Have any of you stayed at a hostel while traveling through Western Europe? I see a couple of different sponsor or companies; good, bad, any suggestions or cautions?

How about the tourist offices in individual cities, anyone have experience with arriving in a major city and then finding a place to stay?

i booked a hostel in piccadilly circus in london and it was horrible,,in bit fussy but this was beyond the pale with literally a tiny stream of water for a shower and gross smells galour..the rooms were awful and the outlook grim
however just when i thought no more..i changed my mind and stayed on because of the central location

in croatia we simply booked our first night and then took our chances with tourist bureau ..in early june not a problem
looking at the pics of hostels in scandinavia..some of the twin rooms are soooooooo small ..i think youd have to be climbing over your luggage to get to bed..not for us
this time
dont mind hostels but they have to have some room

Just like with hotels, look up reviews of hostels before you book them. Some sites for reviews:
http://www.hostelz.com
http://www.hostelworld.com
http://www.bugeurope.com

I have stayed at several hostels in Europe.

In my adult life, I've stayed in the Youth Hostel in Islay and it was terrific.

I've never pitched up at a tourist office in a big city, but I've done it in a small town in Spain in August, and I was very happy with the result.

My husband and I used to travel this way (w/o reservations, in hostels or B & Bs recommended by tourist offices) before we had kids. We had mixed experiences -- some very strange places, some really nice ones. It tends to work better in smaller towns than big cities and with smaller groups.

Check the western europe branch of The Thorn Tree message forum at www.lonelyplanet.com

There are many many hostel staying style travelers on that forum (more than Fodor's).

I've stayed in hostels in France, the UK, Greece etc...hostels vary widely in type and quality. I usually pull them right out of a guide suited to backpackers (Lonely Planet, Rough Guides) and it will do some internet searching for reviews (Bug Backpackers etc). Some hostels are wonderful, some are definately not. I have found it helpful to book central hostels in advance - the can certainly fill up as fast as any hotel. One hostel in the Marais in Paris was already full when I tried to book it a month in advance (Fourcey) - it was lovely though.

Some hostels cater to school children's groups and others to backpackers - it can be good to find out the type of clientelle.

I have had a lot of luck with St. Christophers hostels which can be found all over - I've stayed in 4 of them - all good, clean and well equiped.

I agree with MollyBrown. It's best to start booking hostels in advanced for some of the bigger cities (ie. London, Paris, Rome), unless you want to get stuck with less than ideal accomodations.

Things have definitely changed. Even some of the more "impulsive" backpackers book their hostels 2 to 3 day in advanced (sometimes more if they're stay falls on a weekend) to get the prime spots (ie. Wombat's The Lounge in Vienna, The Beehive in Rome, etc).

Do a search on HostelWorld. That's where I found almost all of my hostels. They have a pretty good rating system that allows for previous guests to comment on the state of the hostel.

..hostels many times but I agree with others- huge variability. As others have said, the big cities tend to have big hostels with small towns often having small ones which to me is the whole spirit of hosteling. I remember years ago ending up in a small town in the middle of France. The youth hostel wasnt much better than a small barn..straw mattresses and 2 rooms. There were about 6 of us` we talked for several hours, shared food and had a wonderful evening. I have gone to tourist offices in Italy and had them book rooms - some good and some not so good but I had a place to sleep.

hi sammie,

i always booked mine at Hostelbookers when i am travelling , and i never had problems, the hostels were always nice and safe and i always checked the reviews and the ratings made by the cutomers in order to be sure and after it depends from the pictures as well and what i liked is that there is no booking fees.
hope it will help you

bye

I haven't stayed in a hostel, but I have used tourist offices a few times to find places to stay. That was in my younger days when I thought it was somehow cool to travel around without reservations. I don't do it any more as I didn't enjoy it, even when young, and the places I ended up in were more expensive than I would have found on my own planning ahead, and had a lot of defects (ie, ugly, noisy, etc.). It took up a lot of time, also, just going to the tourist office, waiting, and then you probably weren't really sure where the place was.

You probably will find a room that way, though, except very peak season in some cities that perhaps have special events going on.

Oh, even then, the room they give people referred from the tourist office may be the worst one they have.

I've used
www.hostelbookers.com
I read the reviews before booking the hostel and the 2 hostels I booked through that site,the reviews/percentage were on the money.

If you are traveling to barcelona, I recomment Centric Point Hostel. I stayed there (2006) and I absolutely loved it. The hostel is kept very clean and it was remodeled recently, and it's at a great location, half a block from one of the gaudi buildings on passeig the gracia.