Best way to locate a Hostel?

[dug]

I'm planning on a 2-3 month extremely flexible backpacking trip through Europe in a couple months. I intend to get an unlimited rail pass and just go nuts.

Many of the nights I hope to be able to camp under the stars, or sleep in a park (I really have no idea what to expect, but I've talked to a girl about this a lot who has done it. That's what she did)

But what if I want to stay in a Hostel that night? She said that there are kids from the Hostels waiting at train stations and if you look like a backpacker they'll talk to you, but that seems kinda sketchy.

What is the best method to find a Hostel in an unknown city?

[thatgirlwholaughs]

ask somebody, find (usually overly clearly marked) tourist office. also, most hostels have little books that show which towns have hostels etc etc.

[space virgin]

If you know one day in advance where you're going to be going (i.e. you don't jump on a random train with your eyes closed ) you can search for and book hostels online. There's this really cool site that has tons of hostel listings:

http://www.travelpunk.com

[foofiter]

hostelworld.com is my first choice.

Second is google.

Foo

[dug]

great! it sounds like it's not too much of a worry for most of you, so I'll try not to worry much about it :P

Originally posted by space virgin@May 29 2006, 12:37 PM
If you know one day in advance where you're going to be going (i.e. you don't jump on a random train with your eyes closed )* you can search for and book hostels online.* There's this really cool site that has tons of hostel listings:

http://www.travelpunk.com* *

[snapback]123131[/snapback]

actually, the girl that inspired me to go told me about the nights they would show up at the train station and ask the attendent to put them on whatever train he wanted. She woke up and found herself in some of her most memorable sites of her trip!

I thought it sounded like fun, so I may give it a try :P

[elfmaiden]

hostelworld is where I did all of my booking and I didn't have 1 problem, I was so impressed.

I also met up with a guy who worked as one of the dudes at the train stations getting people to rent a room in an apartment for the night. I heard about him through someone else, met up with him and the apartment turned out to be awesome. Trust your gut with meeting new people and if plans change up that's perfectly okay!

I can obessively plan something forever, but once I'm on the road, things always have a habit of changing!

Jenn