Many of us will try out ‘dorm life’ on at least one trip to meet people and save money. In my travels I have opted to stay in a hostel on many occasions. My experiences have generally been fine but I have ended up in a few less-than-desirable hostels and this can sometimes bring a bit of a downer on your holiday. Check out my top tips for how to find a GREAT hostel:
Location to the city centre
When you are closer to the centre of town this means that less time will be wasted getting to any sites and attractions or restaurants you have planned for the day. You can also have the option to go back, change clothes if necessary, drop off heavy camera gear if you only needed it for part of the day.
Read the reviews
Any decent place will have a reasonable number of reviews that find little fault with the place. If there are several people commenting that it is good value, clean and comfortable then chances are it will be because this is being backed up by a range of sources (travellers such as yourself).
Bathrooms
If the bathrooms are a decent size or don’t involve hanging your clothes on the back of a cubicle door while you shower, then this is always a good sign. I recently stayed in a hostel in Lisbon where the bathroom was recently renovated and it felt like a bathroom you would find in someone’s home, not a hostel. This just provided a little extra comfort than what I am accustomed to in hostels, which is always nice!
Size of dorm rooms
If you can tell from the images that you luggage is going to be practically on top of the next person’s and there is not much room to move around the beds then I would try to steer clear and find a hostel with rooms that have a little more space for packing your bags, organising yourself and getting ready. This certainly makes a difference.
Do they have lockers for valuables?
This is a question I constantly ask myself as I usually travel with my laptop and expensive camera gear. Add your passport and travel documents to this list because they are also imperative. Most hostels will have a locker under or next to your bed but you usually need to provide your own padlock. I have stayed in a few lower range places where there have been no lockers so I had to resort to leaving valuables in a small bag behind the reception desk (which is attended to 24 hours a day). This was not ideal but I would rather trust the staff than leave expensive devices around people that I don’t know. Better to play it safe than end up losing a camera and 2 months worth of videos and photos! If neither of these options are viable then I will look elsewhere for a place to rest my head for the night.
Is there a decent breakfast available/included ?
This is somewhat of a rarity in the world of hostels. Many will not have breakfast included and if there is breakfast it is usually a very limited range of items. No fancy croissants or hot buffets with pancakes. Think off brand cereal and toast with a couple of spreads. When you think about it, you can’t really complain, for the price you pay per night or the $5 that they might charge for breakfast. But having it there is always good as it saves you buying a more expensive breakfast at a cafe before starting your day.
Organised activities
Many hostels offer pub crawls and even help organise or arrange discounts for you with day trips in the area.
Cheap nightly rate
Now this is probably the most important one, well for me at least. I’m all about the savings and having more money for activities and adventures, than a fancy place to stay. Usually you spend very little time at your accommodation (because you are out exploring and having a great time) so it makes sense to choose wisely when it comes to price. I have also found by using cheaper hostels with slightly less comfort I can travel for longer and make my money stretch further.
Now this combination would make the ultimate hostel experience. In reality it is difficult to find an establishment that ticks all of these boxes but if they can tick most then in my opinion you have found yourself a great bargain.
Do you have any experience with ‘hostelling’ ? I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a comment below:
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