Hi all, have anyone of you had the experience of staying into hostel, especially the dorm with 6 or 8 or even 16 beds?

I have only stayed in budget hotel but not hostel. Just wonder whether it will be a good deal to try booking hostels instead of hotel in my coming trip from late Dec to mid Jan?

I've done this. If you can cope with the sharing, you will save lots of money. More later, if you are interested.

I did this on a several week trip right after college (2002). Many of the hostels have age limits (age 26 and under).
I used Let's Go travel books and by and large, the recommendations were good.
The hostels in Germany were fabulous. Italy was so-so. Ostello Santa Fosca in Venice was very good, however.

My husband and I did when we stayed in Inverness for two nights. WHile I may try another one someday, not this one!

The hostel itself was fine. The beds were small, but that is to be expected. It's the other guests that were rude.

I was sharing a room with eight other girls. Now, I'm overweight, and got there early, so staked out a bottom bunk by placing my luggage on it. When I arrived there later that night, someone had removed my stuff and placed it on the top bunk, and was sleeping in my spot. I had just come in, and was trying to be polite by not turning on the light (and wake everyone else), and was looking for my bag. I ended up feeling up the girl that had usurped my spot!

I asked her what happened to my bags that I had placed in this spot, she claimed she didn't know, check the top bunk. Yup, there they were. Now, I'm 250 pounds (yes, I share seats with my tall/overweight husband on flights so we don't spill over into anyone else's seats!) and climbing up a rickety wooden ladder in the dark onto a top bunk was quite daunting... but I did it. All the time the chippie in MY bunk was complaining about the noise I was making and shaking the bed. Too bad. You stole your bed, now sleep in it!

It takes me a long time to get to sleep, but I had my earplugs in and was just drifting off when... three more girls came in, turned on the lights, chattered away, opened SOMETHING that involved lots of crackling paper (for what seemed like an hour!) and finally shut off the lights and stopped talking.

This was about 2am.

Morning was fine, I chatted with two of the other girls (Anika and Erika, on hiking holiday from The Netherlands).

My husband was worse off -- he was sharing his room with a German swim team that was running around in gold colored speedos all night... and Tanaka, the over-enthusiastic Japanese tourist who "loved MASH, Duran Duran, and Hulk Hogan. You're American, yes? Have you met Hulk Hogan??"

All in all, it was definitely an experience, and very low cost. Might do it again someday, but not a day I MUST be awake the next day!!!!

I suggest you also read and post at www.lonelyplanet.com on their BB similar to this one called The Thorn Tree. There are TONS of young (and some older) posters who have a load of experience with hostels.

I've been pretty fortunate, but I've never had a hostel room with late-night partygoers or chatters. Everyone has always gone to sleep at a reasonable hour. I've always gotten a full night's sleep. I do try to choose hostels that *don't* have a party reputation. I also reserve a bottom bunk in advance (having been injured falling out a top bunk as a youngster). But as pointed out, you could get a situation where someone "steals" it. Some hostels have cots only, which is better.

You might try some of the web sites suggested. My neice stayed in a couple of hostels in London while she and her friend were trying to find a flat to rent. Most of them were pretty good however there was one that they were going to stay at, paid their money, and then upon further appraisal of the property and the people in it, they decided not to stay and they couldn't get their money back. Her friends mother is married to a UK citizen and lives in Essex so they cally her, and her husband talked to the manager of the hostel and got SOME of their money back. So, I would say, be sure to check a place out as well as you can and make sure you are comfortable there before putting your money down. Also, never under any circumstances leave any of your valuables unattended. Over all, my neice had a good experience and met a lot of great people from all parts of the world. Just be as careful as you can be where you "hang your hat" and have a great trip.

TexasAggie's reference to age limits is a little misleading. Hostels in Bavaria that belong to the federation have an upper age limit of 26. Independent hostels in Bavaria don't nor do hostels of any kind, federated or otherwise, in the rest of Europe. Lots of seniors stay in hostels.

Besides Lonely Planet's Thorntree, you can check hostel (hostile) reviews at Bug Europe and Hostelz. Google the words and you'll see the links.

