Hostels in Italy
 

I'm looking for hostels. I have Rick Steve's Italy book, and he gives suggestions, but sometimes I'm not sure if he's suggesting these out of experience or not. Maybe I'm too skeptical. I don't want a curfiew and definitely want to be in a relatively central location. Here's my tentative itinerary (I'm a solo female traveler in July):

Venice (5-6 days)
Florence (5 days)
Cinque Terre (4 days: not sure which town to base in)
Siena (2 days)
Looking for a good 3-5 day location (I have to end up in bologna on the 24th of July)
What would be the best order to visit these places, ending in Bologna?

So if anyone knows of good hostels and the best way to contact them, I'd appreciate it. If you know of a fabulous, can't be missed nicer hotel in one of the areas, that would be OK, too.

Additionally, should I contact the hostels directly via phone even from the US, or is email adequate? How much in advance should I make the reservation? I don't want a Hostel with a curfiew. And, what are the general cancellation policies in case I fall in love with one area and am not ready to move onto the next?

so many questions...Thanks for any help!!

Court

hostelz.com seems to be a reliable rater of hostels worldwide, and provides links and reviews.

Each hostel has different policies, as you can see by their websites and from the reviews. We read all the reviews, then read between the lines.

We stay at hostels frequently using www.hostelworld.com - I find their ratings really accurate. They also have tons of 1-2 star hotels that can be around the same price as a hostel.

Good luck.

I'm leaving for Europe in May and staying in hostels. There's just 2 of us and we're females, so we looked for the best around! Here's where we're staying....

Rome- Backpackers Hostel (my friend stayed there before, said it's not the cleanest, but it's cheap) since you're traveling alone, you might want to stay somewhere else! :)

Cinque Terre- Hostel 5 Terre
It's located in Manarolla, which if you've looked, is one of the middle towns on the CT. It looks beautiful and it's not badly priced for being the CT.

The backpackers hostel doesn't have a website, but the Cinque Terre hostel does. They also do not take online reservations, so you have to e-mail them and they'll return your e-mail with a conformation.

Hope this helps! happy travels!!:)
Jenn:)

thanks so much for the advice. I'll definitely check out those websites. Any suggestions for Venice? I only saw two and they were not on the main island.

thanks!

I just did a quick search on Hostel World and found a huge list - http://tinyurl.com/25pptp

We tend to cut off the rating at 85% when we look at the site and we haven't had a bad experience yet. BTW - we stayed at Hotel Astoria when we were in Venice, it was steps off the main square and absolutely fine (nothing fancy but no problems) their singles are pricey though so you'll probably want other options.

Good luck
PittPurple

I always find Rough Guides and Lonely Planet best for backpacker information - including hostels. You may want to check them out.

Have fun,

Naxos