A Hostel World

I don’t know about you guys, but when I first thought about staying in a hostel I was a bit nervous. I had no clue what to expect or how to even begin looking for a place to stay. Luckily I had a friend who had been traveling before and she told me about an app/website called Hostel World. This app save me a lot of time when it came to looking for a hostel.

So what exactly is a hostel?

The internet defines a hostel as a place that provides budget-oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dormitory and share a bathroom, lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex, and private rooms may also be available.

During my time abroad I stayed in many different hostels in different cities and never had a bad experience. In this blog I am going to talk a bit about each hostel I stayed in and if I were to stay in it again.  

Location: Amsterdam

Name of the Hostel: Train Lodge Hostel Amsterdam

What kind of room did I stay in & short description: I stayed in a 6-bed room. There were two bunk sets stacked three high. This hostel got its name because it is renovated train cars sitting on dead end tracks right outside the train station. The room was small, but had a sink and mirror in it which was nice for brushing teeth and had filtered water so I could fill up my water bottle right in the room. There were two full bathrooms in each train car so they weren’t too far of a walk.

What did I like most/least:

• My whole experience in this train car hostel was amazing. I really enjoyed the location of it. This hostel was about a 5-minute train ride away from the city which made it nice and quiet, but still very easy to get into the city.
• The only complaint that I would say I had about this hostel is that the rooms were very small with no place to lock up your bags. Since the rooms were small I got to know my roommates very well so I felt comfortable leaving my stuff in there and we got a key to lock the door so we could have it locked whenever we wanted. Also, the rooms being small wasn’t really bad it’s just something you have to be prepared for since you could be sleeping on the top bunk of three.

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• They had a bar/little convenience store right in the main train car which was very nice since we were a little way out of the city. The prices weren’t too terrible, but they were a bit more expensive since they could upcharge without any competition.

Best memory at this hostel:

• The hostel was so cute and each train car had its own theme. Some of my roommates were from Portugal so it was fun to talk to them and learn a bit about their culture.
• One of my best memories was sitting and talking with friends I met on the train and playing games and just talking about where we come from and how we got there.

Would I stay there again:

• Hands down I would stay here again! I loved the location and the staff was very fun and close to my age (20) which made it fun to talk to them and made me feel more welcome and comfortable. I was also right outside the train station so to get into town was easy and not any work since it was just one stop.

Extra notes:

• If you are planning to stay here make sure to plan because it does fill up fast since it’s not that big and is very unique.
• There is a grocery store close to the hostel where I got a lot of my meals if I didn’t want to go to a restaurant.
• I mentioned that you have to take a train to get into the city center which does cost money, but for a three day pass I believe it was around $30 USD for a 24 hour pass which was cheaper than just buying one every time I wanted to go into the city

Location: Prague

Name of the Hostel: Hostel Mango

What kind of room did I stay in & a short description: I stayed in a 14 bed bedroom. There were two bathrooms in the room itself. We all had our own cubby that we could lock up all of our stuff in. There were mostly bunk beds and a few single beds.

What did I like most/least:

• This hostel had an amazing location. It was right in the center of town. There was plenty of restaurants, pubs, and attractions right around the area, but it was just one street off the main road so at night it was very quiet and perfect for sleeping.
• There was honestly nothing that I didn’t enjoy about this hostel. The staff and location was better than I could have ever expected.

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• Throughout the week they offered a free dinner, pub crawl and discounts to different attractions and pubs/clubs.
• There was a little bar/kitchen with couches, games and bit table in the basement that was available for everyone to use.

Best memory at this hostel:

• Two of my roommates were from London and we hit it off instantly. We ended up going out that night to explore the town and get to know each other.

Would I stay there again:

• I would 10/10 stay in this hostel again. I cannot stress enough how perfect the location was, but other than that the staff was amazing and all spoke english which was helpful. The hostel itself was easy to get to. I took a train from the airport to get there and it was only a short walk from the station to the hostel. It was a very clean, safe and inviting hostel.

