I don’t have any sponsorship or deal with HostelWorld, it was just the platform I used to find accommodation while traveling through Europe.
I used HostelWorld every day during my travels across Western Europe.
You can read about why I went on this trip, how I planned it, and how much it cost in my “Backpacking Western Europe” series.
Brief Guide to How I Found Hostels:
I would first research the opinions of other bloggers. I did this by reading two or three blog posts about hostels within my city of interest. While doing this, I kept note of the ones that were in my price range and described the type of experience I wanted.
(Obviously, I wasn’t looking into hostels rated best for couples or families, since I was on a solo journey. Also, I wasn’t interested in hostels meant for peace and quiet, since I wanted to socialize and meet new people.)
After reading and noting down the recommended hostels, I went to the HostelWorld app, typed in the city I was interested to travel to next, added my probable dates of arrival and departure, and then hit “search”.
If one of the hostels that I previously saw recommended in the blog posts pops up, I’d immediately “favorite it” from within the app to review alongside the other hostels I’d find in my own search.
After that, I’d scroll through all the listed hostels within that city. After looking at the location of the hostel, ratings, comments, facilities offered, and price, I’d “favorite” three to five more.
Then I’d go to “My Wish Lists” in the app, click on the city I was just finding accommodation for, and then compare all my favorite listings right then and there.
After deciding on the hostel I wanted, I’d book it right through the app.
The next step was just figuring out how to get there from where I was.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Hostel (other than cost):
Location
The proximity of your hostel from your arriving or departing station, not to mention from the attractions within the city you want to see, is extremely important to take into consideration.
When choosing the times in which you want to travel from place to place, try to organize it in a way so that you’re not walking at night or trying to find a bus stop in the middle of the dark.
If you have no choice but to arrive in a new location after the sun has gone down, look for hostels that are within walking distance of your station. This way you’re not trying to figure out the bus/metro routes while standing in the dark. All that can be figured out in the morning when you want to explore the inner parts of the city.
If you’re arriving in the city during the day, but then departing early morning or late night a couple of days later – look for hostels near your departing station. This can save you time and headache in those moments while you’re leaving.
How far away is your hostel from the main attractions you want to see? How often do you want to depend on the use of buses and metros? If you can’t walk from your hostel to your daily excursions, your transportation costs will increase.
Facilities & Services
All hostels provide different facilities, whether they are included in your booking fee or not.
Typically hostels offer WIFI/internet access, bedsheets, and city maps for free. Some may offer a complimentary meal, typically a breakfast.
Other “general” facilities most often include AC/heat, bathrooms, showers, bicycle or car parking, adaptors, kitchens, and laundry machines.
Security Lockers / Luggage Storage:
This is an area within the hostel that provides a space to store your belongings should you need to leave them.
You will either pay to use the locker (locked via a code), rent a lock from the hostel, or use your own.
Hostel lockers are a great option for when you can’t store your belongings in your room. This is a possibility if you arrive too early for your check-in, or you must check-out before your depart from that city.
Storing your luggage in a locker will allow you to start your sightseeing early or get in any last-minute city walks before you leave for good!
Laundry Machines:
At some point in your travels, you’ll need to wash your clothes.
If you’re like me and brought one backpack capable of storing only four outfits, you’ll be doing your laundry often.
Having the option to wash and dry clothes at your hostel is a must-have. Maybe not for all your hostels, but definitely for the ones you’ll be staying at when it’s that time of the week where your clothes are starting to produce a smell.
Towels:
Taking a hot shower feels amazing when living on the road…unless you don’t have a towel to then dry off with.
Is this something you’re going to pack on your own, or will you need one as you go? If you’re going to opt on your own towel and save some space in your pack, make sure you’re hostel offers towel services before you get all wet and clean.
Bedsheets:
Make sure your hostel offers bed sheets and pillows! You’re not going to be happy when you get to your hostel and realize you won’t get any provided sheets or if you’ll have to pay for some!
