The Dreaded...HOSTELS!

Back when I was studying in London, I DREADED hostels. The first two we booked in Italy were not ideal, to say the least. But since then I've learned a few key things to look for in booking hostels. To start off, I find that Hostel World is an excellent site, not only for booking your hostels, but also gives some great tips on traveling and things to do and knowledge about different cities.

1. BATHROOMS!
I know this may sound silly, but it's really an important thing (especially for girls!). After a day of wandering around a foreign city, a place to get clean, (or at the very least, go to the bathroom! In many European cities, toilets don't have seats for you to sit on, gross! So it's nice for you to have one at your hostel!) is very comforting to know if it is clean. You can always tell from the user reviews what the bathroom situation is going to be like. How many there are, are they clean, are there ones for boys and one for girls, separate toilet and shower rooms, etc. Don't just look at the cleanliness level, actually go through some reviews to see what people say.

Also something I look for in bathrooms is if you have to pay or use a coin for showers and towels. Some hostels might say this in their blip about the hostel, but most won't. Users hopefully will mention it! I say this because I once had an ok hostel in Paris that gave me and my friend two coins for the shower, but they didn't tell us how long the coins lasted. 5 minutes into the shower, the water turned off, my friend still had shampoo in her hair, and the front desk was closed so she couldn't get another coin.

2. LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!
This is also something that the first time booking hostels I didn't think mattered much, but later found out that it SO does! On Hostel World, each hostel will show you on a map where they are located (If they don't, I wouldn't book it) and often will say "in the heart of the city" or "a short walk from an underground." This was something I also learned from my first booking experience. "A short walk from an underground" doesn't exactly mean that it's in the city! In Rome we booked a hostel that said this and it ended up being a 45 minute ride into the city. It was a very nice hostel, right on the beach, but was no where near anything we wanted to see or do!

On the other hand, we switched to a different hostel the next day that was right next to the Terminini, right in the heart of the city. Now, something that one might not know about this in Rome, but that is NOT a good neighborhood. And not just that it wasn't a good neighborhood, but it will still remain the WORST hostel I've ever stayed in.

Again, the reviews by users will always say how it was located, what they were able to walk to.


3. READ The User Reviews!
The moral of the story is read the reviews! If someone didn't like it, someone is going to want to say so! If someone loved it, someone is going to want to say that too! Hostel World sends emails a day after you check out to ask you to review, and you bet your bottom I have reviewed all the hosteled I booked!


The main different between my hostel experiences from when I was studying in London, to this past trip to Europe was that I took a little more time and read the reviews. If there was a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't be happy there, I said no! And the two hostels I stayed in this time around, were EXCELLENT! I'm not the only traveler who loves talking about the great hostels and wants to warn people of the bad hostel.

A post of actual hostels I've been too will be following soon!