Hostels Booking

There are several hostel booking site that has user reviews, if you google the name of the town you want to go and the word hostel you will find several. Compare the reviews, compare the prices the different hostel sites charge and also see the sites the hostels have themselves.

Hostelworld is often mentioned as one of the better ones, but there are many more that are reliable.

The area you ask about is so big that it is impossible to give you a sensible list of hostels. If you save 10 Euro by using a cheaper hostel, but have to spend 20 Euro more to get there you have not saved anything.

When you are already traveling, listen to the stories of the people you meet.

If you try to make bookings for a travel before leaving home, we can help you better if you ask for hostels in one or two cities.

In Belgium, I enjoyed the hostels in Namur, Bruges and Antwerp, but that has been a few years back.

In Paris I have stayed with these people: http://www.mije.com/index_individuels_uk… as recently as last year.

I plan to go backpacking with a friend in Europe (Italy,Spain,France,Netherlands,Germany) from Sept 2, 09 to Sept 23, 09. I wasn’t sure if I should book the hostels now in advance or do it the day I arrive in that particular city. I’ve heard mixed answers (book in advance to get cheaper price/book the day of in case u dont like the place or find a better place).

Also what are some good sites to search for and book hostels through? I’ve seen hostelworld.com and eurotrip.com. Any other suggestions? This is my first time backpacking so I wanna be as prepared as possible.

I booked primarily with hostels.com and hihostels.com . The only hostels i pre-booked were the ones for the first 10 days of my 49 day trip. I wouldn’t have even booked that many, except that i had specific train tickets already booked for specific days, so i didn’t want to have to fuss with last minute bookings during my jet lag. We ended up booking online our hostels a few days in advance (check if the booking is refundable) and were quite happy with the freedom that gave us… it also meant we knew where we were tryign to get to when we got there (less time bed hunting, more time enjoying the sights and sounds and people).

It turned out to be a good thing we didn’t pre-book too much as we found out about a cute little mountainside hostel via word of mouth in switzerland, and we weren’t able to get on a train that we wanted to get on (needed 5 days pre-booked to get on the route from Paris thru to Amsterdam via belgium) so we diverted south and went north later than planned. I also got a massive head cold in Paris (someone brought it from China [really nice chinese lady we talked with] and stayed in the same hostel dorm room).

Whats the best way to book a hostel room in another country? I know you can’t book it through a travel agent, do you have to book it online? Is it safe to book online? How do you know your room is booked? Can anyone give me some reliable sites for booking a hostel room?

cheers

Hostelbookers.com….It’s very easy…just select the country,then the town,and click on each hostel or hotel for info and booking….small deposit up front,balance on arrival or by arrangement. Every place I stayed had me listed,and the deposit was recorded,all over Europe,in South America, Africa,allsorts…..very safe and very reliable. No bad places stay on hostelbookers lists….they get feedback from users,which you’ll see on the hostel info…as with most of the hostels booking sites….send your own comments too,they welcome all feedback. Print the booking page with the booking confirmation,or write the confirmation number and take it with you,just like an airline e-ticket. See my answers here,with Hostelbookers and other links. I’ve used them on four continents,never a prolem anywhere…. Hostelz.com,Hostelworld,and over a dozen others also have a good service. Put backpacker and a country name in the search box,you’ll get a lot of info. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind… … more backpacking info here.. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind… … http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;… … This has lots of info,links,etc,some of the links are the same as in the other Qs…… http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind… .. Have a great time.

i want to go to russia in this summer for 90 days to attend training in moscow university do you think booking in hi hostel hotels is a good idea

http://www.hihostels.com/dba/list.php?lang=E

i’m 23 yo

if there is better places it will be good 20-25 $/night

HostelBookers prides itself on being the only independent hostel booking site that has NO BOOKING FEES!

With youth hostels and cheap accommodation in over 2,500 destinations worldwide, our aim is to be the number one website for backpackers and student travel, and every traveler looking for great budget accommodation.

You can find thier link at KMA Global Travels : Find A Hotel With Our Geographical Hotel Locator http://www.kmaglobaltravels.com/

What exactly is the big difference between a hostel and a hotel/motel or a boarding house? where can I find a list of hostels both in the United States and Europe?

All hostel, hotel and motel are places where you can sleep for a night, or longer. Boarding houses do not, as a rule, accept people for just a night or even a week.

In a hotel or a motel you will have a room to yourself, or at least to the people in your party.

In a hostel you can sometimes get rooms like that to, but mostly you will share a room with several others, you paying for just one bed, them being strangers who also just paid for one bed. Often the beds are stacked, one above an other, but that is not always the case.

An other difference is that a hostel almost always has a kitchen the guests can use, and other common rooms that are in use.

