LONG STORY SHORT, Czechia
Casual Cool in a Baroque Army Barracks, in the Heart of Olomouc
Koželužská 945
779 00 Olomouc 9, Czechia
Type: boutique hostel, design hotel, heritage hotel, independent hotel
Style: minimalist, retro & vintage, art & culture
Vibe: lively
A Fortress Reborn for a New Kind of Nomad
Inside a vast 17th-century U-shaped brick fortress in the old town of Olomouc — once military barracks, now a city favourite — Long Story Short is a hostel that behaves like a boutique hotel for the design-literate traveller who just happens to prefer a good communal atmosphere. The bones are dramatically Baroque: vaulted ceilings, thick plaster curves, a hall that snakes around a courtyard like a monochrome ribbon. But the interiors — by Denisa Strmisková — are stripped, modern, playfully edited: custom beds, mirrors, and fixtures made with local makers; black hardware, bold lighting plays, retro Czech modernism, and pastel upholstery softening the architectural power. It doesn’t feel like a theme — it feels like a new generation taking over old stone and making it lightly, beautifully theirs.
Design That Understands its Own Context
Nothing here is random. The beds and light fixtures were custom fabricated, Bakelite switches nod to Czech heritage design, lamps by Marset are crisp, and furniture is a mix of vintage finds and newly made pieces — history and the now in quiet harmony. Strmisková worked with the flow of the long fortress floor to turn circulation into theatre — every perspective shifts as you walk the hall. There is no clutter, just clarity: white, black, stone, pastel.
A Hostel that Actually Builds Social Ease
Breakfast, soups, simple sandwiches, local café energy in the reception bar — this is the social engine. Soon, the restaurant and café extension will expand it further out to a terrace for work, reading, wine, community. 56 beds — dorms and privates — plus a wedding suite with a bathtub. A place where you can be anonymous if you want to be, but where easy connection is architected into the hallways, the seating clusters, the shared morning coffee.
DNA Hotels Verdict
Long Story Short is the rare hostel that feels genuinely curated, genuinely place-specific — modern Czech design running through a Baroque shell — delivering personality, history, and youth culture without the slightest whiff of gimmick. For travellers who want to feel plugged into a city rather than merely passing through, Olomouc now has a base with depth, purpose, and story.
Amenities:
• bakery • bar • free WiFi • garden • LHBTIQA+ • free on-site parking • restaurant • room service • no pets allowed
