Hostels: Should I book in Advanced?
 

Hi I'm going to Europe for 30 days in March with a buddy. We have a general plan of when we want to leave an area and move on, however we don't know what will happen or where we will end up. We are trying to figure out if we can play it by ear and get a place to stay on the fly or if we need to have a little more structure and book Hostels in advanced. Going to Coppenhaggen, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Barcelona, Paris, and Amsterdam. Any other travel tips or best finds would be greatly appreciated!

How picky are you? And did you check your specific dates in each city? If there is something big going on, things might sell out.

I usually book in advance because I usually want a nice hostel in a good location. But in general, I think you'd be ok if you just want somewhere to crash. However, I think that's a lot in a month, and you might as well book in advance because I doubt you'll be done with any of those cities in the 3-4 days you have in each

March is very low season, but as the Mouse said, the good places will be booked already.
Copenhague is a place where I once landed in by mistake (...) and found no hotel with a room available.

I book well in advance but am 65+, travel w/o my husband and am very particular or in other words need a bathroom in the room and although do not stay in hostels, love quirky hotels. I don't want to go searching around town for a room. I love booking.com as you can get good deals and cancel very close to the arrival date. Have been to all those cities and loved them all.

I can only speak for Copenhagen, and that is a definite yes, book ahead! The Generator Hostel there is very nice!

In March it's not the high season, so you can get away without having to book very far in advance. About what jan47ete said, booking.com is ok but they don't have very many hostels and it's hard to search for dorm beds on there. I pretty much also search on Hostelz.com first since they do a "meta search" to find the best price from among booking.com, hostelworld, and a bunch of other hostel booking sites.

I meant to say "always search", not "also search". (Is there really no way to edit or delete posts on here??)

March should not be a problem. And even when hostels think they are fully booked, the plans of their clientele change so often that in many cases unused reservations will automatically disappear at 18:00 and create magical availability.

Awesome! Thanks for all the tips! Me and my buddy are in our mid 20's so we really don't care/need much other than a roof and bed.

Never mind the hostels. Have you booked your train tickets? Tickets need to be booked 3 months in advance for the cheapest prices. See seat61.com for info about rail travel in Europe and be sure to avoid the RailEurope website. Rail passes are often not a good idea compared to purchasing tickets in advance unless you want flexibility and don't mind paying more. If you have a definite plan in terms of cities and dates then I'd be sure to buy your train tickets in advance if you want the cheapest prices.

In my opinion you should ALWAYS book a place to stay before you travel! except if you want to take risks in your life and sleep on a backstreets hugging a homeless guy on a cold night :3 :P you can find plenty of hostels/hotels with refundable prices if there is a chance to change your opinion!
you can also thing the option of couchsurfing! free and cool B|

I just noticed your Amsterdam location as well. Yes, book ahead!!! Our DS and his friends were there last year in October and did not book ahead, and upon arrival there were no rooms in any hostel. One of the guys he was traveling with is German and has traveled all over, never had an issue, until then. They ended up having to spend $$$ for a hotel for one night, then found an apt for the rest of that trip.