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I'm a male in my 30's and stayed in several hostels all over Ireland, Edinburgh, New York, Asheville, and will be staying in one in Montreal in a couple of weeks. Basically you get what you pay for. If little things gross you out I'd say skip it. If snoring or the potential for loud noise will derail your trip I'd say skip it. If you'd rather spend more money on your trip than a bed for a few hours (like me) check out some hostels on hostelworld. Most of the time you'll get to meet other travelers and backpackers from around the world.... age range is typically college age to young adult but I've seen families, seniors, etc. Like someone above mentioned if the idea of a multi bed dorm gives you anxiety, check out a higher priced single. You never know what you'll get in the multibed situation. on a couple of occasions I was paired with an overweight guest who snored very loudly. (one was suffering from really bad sleep apnea). In Asheville some younger hipster types that talked like Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times. But the most unusual was in Dublin: 4 college aged girls from Liverpool were staying in my 12 bed dorm also and getting ready to go out. They obviously had some drinks in them and were dancing and singing. 2 of them changed right in front of me and apparently wanted me to notice!
Hostel are competely ok if you are using them for sleep and shower only. If you have higher demands, then sure, there is no limit to luxuries money can buy. But yeah, I tend to roam the cities all day.
Personally, I don't like hostels. Never have liked them. Give me a hotel any day.
That said , some of them are nice. I stayed in an awesome hostel in Prague. You do get to meet people from all over the world -- I stayed with a bunch of people from Melbourne and Mexico City, for example.
I've been reading the Travel subforum for a while and notice people talk down hostels as if it was somehow only a poor people's stay, or the very last place a traveler would spend the night, only if there are no other options. Just what is wrong with hostels?
I've stayed in them pretty much every time I traleved anywhere. Some of the buildings have historical value, like the one in Nürnberg which was converted from a part of the medieval imperial fortress. Overall, I have had only positive experiences of them.
I've been reading the Travel subforum for a while and notice people talk down hostels as if it was somehow only a poor people's stay, or the very last place a traveler would spend the night, only if there are no other options. Just what is wrong with hostels?
I've stayed in them pretty much every time I traleved anywhere. Some of the buildings have historical value, like the one in Nürnberg which was converted from a part of the medieval imperial fortress. Overall, I have had only positive experiences of them.
I think a lot of folks (myself included) touched on some common "problems" with hostels. I'm talking about the lack of privacy/security stemming from not generally being able to choose who you're rooming with and living in an open space to not being able to control what your hostel-mates do/how they take care of themselves, etc. More on the latter point: in Sydney, I was staying in a 4 bed hostel with a young woman and two other guys. The two guys smelled like they had never showered in their lives (seriously, it was that bad). The young woman and I complained to management, but the two other guys weren't moved for a few days (at which point, they became some other unfortunate soul's/souls' problem.
Though you can oftentimes pay to get a private room at a hostel, I've found that, for such a luxury, the price often rivals that of a regular hotel.
Granted, hostels are cheap (which is a major factor in why I considered them and would still consider under certain circumstances), and offer a great opportunity to meet people, among other benefits. Still, weighing the pros and the cons, the cons outweigh the pros of hostel life in my experience. But I know that others have the complete opposite feeling of hostel life than me, and I totally accept that.
Last edited by prospectheightsresident; 06-19-2016 at 07:21 PM..
I must be one of those rare people who has had a fantastic experience. By chance I saw an hostal in Madrid and booked it. It was newly remodeled, pristine, and most accommodating. The hostess was amazing and I have returned to that hostel in four subsequent trips. My last trip, however, they were booked, but the owner's sister also ran an older hostel (old in the sense of old fashioned decor) so I stayed there. The last time I stayed at my favorite hostal upon arriving in Madrid, I needed to also stay at the end of my stay, but the owner was going to close and go to her family's home in Zamorra for the typical Spanish vacation period before the scheduled end of my stay. She was to get back to me about the exact day of their departure. Well, at the end of the day when I returned to the hostal expecting to have to find other accommodations, the owner gave me the keys to the entire building and told me to stay as long as I needed and to leave the keys atop a shelf. I felt honored that she trusted me (and a not a little bit nervous about the responsibility for the building as I departed from the country). I won't stay at a hotel in Madrid ever unless I find this hostal, or the sister's, unavailable. I guess there are 'hostals' and then there are 'hostals'.
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