Motels are mostly for people traveling by car, are on or near motorways, can be hotels but for the location, or can have little apartments with a kitchen and a living and a separate bedroom or even several bedrooms for a price of just a common hotel room.

Hotels also have apartment and suites with a living and a bedroom, but than you pay big bucks.

Boarding houses can be hostel style or hotel style, or even have living/bedroom combinations, depending on location, target user group and price.

The easiest way to get hold of addresses is searching the internet, just google on hostel, hotel or motel and the name of the town or area and they will come up.

Other ways is to buy a guidebook, Lonely Planet and Lets Go (and others) list the hostels first, and hotels and so on, other guidebook series might list hotels or motels first and hostels only when they are not available.

Hostels are often part of a national or even international organisation, Hosteling International is the best known world wide:

http://www.hihostels.com/

Through them you can come in contact with the national organisation for your country, where you can become a member. As a member you get a hostel list for your area, sometimes the international handbook, which (used to) has two editions each year. (I have not used those handbooks for a while, so this information might be outdated.)

Other hostels sometimes work in national or continent wide organisations too, just check any indication they do.

But most people use a site like Hostelworld: http://www.hostelworld.com/altindex.php

Or hostels.com: http://www.hostels.com/

Or one of the many other booking sites.

A large group of my friends (15 of us or so) are meeting in Edinburgh this summer (end of July for 3 nights) to celebrate 2 of their birthdays and basically just have a big piss-up. Anyone have any suggestions for hostels which are good fun, close to the bars, and we won’t get kicked out of?

You could try the Edinburgh Backpackers Hostel, close to the High Street and a short walk to Princes Street, Rose Street and George Street. http://www.hoppo.com/edinburgh or you could try here http://www.edinburghhostels.com/ for a selection of Hostels in Edinburgh.

i leave in febuary next year and will be spending 5-6 weeks in london berlin ireland and paris. will i get a better deal if i book early and how much are they approx each night?

If you travel in February, March and April you will only need reservations when there are festivals and national holidays/long weekends.

I find it best to phone the night before or book via internet a few days before I arrive, but I met many people who would just show up and expect to find a hostel bed, even much later in the year.

Worst what will happen is that you may have to stay in a hostel that is out of the center of town or a hotel that is in a different price class from what you wanted.

Only if you go to rural Ireland it is worth booking ahead, but that is because a lot of hostels and small hotels will be closed till end of March or even end or April.

If you expect to arrive in a town after 15:00/3PM, you will want to make reservations for the first night, but if you arrive early in the day in a bigger town, why bother.

You might get a better deal if you book ahead, but if you change your mind and decide to change your travel plans you will lose much more money than you might safe by booking early.

And if you stay in a town for several days, if you do not like the place you are staying you can move on if you did not make reservations for the whole time, but will be stuck if you did pay already.

I’m booking hostels for all over Europe on Hostelworld.com and we don’t really need anything bigger than a twin to share. Can I just book as one guest and share it with my gf.

In hostels you always book per person, so you will have to book for 2 people.

And only in some hostels there are double beds, if not, you have to have a bed each.

If you are going to stay in a dorm, not always you will be in the same dorm, as some hostels still keep males and females apart.

But there are also hostels where you can book a room for two, either a bunk or a double bed.

I am looking this for my sister’s accommodation .. any good ladies hostels in t.nagar , nungambakkam , kodambakkam in chennai

I think the Butterflies ladies hostel in T.nagar seems good , cos I stayed there for couple of months doing my project. The thing i love that ladies hostel is their food WOW WOW .. unbeatable menu .. Yeah i do stayed in other hostels but Butterflies seems better.. we used to play shuttle **** in the evening. Now i am in U.S missing my friends sheela , neethu, dhanya in that hostel (most of them are still there in that ladies hostel). I give two thumbs up for that ladies hostel .. i think this is their website address..YOU WILL BE LUCKY IF THERE IS A VACANCY !!!! SERIOUS near kodambakkam and nungambakkam http://www.chennailadieshostel.net/

What is the average price of a hostel in Western Europe. I want to backpack around Europe (Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, etc.), and would like to get a general idea of how cheap I can get a place to sleep for.

Most hostels are in the range €10 to €30, depending on the country, the size of the dorm and the quality of the hostel.

And of course, what the market dictates.

There are several hostel booking sites that show the prices, http://www.hostelworld.com/ being one, http://www.hostelbookers.com/ or http://www.hostelseurope.com/ some others I have not booked with yet.

You can use them to compare prices, and if they have reviews compare the quality of the hostels as well.

Or buy or borrow a reasonably new edition of a good travelguide like Lonely planet and allow 10% price rise per year since the book was written.