I am not sure about staying in hostels. It would be me and my friend, 21 y/o females. I just don't know how safe they are and after seeing movies like hostel and turistas, you just wonder. They are soo much cheaper than hotels, but are the worth saving that money? Anybody with advice or experience?

If movies are going to make you worried, be sure not to watch Psycho, or you won't be staying in hotels, or at least motels, either. Most hostels are perfectly fine, so far as hostels go. Check the reviews on BugEurope.com and Hostelz.com for good information.

Hostels are worth the savings in money if you feel they are - that's the main issue. Using hostels lets many people take longer trips than they otherwise possibly could.

However, with you and your friend, if you look carefully and share a room at a budget hotel, you might be able to beat or at least come near the hostel price.

Have no fear.
I'm a single woman who travels alone and have stayed stayed in many a hostel. They're a great way to meet people and they are usually more than happy to show you the ropes.
Look for one that offers locker storage.
Heres another good site. hostelworld.com

Hostels very tremendously - so you need to check them out in detail. Some even have private rooms - so you won;t be bunking with 4 or 6 strangers - and many have lockers for your valuables. Also - some have reputations as real party places - and it sounds like you might want to avoid those.

if you are planning on IYH hostels, then pay attention to the hours they are open. Years ago, I met lots of kids who were wasting a lot of time waiting outside the hostel for it to open, wanting to be first in line to hopefully get a bed.

If you are visting smaller towns, then i would look for smaller b&b's. In the ciies it might be a different matter.

..not like the old days- many hostels can be "booked". I always found that I liked the small hostels in small towns rather than the big ones in the cities. As stated above there are actually web sites which travellers rate hostels. The Lonely Planet is a good site for hostel info. Do check though as in some places as mentioned above, the economy dble in a hotel will not be far off the price of hostels so do your homework.

I think overall hostels are safe in Europe, but you have to figure out your comfort level. It is certainly not worth the money if you are not going to feel comfortable. If bunking with strangers is not something you are comfortable with, you may want to consider staying in hostels that offer double rooms. We have found that pensions or cheap hotels are often equivalent to or not that much different in price from double rooms in hostels. (We usually pay about 25-35 euros a night for a double room in a pension or cheap hotel.)

You could also stay at hostels that offer female-only rooms. So you would be bunking with strangers, but not with men.

As was mentioned already, hostels are a great place to meet other travelers and they can be a lot of fun (sometimes much like a college dorm). But they can also be loud and the accommodations generally are not as comfortable as in pensions or hotels. So it really depends on your personality, budget, comfort level, and travel style.

You could try a few at the beginning of your trip and see how you guys like them. If it doesn't suit you, try pensions or budget hotels.

Safe travels!

(PS: As a Brazilian, I can tell you that the movie turistas is far-fetched and not representative of the experience of tourists in Brazil. It is FICTION! It angered me (and many other Brazilians) to see our country depicted in that way. Brazil is not the safest country by far, but the movie is not representative of what tourism is like in Brazil and it was hurtful to our tourist industry, which we largely rely on.)