Nanette_1

Can anyone please recommend a good, cheap, clean and safe hostel for two 21 year old girls to stay in for a few nights in London. And where would be the best, most central area from them to stay.

Also, the same info is required for Athens.

Thanks for any help.

nytraveler

Most of the posters here are of more mature years and stay in hotels or apartments - not hostels.

The girls (them - not you) shouid get some of the student guides (Let's Go, rough Guides and look at the Thorn Tree web site. Hostels are VERY mixed - some are fine (hosteling international seems to have a good reputation) and some are primarily focused on parties with lots of alcohol and possibly drugs. They need to pick carefully and reserve far in advance to get in a good one.

(If they haven't done the work up front how will they cope with all of the small - and perhaps not so small - things that go wrong on their trip? My 19 year old and 2 friends went last summer for 5 weeks - and other than some conversations about sights in places I had been and they hadn;t - they dealt with everything.)

janisj

It may not be necessary to stay in a hostel. There are many hostels in London - some are terrific but those tend to book solid. There are also some icky ones (many hostels are used by the social services to house homeless/down-and-outers)

Besides hostels --other budget accommodations include university lodging, B&Bs, and tourist class hotels.

Lots of Fodorites would have good suggestions for you -- IF we knew the girls' budget . . . .

Fodorite018

I got a room at the Travel Lodge Covent Garden for 32.5 GBP for this summer. This is for myself (the mom) and 2 college girls.

jent103

If they go the hostel route, I've stayed in two of the Astor hostels (astorhostels.com) and both were great when I stayed in them (however, definitely check the current reviews - last time I stayed there was 2007). In terms of location, I would pick the Museum one if it's available, but the Victoria one was also fine. When I stayed there, there was ample opportunity for socialization if you wanted it, but we pretty much kept to ourselves and that was fine too.

Just a suggestion: You probably want to start a new thread for Athens. People who know Athens well may not click on a thread whose title only mentions London.

goddesstogo

You don't say when the young women are going which would be pretty vital information, especially when it comes to university lodging. Here's the website for the London School of Economics:

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/lifeAtLSE/acco...rStudents.aspx

There are several campuses, all in central locations, I think, and they rent rooms in the summer. If you browse the website a bit, there's also a section on independent hostels and private lodging. The other universities probably have similar information but this is the only one I know.

RainyDay09

Check out the Hosteling International/YHA-St. Paul-London. We found it and checked it out after talking to some people in a pub and are planning to stay there next time we are in London.

RainyDay09

Here is another link to inexpensive accommodations in a dorm for the London School of Economics, which is open to tourists:
http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/

hsv

As I live in the city I haven't stayed here, but the location close to the V&A, Natural History and Science Museums as well as Brompton Oratory is good - and Meininger Hostels generally have a decent reputation as far as I am aware:

http://www.meininger-hotels.com/en/h...search/london/