These are luxuries you don’t think about at home, but essential to not look over when living on the road.
Tea/Coffee Services:
Maybe the hostel doesn’t offer a complimentary meal, such as a breakfast, but they might offer tea and coffee stations!
This is a great option for those that need an extra boost to get out the door before a full day of sightseeing!
Kitchens:
Some hostels provide guests the ability to cook their own meals. Generally, these kitchens will have a fridge (where you label and store your goods), microwave, stove, and oven.
This is a great option if you’re traveling on a budget and want to cook your own meals versus going out to eat.
Hostel kitchens are also another great way to meet and connect with fellow travelers! Whether you’re cooking your own meal or decide to do a group dinner, food always brings people together. You can chat and exchange stories while cooking, eating, and of course cleaning! It also gives you a chance to see different cooking techniques and recipes from around the world!
Common Room:
For solo travelers, or anyone trying to meet new people, having a common area in your hostel is a great way to make a friend, discuss past or future travels, and get travel tips!
Generally, people who spend time in the common area want to get to know someone new. So it’s the perfect opportunity to just walk up to someone and introduce yourself!
I met so many people in the common area! Some were fleeting moments where we just chatted about our travels and plans, while others I would go and explore the city with them!
Common rooms essentially allow you to meet strangers in a safe and regulated area. So utilize them to meet new people and possibly find a travel companion!
Entertainment:
Entertainment provided by the hostels ranges extremely from hostel to hostel, city to city.
Some may only offer board and card games, whereas others have pool tables, foosball, or arcade games.
Other hostels have full-on nightclubs, bars, and restaurants.
Services:
This includes, but is not limited to: reception, security, airport transfers, check-in and out, and tours.
Reception: how often is someone manning the front desk? 24hours? Limited availability?
Security: how is the safety of the building monitored? Security guard? Key cards for the building and/or each room?
Transfers: if you’re coming from the airport or train station, does your hostel offer pickups?
Early or Late Check-In/Check-Out: if your bus is running late and you’ve missed your check-in, will someone be running the reception desk after hours? Or if your train leaves early in the morning, do you have the ability to check out in order to get to your station in time?
Tours: does your hostel offer group tours (free or for a cost) to different sightseeing attractions in that city?
Rating and Reviews
When looking for new hostels, my first concern (after location) was the rating, then I’d read the comments to get more insight, then I checked the facilities offered.
The rating scale on HostelWorld is based on seven factors: location, cleanliness, staff, facilities, atmosphere, security, and value for money.
The overall rating is based on the average of all these factors together. Always look at the breakdown of the rating to decide what factors are more important to you than others when choosing your hostel.
Maybe the hostel has a poor rating in “atmosphere”, but the rating for “cleanliness” and “security” are high. Or maybe the “location” of the hostel is perfect, but the “cleanliness” and “staff” ratings are low. This is where you decide what is important to you!
After a brief-over of the ratings, check the comments! See why some travelers rated the hostel the way they did.
Keep in mind; people travel for different reasons, under different circumstances, with different expectations.
If a hostel is known as a “party hostel” and a family with young kids left a negative review, take into account their reasoning for why they didn’t enjoy their experience. The same hostel could have a glowing review from a solo traveler who wanted to stay up late and party.
The reviews section in HostelWorld allows you to filter through based on age. This perfect since you can compare your own wants/needs with those in the same age group as you.
Sleeping Arrangements
Choosing what room to sleep in completely depends on the individual. Stay within your budget and comfort level!
Most hostels offer dorm rooms, private rooms, private twin rooms, or private group rooms.
Unless you are willing to spend a lot of money, dorm-style rooms are the most common for backpackers.
Hostel dorm rooms could sleep four, six, ten, or even twenty people!
Are you a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? Do you tend to make a lot of noise when you get ready? Do you go to bed early? Do you like to sleep in? Are you uncomfortable with people changing around you? All these questions are important to not only you personally but also to your experience while living on the road.
