Advice on Hostels for a more mature female traveler
 

I will be traveling to Berlin and Amsterdam 1st quarter of 2013. I have given some thought to staying a few days in a hostel. I have always stayed in hotels but I am curious about a hostel and think it might be fun. Most of the information I have seen on-line focus on young adults, backpackers, etc. I am none of the above. I am a 45 year old woman who could easily afford a hotel. I just thought visiting a hostel would be fun and allow me to meet more interesting people. Thoughts?

I can't comment on German or Dutch hostels, but Mr. Pickle and I stayed in hostels in the UK and New Zealand and had great experiences. We were the oldest people in our New Zealand hostels at 43 and 42, and we always felt welcome. There was a greater mix of ages in the UK.

Lee Ann

Are you talking about sharing a dorm room or having a single room to yourself in the hostel? There are some differences between those two alternatives.

Are you used to sleeping alone? Sharing a dorm room means having total strangers in your bedroom. No privacy. Lots of odd noises and sometimes loud talk and giggling during half the night. It can be fun, if you are the sort of person who likes to participate and make new friends. It can also be extremely frustrating if you want to sleep.

Never leave any valuables in a shared dorm room. Sure, most backpackers are honest people who would never dream of stealing, but it's best not to tempt the less honest.

There are lots of different hostels. Some are full of young backpackers and that usually means more noise and sometimes drunken... incidents. Other hostels welcome families and older people, creating a different atmosphere. Of course, screaming kids may not be much better than screaming drunk teenagers.

I stayed in a few different hostels in the UK and Ireland in 2007-2009. I've reached the conclusion that I prefer a single room. And you can get that in some hostels. More expensive than a bed in a shared dorm room, but cheaper than a hotelroom.

You can certainly meet people in the hostel's common areas without having to sleep in the same room with them.

Good point, anyegr. I should have specified that we also stayed in private rooms. We wouldn't have wanted to share a dorm room.

Lee Ann

I definitely would only consider a private room with a bath. I am not that adventurous!! Obviously I am a little beyond my partying years. I would be more interested in a family environment however as you point out screaming kids are worse than drunks! Thank you for the advice. I will do some research of different types of hostels. I didn't was such a thing.

I suppose I would look for somewhere that didn't look like a party hostel, but has a common area (bar, lounge, etc.) Places without a common area are not that different than staying in a hotel in terms of interacting with people if you're in a private room. I usually use hostelworld.com. You can filter your search to look only for private rooms (I think ensuite too) and the sorts of facilities available (bar, common room) and they have a "fun" rating which may help you gauge whether or not it's likely to be full of drunk teens. Some hostels also do things like offer walking tours, which may be another way to meet people.

Sorry, I just checked. Either they changed the wording or I was thinking of another site, they rate the "atmosphere" but not "fun" per se.

What about B&Bs? Its a happy compromise where you sit down to cozy breakfasts with other like-minded travelers and can chat with the owners a bit for local tips!

Hosteling International hostels usually are reliable - but I don't know how many singe rooms with baths they offer.

You might want to look at backpackers guides to get info on hostels - some re definitely party central and you would probably want to avoid those.

But as someone who as traveled in europe alone fairly often (usually a few days tagged onto a business trip) - I have never had trouble meeting people in regular hotels. It's easy to meet interesting folks in the breakfast room, bar, lounge etc if yuo spend a little time there.

I stayed in hostels until I was about 35 and after that got tired of being around loud obnoxious teen-age groups that infest these places - do you really want to go back to high school or middle school? Or even college?

And at a certain age the younger hostelers look at you like 'what is he doing here?'

In some places like Switzerland you get more of an all-ages in hostels and ski dorms, etc. but in Berlin and Amsterdam it's mainly younger folk.

BAMeans stay away from the hostels in and around the train station - these are often dives with inhabitants gathered around the hostel pub night and day smoking weed and drinking IME.

Now some older folk do stay in HI hostels - they even sell a Senior Citizens hostel card and the Vondel Park one would be the only one I would consider at your age.

If you want the name of a B&B in nearby Haarlem I stay in - with a family and other older travelers I'll give it to you - for about 35 euros a private room with unlimited breakfast - Haarlem is a neat old historic city just a few minutes by train from Amsterdam.

It's been my experience that the hostels in the country are better for your situation than those in large cities.
The guests are probably not looking for a party experience.

Although, in Amsterdam, my dorm room was invaded by about 20 middle-aged Finnish ladies and boy were they loud! I think they were all dissing their husbands to their friends.

So finding a single, even without a bathroom, sounds like fun.
Try it out, and if you hate it, your winter travel time allows for you to find gasthouses, zimmer frei, etc, easily.

wanting a single room and experiencing hostels is an oxymoron IMO.