Location: The Buda side of Budapest

Name of the Hostel: Big Fish Budapest Hostel

What kind of room did I stay in & a short description: I stayed in a room with eight beds in it. The room was two floors with four beds on each floor. I was a beautiful room with a wooden staircase. Each bed had its own cubby to lock your stuff in, a reading light and a little side table. The bathroom was down that hall and was an individual bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink.

What did I like most/least:

• The hostel was very nice and clean.
• There was nothing wrong with this hostel, but the location was not good. There wasn’t much around it besides a delicious cafe that I ate at every day and a few sketchy pubs.I didn’t feel unsafe here, but it was definitely a different, less settled feeling than I had felt before.  

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• The one really cool thing about this hostel was that it offered tours of the ruin pubs for a cheaper price than anything else I found.
• There was a small kitchen that people could use, but it was almost to small to hang out in.

Best memory at this hostel:

• The ruined pubs were very fun and it was nice to have the hostel coordinate everything

Would I stay there again:

• As nice as the hostel was I probably wouldn’t stay there again because of a few reasons. The location was not good, transportation was hard to come by, and there was just an uneasy feeling about the location. If I were to go to Budapest again I would stay on the Pest side because there were more attractions on that side of the river.

Extra notes:

• The hostel was incredible hard to find. Since the transportation was terrible it was hard to even get to the right area. From the airport to the hostel it was about $70USD to get there. Once I got there I had to go into what appeared to be an abandoned apartment building and walk up a flight of pitch black stairs to finally come to the door.

Location: Barcelona

Name of the Hostel: Mediterranean Youth Hostel

What kind of room did I stay in & a short description: I stayed in a room of five bunk beds (10 beds). The room was very small, so you didn’t want to spend much time in there. There were cubbys under the bed that I could put my stuff in and lock up. The bathrooms were down the hall and more of a dorm style with more than one toilet and shower in it. The showers were nice but shut off automatically after about eight seconds so I had to keep pressing the button to turn it on which was hard.

What did I like most/least:

• The staff was very nice and the hostel was clean. The location was nice with many pubs and restaurants within walking distance. I did have to take the metro to the beach, but that isn’t expensive so it wasn’t a big deal.
• There wasn’t anything that I disliked about the hostel. If I could change one thing it would have been nicer to be in a more lively area, but there was plenty there to keep me occupied for a few days.

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• Every night the hostel offered a dinner for a few extra dollars that would had to sign up for. I never chose to do this because I usually went to the store to get some food that I could cook myself.
• The hostel also had a nice living/movie/game room for everyone to use, two nice kitchen spaces and a big dining area with three big tables.
• They also offered a pub crawl that as very fun. It wasn’t long but the places we did go were very fun.
• I had to check out of the hostel a while before my plane so they had a place to hold my backpack which I explored the city more which was very helpful.

Best memory at this hostel:

• I had many great experiences here! I went to the Dow Jones bar, which I would definitely recommend checking out, the pub crawl took us to a fun Irish Pub and an EDM Club.
• However, my favorite memory by far was meeting one of my roommates who became a very close friend.

Would I stay there again:

• I would most definitely stay in this hostel again. While I didn’t connect as much with the staff and the room was smaller, the location and cleanliness made it worth it.

Extra notes:

• Even though the room was small I didn’t spend any time in there except to sleep since there was so much to see around the hostel, so it really wasn’t a big deal.

Location: Barcelona

Name of the Hostel: Sant Jordi Sagrada Familia Hostel

What kind of room did I stay in & a short description: I stayed in a room with four bunks (eight beds). Each bed had a shelf to keep stuff in with a reading light and a cubby to store stuff in. The room was very clean and a decent size with a big window in it to a courtyard which was pretty to look out. The bathrooms were right outside the door and had a separate shower room and toilet room that were well kept.

What did I like most/least:

• The hostel was nice, big and clean. Nothing really stood out to me as amazing, but there was nothing wrong with the hostel.
• The only thing that was different than other hostel I have stayed in was that the staff didn’t seem to be as friendly as I had seen.
• The location was okay, it was right next to a metro, so you had to take that if you wanted to go anywhere, but that was easy.

