We're planning a family trip to Germany and would like to spend our first and last nights along the Rhine - in the Bacharach Burg Stahleck youth hostel (although it looks like it's booked full already for our last night - rats - I'll have to check out other hostels in the area for the last night.)

So part of the purpose is to save money on lodging (2 adults and 6 children), but if we have to buy youth hostel memberships, it kind of defeats the purpose for 2 single nights. Is there another way we can stay in the youth hostel? I saw something about getting a "stamp" at the place, but couldn't quite figure out the details on that.

Also, can you reserve rooms before you have a membership - if we decide to go that route? (looks like the rooms in the area are filling up fast, but we don't even have flights yet.) Can you cancel a reservation without a huge penalty?

Any other advice or suggestions are welcome. Because we're such a large family and trying to pinch pennies a bit it's difficult to find affordable lodging for single nights in a convenient location.

If it is an HI hostel you don't need to be a member but they do charge non members extra.

Ah in Germany you do need to be a member but can buy a guest card - http://www.jugendherberge.de/en/basi...ship/index.jsp has all the info in English.

guest card after five days I believe turns into a proper Hostel Pass albeit not valid in your home country TMK. The HI hostel at Koblenz - also impressively perched on top of a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers is much larger I believe and just an awesome location. Smack across from Koblenz - in part of an ancient fortress.

Looking further if your children are under 18 they get free membership when both adults join. So it may be cheaper to just join in your home country - you get all sorts of discounts and benefits from joining besides the ability to stay in hostels.

If you do stay at Burg Stahleck, be sure to ask them if there are any school trips the day you are there. If so, do not go! This was easily the worst lodging experience I have ever had in Germany or anywhere else in Europe. I was really looking forward to the whole "Castle Hostel" thing and did not even mind the 500 stairs you take to get to it. There were over 60 kids running up and down the halls at all hours of the day and night with no enforcement of the curfew. I am not talking about a handful of kids. I am talking about 60 kids relentlessly running flatfooted all over the and slamming doors. We ended up leaving after not being able to sleep and were refunded half of our money. We are certainly not old grumpy folks waving our fists at the neighbor kids. We are a very tolerant 30's couple who thought they were on a reality show or candid camera. It was really that bad and I have audio and video to prove it. We left and went to a quiet and comfortable modern hotel in Koblenz. We were in Bacharach in early September and the town was so dead is looked like a nuclear bomb went off. Cool place to go in theory but I'd have rather just taken pictures from a distance.

Kids under 18 get free hostel cards I believe if bought in the U.S. thru AYH American Youth Hostels and there is a Family Card that may be the most economical and you can then use hostels in the U.S. and there are dozens and dozens all over the place.

Moselle: When are you traveling? If you're going between roughly mid-July and late August, you will likely not experience any of the hostel mayhem rcasper 73 mentions, as most of the German states have summer vacations then, and the little darlings are at home with Mutti and Vati. But when school is in session, these school groups, which make up a huge portion of hostel clientele, are tearing the hostels to pieces, and you will not get any sleep.

This source gives you a calendar of the holiday periods for different states. Unfortunately, it's impossible to predict which states the urchins may be coming from at a given time:

http://www.schulferien.org/Kalender_...and_Pfalz.html

If you're going soon, your chances of a nice stay are good along the Rhine, as it's primarily a nice-weather destination for mostly outdoor activities. The St. Goar hostel is an older facility but quite cheap compared to the others and has a fantastic view of the town and river valley; it's also much easier to reach on foot than the Bacharach hostel is.

Before mid March, the hostels in this area have incredible deals. Your whole family can book a place online for two nights with breakfast both days and one evening meal for between 40 and 70 Euros total.

http://www.diejugendherbergen.de/online-vorzugspreise

You will probably want to look into apartment rentals as well for a cheap alternative. We stayed here in St. Goar (4 people) and had a terrific, peaceful stay. It's REALLY nice with kids to have a kitchen. The owner has 4 apartments in the same building, so maybe there'd be room:

http://www.loreley-apartments.de/unsere_region_en.php

http://www.st-goar.de/586-1-fewos.html

Wow - thank you for all the info! I failed to mention that we'll be travelling the 1st two weeks of September (1st - 15th). Maybe the 1st hasn't been booked up with school kids yet?

Thanks also for the English site link - sometimes I can find an "English Button" for a translation, and sometimes I can't. My rusty German is improving, though I will also check into apartments - we are staying in holiday homes for the most part, but sometimes they don't like to rent for only one night. Will check around though - an up-charge for one night only may be worth it.

<60 kids relentlessly running flatfooted all over the and slamming doors. We ended up leaving after not being able to sleep and were refunded half of our money.>

Wow, I guess hosteling has changed from the days of yore when most of us were hitch-hiking. Not only were we dead tired and zonked out by 23:00, I'm pretty sure there was a curfew/lights out time as well!

I hope you will do a trip report, Moselle! This sounds very interesting.

I stayed in zillions of hostels from age 19 to my 30s and I experienced what rcasper recounts many times - young school groups that took over the hostel and not during vacation periods but during the school terms in fact during the traditional summer holidays it seemed there were far less such younger teen groups 'gone wild' but always IME a risk of HI hostels and why for the average young traveler (not family like in the OP) the many non-HI hostels and youth hotels that have popped up in many cities are a much better bet - better located and less of the teeny boppers gone wild IME. For any budget accommodation you can do no worse IMO than Let's Go Germany, which lists zillions of low-budget hotels, pensions, etc.

Things may have changed since I was there in 1973, but then you needed to get a token to take a shower (turn on the heat at your shower). The first night we had no problem with this. On the second night we discovered that tokens were only sold during a 30 minute window. Of course, it was 5 minutes past when we found that out.

I echo the full of kids scenario - not fun.

Here is the website with school holidays for all the states. Lots of classes will take end-of-school trips, thus, very full hostels.

http://www.holidays-info.com/School-...days_2009.html

"Things may have changed since I was there in 1973, but then you needed to get a token to take a shower (turn on the heat at your shower). The first night we had no problem with this. On the second night we discovered that tokens were only sold during a 30 minute window. Of course, it was 5 minutes past when we found that out."

Things have changed enormously. DJH hostels are very hotel-like now, as a rule, with small rooms and en suite facilities that target families. The facilities, the breakfast service, and the service in general are great - if you can avoid the school groups.