Think about the shuffling of movements, snoring, early mornings, or late nights from each traveler. Think about other people’s awareness of themselves, maybe some don’t have the common courtesy to not use the blow-dryer at 7 am. Smaller dorms could decrease these interactions.
Larger rooms might not only equal more noise but also more opportunities for stolen items. Unlocked belongings may look more tempting when there are twenty people in the same room than six.
Are you comfortable sharing a room with all genders, or just the one you identify with?
If someone in my room woke up with their alarm blasting at 6 am, I took it as an opportunity to get up and get out sightseeing. If someone in the room staggered in at 3 am, I’d turn over and go back to sleep. If I was the only girl, I went to the bathroom to change.
Hostel Factors That I Wanted:
Young adult crowd, preferably with a bar inside the hostel.
This allowed the comfort of meeting new people and having fun while staying in the confounds of my “home”. There’s no better way of meeting other travelers than in the hostel in which you’re both staying! Hostels with a bar, game room, restaurant, or just overall common space defiantly had more outgoing and social travelers as well.
Bar in hostel = no walking alone late at night, no going into a bar alone, more security, and less risk.
Close proximity to my arrival and/or departure station.
I tried my best not to plan my arrival or leaving a city to be during the evening hours. It’s not the best idea to walk around a strange city, in the dark, wearing all your possessions on your back, trying to find your next hostel or station.
Though this may happen anyway due to delays, change of events, or just plain getting lost.
Close proximity to my points of interest.
I personally, didn’t want the hassle of learning bus and metro routes, not to mention the additional costs of buying said tickets. So I chose to walk as much as I could during my trip. I would literally walk out of my hostel in the morning, walk to get breakfast, walk around the city, walk to a park or beach, walk around the city some more, and then walk back to my hostel before the sun went down. I only ever stopped for food or photos.
Of course for larger cities, some bus or metro transportation needs to be taken in order to get from one site to another. And for the most part, all the inner city transportation routes are easy to decode and organize.
For me, the best sightseeing was just walking the streets, seeing the architecture, hearing the crowds, and being one with the world around me.
I wanted to experience the cities as if I was just another local. I wanted to be able to stop in interesting-looking shops or pass the smell of a delicious bakery. I wanted to find a bench and people-watch or find a park and relax on the grass.
Laundry Services
This ranged from week to week.
For instance; on weeks that I was planning to meet with friends, I didn’t need to worry if my hostel had laundry services or not since I was washing my clothes at their house. When I needed to do laundry though, and I wasn’t going to be at a house, I needed to make sure my next hostel had the machines and services to do so.
Meals provided by the hostels.
Some hostels provide breakfast in the morning, complimentary. This was amazing since I wouldn’t have to worry about buying food elsewhere.
Other hostels provide a group dinner, this was the case with my hostel in Barcelona. One of the staff members would cook a meal every night and everyone in the hostel was welcomed to join. I loved this because it allowed you to meet everyone, have conversations, share stories, and get closer with people from within the hostel.
Group Bar Crawls
I particularly wanted hostels that offered bar crawl opportunities. This way I could go outside the hostel, experience the nightlife in the city, meet other travelers, make friends with those I was staying with, and feel safe.
Locker Services
Many hostels provide locker rooms in which you can safely store your belongings. This is most beneficial when you have to check out of your room early but may have a couple of hours till your departure from the city altogether. This happened to me when staying in London.
You wouldn’t want to carry all your belongings around with you or waste site-seeing time by spending a couple of hours at the airport or station.
Instead, you could lock your items up at the hostel, leave to go see a couple of more sites, and then come back to get your items before leaving to your next destination.
Some locker services require a fee though, so this is another expense added that may not be foreseen.
I hope this post gave you insight into what to look for when choosing hostels for your trip! Everything in this post is based on my preferences and experiences.
Any questions or comments you would like to send me privately? Contact me!