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• Staying in this hostel was a spur of the moment decision so I didn’t really see any of the hostel besides my room. I do know that they had a nice lounge, kitchen and dining room for people to use.

Best memory at this hostel:

• Since I wasn’t at this hostel for probably more than 24 hours I didn’t make to many memories there, but I was able to talk to a homeless lady and learn a bit about her life which was very cool. Since she only spoke Spanish I had to go outside my comfort zone and speak only Spanish which was challenging, but also very rewarding.

Would I stay there again:

• The three reasons that I would not stay in this hostel again was because, it was out of the way of a lot of main attractions, it didn’t have any night life since it was in a neighborhood, and the staff just isn’t as friendly as I hoped.

Extra notes:  This hostel was in more of a neighborhood so I had to speak more Spanish than English which again was okay, but for someone who doesn’t know any Spanish I wouldn’t recommend this place just because it would make it harder to get around.

Location: Paris

Name of the Hostel: Arty Paris by Hiphophostels

What kind of room did I stay in & a short description: Originally I was supposed to be in a room with 24 beds, but because I am a member of Hostelworld I got a free upgrade to a private room and a free drink. The room I got upgraded to was amazing, I had my own bed and private bath with a beautiful view of the street below. I was very clean and the staff were absolutely amazing.

What did I like most/least:

• I am probably a bit impartial because I got a free upgrade, but the hostel itself was very clean and the staff were very accommodating.
• The only little thing that was not as great was that the hostel was out of the way of the Eiffel Tower and the heart of paris, but I guess that can be both good and bad. Good because it was a very quiet and nice neighborhood, but bad because it was about a 45 minute walk to the heart of the city which isn’t too far, but I definitely had to plan for the walk time.

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• I was only in the hostel for a night so I didn’t spend any time there other than sleeping, but I know there was a bar, kitchen and dining room there were clean and fully stocked.

Best memory at this hostel:

• The best memory was being upgraded for free to a room that was about $250/night as opposed to the one I had originally that was about $18/night

Would I stay there again:

• I would stay in this hostel again, but I may look for a place that is closer to the heart of the city just so I didn’t have to spend as much time traveling around. That being said there was nothing wrong with the location, but if you are looking for more of the bar/party scene this would not be the place for that.

Extra notes:  There were trams and metros that I could take, but it took just as long to get to the heart with the trams as it did walking so I chose to sight see more by walking.

Location: London

Name of the Hostel: The Walrus Hostel

What kind of room did I stay in & a short description: I stayed in a very large room with about 10 bunks (20 beds). The room was very spacious and had a small cubby to put stuff in. The bathrooms were right outside the main door and in a bit of rough shape.  

What did I like most/least:

• The staff was very fun and there was a public bar underneath where we checked in which was something unique that had not been in any of my other hostels.
• The location of this a not good at all. Since I wasn’t in London for more than 24 hours I never actually slept at the hostel, so maybe if I had a full day to explore it would have been better, but everything seemed to be far away.

What extra accommodations, if any, did they offer:

• Other than the public bar downstairs there wasn’t any extra accommodations that I knew about.

Best memory at this hostel:

• This trip to London was just rough in general so I didn’t have really any good experience here. Other than the bartender being nice and friendly there wasn’t really a good memory here.

Would I stay there again:

• Again, since I wasn’t in London for more than 24 hours I didn’t get to even enjoy the hostel, but from what I do remember I probably wouldn’t stay here again because it was more of a party hostel and out of the way of most of the attractions. If I were to go to london again I would try to find something closer to more activity.

I know that was a lot of information, but I hope that it helped show you that hostels are a fun way to meet many people and are a good way to save some money.

When going anywhere or doing anything you should always research and make sure you feel comfortable in that area and that it fits the standards you are looking for. I enjoyed my time in the hostels and would definitely stay in them again.

If you are planning to travel and stay in hostels I would recommend the Hostelworld app or website (https://www.hostelworld.com)  to do research. They give rating reviews, location from city center, prices, accommodations and show pictures of the rooms and common areas, so there shouldn’t be any surprises once you get there.