Near the Learn Well school in Chaugan, about three-quarters of a kilometre from the centre of the village · 4.8 on Google from 300+; five stars on Tripadvisor from a much smaller pool, with a Travellers’ Choice badge (checked August 2026) · dorms through to a jacuzzi room · rooftop gym, pool, 360-degree terrace, telescope, PlayStation · desks in the rooms · breakfast extra.
Most stays in Bir are variations on the same good idea: a garden, a café, a bonfire, some board games. The Bunksters went a different way. It has a gym on the roof. It has a 360-degree terrace looking straight at the Dhauladhar. It has a telescope and binoculars for stargazing, a PlayStation room, a swimming pool, a room with a jacuzzi, and — the detail that matters most to anyone reading this for work reasons — desks in the rooms.
That last point sounds mundane next to a rooftop gym. It is not. Almost nowhere else in Bir gives you a proper surface to work at inside your own room. If you take calls, or you simply cannot concentrate in a common area, the difference between a desk and a bed with a pillow behind your back is the difference between a productive month and a sore neck.
Where it is
Near the Learn Well school in Chaugan, roughly three-quarters of a kilometre from the centre of the village. It reads as offbeat and quiet on arrival, but the market, the cafés and the routes up to the take-off are all close enough to be practical. Reviewers describe it as near the action without being in it, which is broadly the sweet spot for a stay of more than a few days.
The building is newer than most in Bir and it shows. Rooms are described as spacious and well lit, with crisp white linen, rain showers, blackout curtains, extra pillows and circular balconies that catch the mountain view. In a village where the most common complaint about hostels is room size, that is a real differentiator.
Working from here
Free wifi throughout, and the desks. What The Bunksters does not have is a dedicated coworking room, so your options are your room, the restaurant or the terrace. For a lot of remote workers the room desk is enough, and it is better than a shared table if you are on calls and want privacy. As everywhere in the Kangra valley, the weak link is electricity rather than bandwidth — ask whether the router sits on an inverter before you commit to a month.
Ask about heating too if you are booking between November and February, when Bir nights sit close to freezing. A rooftop terrace is a wonderful thing in October and a theoretical one in January.
Living here for a few weeks
The reason to pay attention to the amenity list is that a long stay is a routine, and routines need infrastructure. A gym you can reach without leaving the building removes the most common excuse. A terrace with a full horizon gives you somewhere to take a break that is not your phone. A restaurant on site, with candlelit rooftop dinners on offer, means you are not making a decision about food three times a day. Add the pool, the bonfire pit, a guitar in the common area and a PlayStation, and you have a property built for people who stay a while rather than pass through.
Rooms run from dorm beds to private rooms in several configurations up to the jacuzzi room. There is no curfew, the front desk is staffed around the clock, and bike and car hire can be arranged on site — useful in Bir, where a scooter transforms your access to Gunehar, Baijnath and the road towards Billing.
The honest bits
Two things to weigh. First, the review base is small compared to Bir's giants — a few hundred on Google against Whoopers' near three thousand, and a Tripadvisor five-star average drawn from fewer than twenty reviews. The reviews it does have are extremely positive, but you are working with less evidence than at the older properties, and that is worth knowing rather than glossing over.
Second, this is a hotel-shaped hostel. If you are hoping for the scruffy, everybody-knows-everybody atmosphere of an old backpacker place, the polish here may feel a degree removed. It is social, and the bonfire and terrace do their job, but it is not the sort of property where the manager remembers your coffee order on day two purely because there are only twelve of you.
Also worth knowing before you budget: breakfast is charged separately, taxes are added to the room rate, and payment is often taken in cash on arrival.
If it's booked out
The private rooms are the draw and there are not many of them. Zostel Plus is the closest match for comfort and view, though it is adults-only, dry, and has no desks. If you want the social side rather than the hardware, Whoopers is ten minutes away and has the busiest common room in Bir.
If a desk in your own room is non-negotiable, this is the only place in Bir that reliably has one. The full picture — internet, power cuts, monthly costs and all twelve stays compared — is in our work-from-home guide to Bir Billing. For where to eat while you are here, see the best cafés in Bir. If you would rather we set the whole month up for you, that is our 30-day workation, and the Bir Billing workation guide covers the village itself.
← All blog postsQuestions, answered
Do rooms at The Bunksters Bir have desks?+
Yes. Desks are listed among the in-room features alongside private bathrooms, balconies in select rooms and wardrobes — unusual for a hostel in Bir and the main reason to choose it for remote work.
What facilities does The Bunksters Bir have?+
A rooftop gym, a 360-degree terrace with Dhauladhar views, a swimming pool, a PlayStation room, a telescope and binoculars, a bonfire pit, an on-site restaurant, and bike and car hire.
Is breakfast included at The Bunksters Bir?+
No. Breakfast is charged separately, taxes are added to the room rate, and payment is often collected in cash at check-in. Reviewers do rate the restaurant food, including a breakfast buffet, highly.
Is The Bunksters Bir suitable for a long stay?+
It is one of the better-equipped options, with desks, a gym, a restaurant, no curfew and a twenty-four-hour front desk. Ask about extended-stay rates directly, and about heating if you are booking between November and February.