Roughly 400 m from the paragliding landing site, on the Suja side, with a stream beside the property and a grocery shop next door · 4.9 from 350+ Google reviews; rated around 9.8 by recent booking-platform guests (checked August 2026) · dorms, private rooms and garden tents · open guest kitchen · deposit required 22 Dec–2 Jan.
There is a line buried in this hostel's own description that made us like it before we had read a single review. It says, in effect, that it prioritises people and atmosphere over amenities, and that if facilities are what you care about most, this may not be your place. Almost nobody in Indian hospitality writes that sentence. Most properties promise you a spa and a rooftop infinity view and hope you do not measure. This one draws a line and stands behind it.
The bet appears to be paying off. It holds one of the highest Google averages in Bir from a solid sample, and near-perfect scores on the booking platforms. The review that tells the real story is from a guest who booked a week and stayed a month.
The location is the headline
The property sits on the Suja side of Bir, roughly four hundred metres from the landing site — the field where the whole village congregates every afternoon to watch the wings come down. A stream runs beside it and there is a grocery shop next door. If you came to fly, or to spend a season getting your own licence sorted, there is no more convenient address.
Being out this way also puts you away from the market crush. It is a walk to the Tibetan Colony cafés and a longer one back after dinner, so a scooter earns its keep over a long stay. In exchange you get water noise instead of traffic noise.
Why it works for a long, cheap stay
The single most useful facility here is the open kitchen, and it is a real one rather than a listed one. For anyone spending a month in Bir, being able to cook is the biggest lever on both cost and sanity. Three café meals a day for thirty days gets expensive and, eventually, boring. A shared kitchen and a grocery shop next door change the arithmetic completely — this is the cheapest sensible way to spend a month in the village.
Beyond that the list is deliberately modest: free wifi reviewers describe as good, security lockers, luggage storage, en-suite bathrooms, board games, a guitar, outdoor seating, and bonfires when the weather allows. There are dorms, private rooms, and garden tents with shared bathrooms for the warm months. The home-cooked food comes up in review after review.
Working from here
Be realistic about what this is. There is no coworking room, no business centre and no desk in the room. What there is: good wifi, a common area, outdoor tables, a quiet setting and a kitchen, so you are not losing an hour of every working day to finding lunch. For writers, designers, people with asynchronous jobs and anyone whose calls are occasional rather than constant, that is a perfectly good setup — and considerably cheaper than the branded hostels up the road. 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.
If your work involves several video calls a day, take a private room rather than a dorm bed, or look at <a href="/blog/bir-nest-hostel">Bir Nest</a> instead.
The people running it
Small hostels live or die on their host, and this one gets named directly and warmly in reviews — Raman, for local recommendations, for arranging paragliding and taxis, and for the ordinary business of making a stranger comfortable.
It is not a party hostel. It is closer to a house where a rotating cast of people happen to be living, which is exactly what a lot of people want after a month on the road.
Two things to check before you book
First, the name. This property still appears across booking sites under an older identity, The Lost Hostels — several platform URLs for it literally read <em>the-lost-hostels-bir-billing-landing-site</em>. If you are searching maps or comparison sites and find two similar-looking listings near the landing site, they may well be the same building. Check the photographs and the pin before you reserve twice.
Second, a deposit is required over the Christmas and New Year window, 22 December to 2 January. And the garden tents use shared bathrooms — fine in October, less fun in January.
If it's booked out
It is small, cheap and near the landing site, so the flying season fills it. goSTOPS is the other landing-site option and a newer building, though read our review first — it is not the one we would pick for work. For the same unpretentious feel further up the hill, The Bunker has a garden, tents and a better kitchen.
This is the stay to book if the plan is a long, cheap season rather than a comfortable fortnight. 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. If flying is the reason you came, we run paragliding in Bir Billing and there is more in what nobody tells you about flying in Bir.
← All blog postsQuestions, answered
How far is The Hostel Stories from the Bir paragliding landing site?+
Around four hundred metres, on the Suja side of Bir, with a stream beside the property and a grocery shop next door.
Does The Hostel Stories Bir have a kitchen guests can use?+
Yes, it has an open guest kitchen, which makes it one of the better options in Bir for a cheap month-long stay — a grocery shop next door helps.
Is The Hostel Stories the same as The Lost Hostels Bir?+
It appears to be the same property under an older name — several booking platforms still carry it at URLs reading the-lost-hostels-bir-billing-landing-site. Check the photographs and the map pin before booking, as duplicate listings near the landing site catch people out.
Is The Hostel Stories Bir good for remote work?+
For writing, design and asynchronous work, yes — the wifi is described as good and the setting is quiet. There is no coworking space or in-room desk, so heavy call schedules are better served elsewhere.