“This hostel and cafe have become a pillar of the city. I can’t imagine this neighborhood without it!”
For 28 years, the NW Portland Hostel and Cafe have served travelers to Portland from around the country and around the world. Over the years, we’ve hosted scouting groups and church groups, international student trips and college groups, as well as choirs, sports teams, educational tours, and musicians from all over. Our hostel has been home on the road for hundreds of thousands of world travelers who’ve enjoyed Portland and learned about life in our city. And the travelers who’ve passed through our doors have given our neighborhood and Portland a taste of the world!
In fact, travelers who’ve stayed here have loved us so much that they voted the us the third-best midsize hostel in the world in 2020 and the best US hostel in 2025.
Running our hostel hasn’t always been easy, though. We’ve had to face – and survive – setbacks caused by 9/11, the Great Recession, and the worldwide pandemic and lockdown. But right now, the policies of the current US administration are putting us through the most challenging time we’ve faced yet. We need your help to make it through.
As a hostel, we depend on the travelers who stay with us to provide the income that makes it possible for us to operate. Over the past year, we’ve seen international travel to the US drop. Hostel dorms that are normally filled with visitors from around the world are now nearly empty. Since over half of our hostel’s income comes from international travelers, this is a big problem.
Donations to our GoFundMe will provide the money to continue supporting community focused programs for travelers, community events ranging from school projects to music nights by local performers; our monthly SOLVE neighborhood cleanups; and our schedule of Old Time jams, Irish music sessions, and other youth and adult music events.
Our pledge: "once the hostel is stable again, the amount given here will be devoted back to programs and events at the hostel that benefit our community."
While the NW Hostel and Cafe is now facing difficult times, we’ve come through times like these before. And with your help, we will do it again.
"We ask for your help, so we can continue the legacy that we all create together around this place called the NW Portland Hostel and Cafe. At this time it will be difficult to make it without you!" – Jim, Hostel Founder