Prices and Reservations

Since all you are paying for in a hostel is a bed and the use of common facilities, they can be very cheap - I’ve paid as little as USD 6. In major cities, however, they can cost quite a bit - USD 28 was the most I’ve ever paid, although that was in central London. Other cities will fall between those figures, usually in the USD 16-22 range - dirt cheap compared with a hotel, but not as cheap as you’d like, I’m sure. As we will see in the section on pensions, a hostel may be the cheapest in terms of dollars per bed, but not have the privacy and quiet of a pension or a B&B. Also, crime in hostels does occur, but usually to the unwary or unwise.

Since hostels are the accommodation of choice for most budget travelers, they can fill up quickly, especially in the summer, especially on weekends, and roughly in order of how they’re listed in Let’s Go, If you are planning on staying in a hostel in a major city during June, July, or August, especially in an HI hostel, you must call ahead or risk a long hot walk followed by a longer, hotter walk back. Before I found that place I mentioned in Rome, I had metroed, bussed, and walked all the way out to the Ostello de Foro Italico, and waited an hour for the place to open (at the end of a one-hundred-person line). I never even saw the reception desk before they filled up. I should have called ahead. Maybe two weeks ahead.

One way to avoid this situation is to book a room from one hostel to another. Many HI hostels will call ahead for you, take a one-night deposit, and give you a receipt to take to your next place. Other hostels will call ahead to other places for you, especially if the two places are owned by the same person. Always ask other travelers for their recommendations, and if you can’t get the numbers of” the places they recommend, ask your hostel’s staff for help in calling information or in making the calls. As mentioned in Chapter 3, “What to Take,” the HI Guide to Europe is a good investment at about USD 12A£8, detailing every official hostel in Europe. Don’t forget it, or the map HI sells, as these are essential if you are going to be hosteling a lot.