Da Terra Hostel And Snack - Dili

The best hostel in Dili. Great staff, nice travelers you can meet here and good vibe. Dinner is supper delicious!

Haven't stayed at hostel, but the food is great, well priced and the home made kombucha is excellent. Great atmosphere, good location and nice people.

Great location with nice and helpful staff. It's also has mini cafe with good meals. For moslem, you have no worry since the food is moslem friendly.

The staff here are great and really do make you feel at home. Vilar is an interesting character, and really seems to care about Timor Leste's tourism industry and the enjoyment of his guests. The rooms are of a standard to be expected in Dili. But the beds are comfy and the place is relatively clean. Definitely the best place to go for travel advice and to meet other travelers. Also very close to the port for the Atauro ferry and in a decent neighborhood for cafes and restaurants. We felt very safe in the area and the locals were all so helpful and friendly. And this included walking around at night. We paid Eddie (the driver associated with the hostel) $50 for a day trip down the coast to Maubere and back, stopping at various sights. There was a slight mix up as Eddie thought we were on a half day trip (returning at lunch time) instead of a full day (returning at 4pm) but to his credit we didn't arrive back until 3.30 even though he was clearly disappointed with this. Overall we were slightly disappointed at both the sights we were taken to (probably just because of Timor's pack of tourism industry and not a criticism of Eddie or Da Terra) but also although we were told Eddie was fluent in English, he definitely isn't fully fluent, and didn't want to converse with us at all on the trip. We had expected a guide or at least some information about where we were going, but Eddie seemed to only want to rush us back to Dili. For example we asked him what happened at the church of the massacre in Liquiça and he said he didn't know. I found this hard to believe, such a big part of Timorese history, one of the few things I learned from the guide book before arriving and he didn't know why he was bringing tourists here (this is a regular trip that Eddie runs). On reflection we wouldn't do the trip if we had our time over. It's definitely doable by motorbike on your own. But still highly recommend the hostel as a great place to stay.

Unsafe place. I was stolen my first day in one of the bungalows due to the owner considered the door had to be unlocked. I asked her wife if they had a safety box was answered the hostel was very safe then I trusted her words. Someone stole my camera, money and the most important thing my passport. For more than 3 weeks I struggled to get out the country through the Portuguese embassy the only way I had to get out as an European citizen. The Portuguese owner didn't take any responsibility, he blamed me to not carry my belongings. According to what he said to me I had been the first person stolen in his hostel, after couple of days I found out this wasn't true. Many other guest were stolen too. As Eastern Timor is an isolated country it is very easy to get stuck like me and you won't never find help. The owner is a close friend of the Portuguese consul that makes sense to me when he never helped me to solve the problem at least with my passport. I went every single day for more than 3 weeks to the Portuguese embassy, in the end after been struggling and suffering many days I got a travel emergency document. One of my last days in the hostel me and some Australians guests were attacked by the neighbors when we suggested them to turn down the music which was very high immediately the neighbors jumped the fence of the hostel carrying machetes with the purpose to stab it to us. I was so scared. I don't recommend this place, the facilities are quite comfortable and cleaned but the owners behave is arrogant and unhelpful and very unsafe neighborhood.