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A Refresher on Hostels and Germany
The first time I surfed around
Associated Content
travel pages I didn't see a whole lot to write
home about, but now-a-days things are different. In fact
they had several great travel pieces. I'm sure I'll be paying future visits, but for now this piece here focuses
on having a good time in Germany. How? By saving crap tons of money and camping out in the many youth hostels.
One of the first reminders offered by Erin Blakemore is that hostels are not strictly for youth. Many of the hostels I stayed at in the past a had a large variety of travelers from many backgrounds and age groups. It actually made for a better experience in most cases. So if you're worried about age, get over yourself and save your money for Germany's main attractions. The second thing to keep in mind while using hostels in Germany are the three C's: cleanliness, convenience, and again cheap, cheap prices! It's really as simple as that, but she does offer other useful tips we tend to forget about, like buying sheets just in case your cheapo way of travel doesn't have them by chance.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Learning, Business
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
EvolutionKills Dec 18th 2005 5:37PM
Gotta disagree here--the hostels I visited in Germany were, far and away, the lamest I've been to. Granted, none of them were in Bavaria, but still...
The hostel scene in Germany seems like it's dominated by HI (Hostelling International) hostels, which means lots of noisy little (13-14 yo) kids, and silly curfews. In the Rhine valley, the hostels I visited seemed overly clean, with a hospital-like atmosphere and no personality. I had been relying on hostels to meet other young travelers, but the german hostels were not conducive to that. The fact that they have to cater to a large age range makes this understandable, but no less frustrating. Hostels further east seemed much better.
EvolutionKills Dec 18th 2005 5:37PM
Whoops. I should also have mentioned that cheap doesn't seem to be the case in the hostels between Cologne and Frankfurt; in Mainz the hostel I tried to stay at was booked, but the desk clerk clued me and my friend in on a trick: it was actually as cheap to get a two-bed room at a local chain hotel as it was to stay in the dorm-style hostel. And the hostel had a kindergarten in it, anyway.