A couple days ago the Guardian published an article on their website called Top 10 Hostels Around the World. I opened the link fully expecting to see the same 10 ‘best’ hostels that have been bantied about on other websites for years.
Most of the places mentioned on these sorts of lists are huge, spotless, and full of amenities with a hotel feel at a hostel price. To most people this would seem like a good thing but to me these places are backpacker factories in the business of separating travellers from their money any way they can. Huge, purpose built, hotel-like hostels are clean, fun and usually well-located but they’re big business and lack the soul and character of smaller, owner-operated places.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find a new list consisting mostly of smallish hostels, each with a seemingly unique atmosphere. I know the list is a good one because my favourite hostel, Backpack Guesthouse in Budapest, comes in at number five. This hostel is about as far away as you can get from my hated backpacker factories and it’s really encouraging to see such a small, unimposing place make a list like this.
I haven’t been to any of the other hostels but I’ve heard of a couple. Lists like this have to be taken with a grain of salt because everyone has different tastes, but based on the inclusion of my beloved Backpack Guesthouse I will definately be booking myself into these other hostels the next time find myself in the neighbourhood.
I did a wee write up on a few of my favourite hostels (so far) which might be worth a read if you love a great hostel as much as I do.
Looking for feedback: So that was my first travel-related post and I’m curious about whether you guys think it fits in with the theme of the site. I’m not into writing blow by blow accounts of my travels but have lots to say about backpacking in general and plan to compliment the nerdy parts of this site with a bit of nomad stuff. What do you think… can travel stuff and web stuff live side by side on this blog?
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