Haven't had the first hand experience, but will have one early next year. Will let you guys know how it goes.

Thanks everyone! Seems staying in hostels can be a good idea, if the roommates are well behaved. I have searched hostelworld.com. Now plan to book for my first 3 nights (out of 14 nights) in some hostels in Switzerland (Bern and Interlaken). I hope I can get more idea to see if I love hostel after my first stay in Bern. After that, I would book for the nights afterwards. Will it be too late to book a bed in hostel just 3 days ahead? Also, do hostels usually accept walk-in travellers?

I know my nice and her friend were able to get space in hostels at the last minute so I think (and of course can't speak for all) that you can pretty much book if they have space. My nephew also used them and he just never knew where is was going to be at any particular time...again, just try to check the place out before putting down your money.

Check out the hostels forum at http://www.eurotrip.com/forum and the Guide for Europe forum at http://www.guideforeurope.com . In summary, most cases it's okay to wait for booking, but sometimes people are caught short.

Chicachina, I have not stayed in a hostel, but I have been on some weekend retreats where the accommodation was similar to a hostel (bunk beds for 4 or 8 people).

Although my roommates always have been very considerate, a problem I sometimes have encountered is that they have snored. So far I have not found a pair of ear plugs that has blocked out the sound of a neighbour's snoring. And it's not only middle aged and older people who snore. One of my roommates who did it was about 30 years old. This is something that, for me, detracts from an experience. I guess one has to decide how badly one wants something (in my case whatever it is that the retreat offered and in your case inexpensive travel in Europe).

Something one retreat coordinator advised us to bring, that turned out to be useful, was a sarong. Those of us who had lower bunks used our sarongs as privacy curtains around our beds. A sarong also can serve as a type of dressing gown or house coat when one is walking down the hall to the bathroom.

I also have heard to waterproof, plastic containers in which one can store one's passport, wallet and other valuables while one is taking a shower. If nothing else, I guess one should have a ziplock bag for this purpose.

My understanding is that you will need your own sleeping bag. I have a sheet bag (kind of like a queen-sized sheet sewn closed around two sides) to put inside my sleeping bag. The sheet bag has a pocket at the top into which a pillow can be placed, but one could stuff clothes into that pocket to make a fake pillow.

I've read that many hostels rent sheets and towels these days, but I would take my own, just in case. The lightweight, super-absorbent, fast-drying towels that one can buy in camping and travel stores are good. Here's a photo of one:

http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/ca...=126&id=39

Look at the Universal Packing List website, complete the questionnaire and include the fact that you are going to be staying in hostels, and the website will provide you with a list of things you need:

http://upl.codeq.info/index.jsp

Another good website is One Bag (even if you don't follow its instructions to the letter, it's still useful):

http://www.oratory.com/onebag/home.html#start

The same can be said for Travelite FAQ:

http://www.travelite.org/

Hope that helps.

Very few hostels (except in Iceland) require sleeping bags. Many prohibit sleeping bags, because of the risk of bedbug contamination. Sheets are either provided for free, or for a fee. You can bring your own sleepsheet, and occasionally save a few Euros, but the total cost of sheets, if any, will be very slight.

Thanks for the clarification about sleeping bags, WillTravel.

If you decide to buy a sleep sack in advance rather than take a chance on renting one at each hostel in which you stay, visit the travelstore at www.ricksteves.com. You can buy either a cotton one or a silk one. The silk one is more expensive, but it's more compact and weighs a lot less.

My wife and I have stayed in hostels in Switzerland (Wildhaus & Meiringen) and France (Chinon & Dinan). Switzerland because other forms of accomm were too expensive; France because of difficulty finding anything else. We took out YHA membership before the trip in anticipation of this. In all places we were able to get a twin room just for the 2 of us - from our point of view that was a requirement; we wouldn't have been in it otherwise. All were good, but the Wildhaus and Dinan hostels were better than good - they were exceptional.
We've also stayed in YHA hostels in Australia, but that's for a different forum!