Marit

Structure beats atmosphere, which is a much more useful rule than anything about venues.

"The window was three hours earlier" is the single most useful line here and it applies well beyond not drinking.

I drink and I still find the ten o'clock version of a hostel worse than the seven o'clock version. At seven people are cooking, arriving, comparing routes, and open. By ten the group has formed and gone, and whoever is left is either waiting for something or not looking for company at all.

The mechanism is that at seven everyone is individually unattached, and by ten they are in a group. Joining a group of strangers is a completely different social act from talking to another individual at a hob, and the second one is easy.

So the advice generalises: whatever the venue, arrive at the hour when people are still separate. That is usually earlier than the hour the place is busiest, which is why "when is it lively" is the wrong question to ask at reception.