Carol, be kind!

Hostal is like a pension, not a hostel.
For lists of hostels in various cities and countries and accompanying reviews, go to www.bugeurope.com .

Thank you. I will be sure to get the hostels and the hostiles straight in the future. :)

www.lonelyplanet.com is a good site for budget travel. they have a bulletin board similar to this one called Thorn Tree with a branch for Western Europe. lots more of a younger, backpacking, budget crowd there. (but do straighten out your spelling because they are even more merciless than the friendly fodors folks!)

Hi jde,

I have travelled to Rome and Venice on my own (I'm 18 years old) and stayed in youth hostels. In Italy there are both official HI youth hostels, which you need to buy a HI card to stay at, and there are "unofficial hostels" called Pensiones. In Rome I stayed at a great place called Pensione Ottaviano. It was clean, had a friendly english speaking staff and was in a great location! It was about a 5 minute walk to get to St. Peter's Square and there was a metro stop lots of shops and restaurants nearby. I believe the rates were 13 euro and they had lockers and free internet access. I would not hesitate to stay there again! The place I stayed in Venice was not so great, so I don't really have any recommendations for you there. Check out the website www.hostelz.com. It is a great guide for finding hostels all over Europe, with descriptions, directions, photos, reviews and online booking for many places.

In Venice I got around most by foot, which was very easy to do and I took a vaporetto a few times as well. In Rome it is aslo pretty easy to walk to most of the sights as they are not too far apart, but I also used the metro a few times and had no problems. You can buy a day pass for all metro and bus rides in Rome for a few euro (I don't remember the exact price). You can buy them in any metro station or at newstands and some tobacco shops. Definitely have a good map with you, as the streets can be pretty confusing at times.

I was also in Milan, but only for an afternoon, so I can't suggest any place to stay there. Personally I wouldn't spend a lot of time in Milan. The Duomo is definitely worth seeing, even though the entire front is covered in scaffolding (at least it was in december), but after that I would rather spend more time in any of your other destinations.

I loved Rome and Venice and would definitely not hesistate to go back! Have a great trip!

RE: Hostal versus hostel
Hostal is a term you'll see in Spain and it refers to a type of tourist lodging establishment that offers individual rooms (with private or shared bath) but fewer services than a hotel. Often family run, they are rather like a B&B (though breakfast is not always available) in atmosphere, or a one/two star hotel in France. Prices tend to be lower than hotels with their wider range of services, higher than hostels with their dormitory flavor.

....just realized that this post is quite old and I probably just wasted my time offering advice..oh well

jde, I have stayed in Hostels in all of the cities you mentioned. (some years ago). All of them were IHA hostels and had curfews. Go to privately run hostels and forget about the international ones.

Staying in hostels is a GREAT way to meet people your own age.