • Feels like home: small, calm, easy to meet people
  • A good, well-stocked kitchen
  • Detailed island tips on arrival

And, honestly, the gripes

  • Gentle shower pressure
  • Warm rooms without air-con
  • An old house that occasionally needs fixing

Paraphrased from Hostelworld reviews, Nov 2023 – Sep 2026. No invented quotes.

From the archive · 2018–2019

In memory of Shaggy.

Long before this website, Blue Almond had a beagle on the team. Shaggy was the hostel’s “official Public Relations Manager” — and, as the 2018 clip here shows, an occasional scooter passenger.

In its post saying goodbye on 31 December 2019, the hostel wrote that Shaggy had entertained more than 20,000 guests over 10 years.

The hostel’s post, 31 Dec 2019 (opens in a new tab)

These photos are from 2018 and 2019. This section remembers him; it doesn’t describe the house today.

Shaggy, the hostel’s beagle, lying on the floor wearing a red bow.
Shaggy, head of PR
off to work
The Blue Almond Hostel metal sign on the white front wall, with a bright green plant in the foreground.
Front wall, 2026
Close-up of a mural: a woman’s face with deep-red curly hair.
Mural detail

September 2026 · on camera

The house, as it looks right now.

On 28 September 2026 the hostel posted a collab reel on its Instagram with creator @estefiroble: a quick walk through the house in 2026 — the sign on the front wall, the common room, the purple sofa, the murals and the pink doors.

Its caption describes the place as cosy, with good energy, close to the centre and the port, and mentions Juan’s local recommendations and tips for water activities. The 2026 stills on this page come from that reel.

Watch the reel on Instagram (opens in a new tab)

How guests connect

Strangers at check-in. A crew by Thursday.

Nobody forces a pub crawl on you. The house just makes it easy to say hi.

  1. The guests’ WhatsApp groupAfter you book, the welcome email includes a link to a WhatsApp group for guests. It’s where people staying at the same time find each other — it isn’t a way to contact the hostel.
  2. Share the airport taxiSend your flight number and arrival time, so you can share a taxi with other guests landing on the same flight.
  3. Cook dinner togetherThe big shared kitchen is fully equipped. One pot and a few strangers is the oldest icebreaker there is.
  4. Popcorn every nightA nightly tradition. The movie is optional; the bowl is not.
  5. Free coffee, all dayWhere the morning plans get made — who’s renting a scooter, who’s going to the reef.
  6. Board games, PS4 & NetflixFor rainy afternoons and rematches nobody asked for.
  7. Quiet time 11:59 pm — the 80/20 ruleIf 80% of the house wants to keep going, quiet time moves. Otherwise, people are sleeping. Social, yes. A party hostel, no.

Your turn

Pull up a chair.

Book a bed, read up on the island, or ask a question first. There’s room at the kitchen table.

M4 · C3 · Barrio Los Almendros · San Andrés

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