Where to stay · Ainsworth Hot Springs
Dancing Bear Inn (Nelson)
Nelson's longest-running hostel, right on Baker Street, where a car finally gets to do nothing.
what it is
hostel with private rooms (budget / solo)
the damage
from ~$40 CAD/night (dorm); ~$68 private
rated
★ 4.6 (267)
from Vancouver
~8 hours
The Dancing Bear is the West Kootenay's longest-running HI hostel, planted on Baker Street in the middle of Nelson's heritage downtown. There are 16 rooms running from 4 and 8-bed dorms to private rooms, a lounge with a fireplace, and a shared kitchen fitted with double gas ranges, which is two more burners than most people own at home.
Everything you might want in Nelson sits a few blocks away, the cafes and galleries and gear shops and the bakeries, so a car spends the entire stay doing nothing useful in the free on-site lot. This is one of the rare Kootenay stays where going car-free genuinely works, at least once you have actually arrived in town.
It is cheap in the honest sense, dorm beds from around $40 and private rooms near $68, and it pulls a 4.6 on Google across a few hundred reviews written by people who liked the beds and the strangers in roughly equal measure. Under-13s get a private room rather than a bunk, which the other dorm guests will quietly celebrate.
The setting
On Baker Street in the heart of Nelson's historic downtown, a few blocks from cafes, restaurants, galleries, and gear shops, and about a 40-minute drive from Ainsworth Hot Springs.
Getting there
Roughly 7.5 to 8 hours from Vancouver on Highway 3 through Hope and into the Kootenays. Free on-site parking, which is a genuine rarity downtown. Once in Nelson everything is walkable, so the car can rest; reaching Nelson itself without one means a long-distance coach.
good to know
Why it works
- Steps from Nelson's Baker Street cafes
- Dorms and private rooms, 16 in total
- Lounge with a fireplace and full shared kitchen
- Free on-site parking downtown
- 4.6 on Google across 267 reviews