I’m a gusher for luxurious 5 star hotels and I try to book stays while I’m traveling as often as possible, but only if I have enough loyalty points to do it. Once you realize that you can’t book all of your stays using reward points, the next best thing for budget traveling is staying at hostels. If you’re like me, you’re going to look for the cheapest option, but how do you know that you are choosing a quality hostel and you won’t be stuck with a foul odored, windowless room.

It’s never just the price factor that gets us checked into a hostel.

Hostels are one of the best ways to meet people while traveling and they can offer a great way to get in on some locals only secrets. Plus, they’re usually conveniently situated such as a city center or an active part of the city. We have stayed in several  hostels while traveling through South America and we often turned to them during our last trip to the Balkans.

When you’re budget traveling, hostels are (most of the time) hands down the cheapest lodging option– you can’t beat $9-$15 a night, but sometimes when you’re making a stop in a metropolitan city you can come across boutique hostels that range from $40 to $60 a night.

Keep in mind that you do get what you pay for, meaning that if you’re paying rock-bottom prices compared to other hostels in that area, find out why. It could be that your hostel is located outside of the city making it a trek to and from your hostel or your room is cramped with bunk beds close to each other. Reviews on any major hostel booking site can almost always provide a realistic representation of what the hostel is really like.

I always begin my hostel search by comparing three websites: Hostel World, Hostels.com and Hostel Bookers. They offer some of the same hostel accommodations so you can compare their rates and availability. I try to avoid using Hostel World because they charge a service fee while hostels.com does not. Whenever you can avoid paying a fee, you should. I have had success by looking up hostels and reviews on the more popular Hostel World and book the exact same room on Hostel Bookers to avoid paying a fee.

Most hostels will offer different types of accommodations you can select: private suite, private shared bathroom, co-ed mix dorms and single gender dorms. I prefer a private room  if the options available because I do enjoy my privacy and it’s just a peace of mind not having to worry about my belongings even though I do lock up my valuables. I usually can justify spending a few extra dollars for privacy and have the peace of mind that I won’t be kept up all night by someone’s snoring.

 Top tips for staying in hostels:

Bring flip-flops to wear in the shower. Staying in a hostel, you should treat the experience like living in college dorm. You wouldn’t want to shower without flip-flops in one.

Bring essential toiletries like soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc. because hostel don’t provide them.

Bring a towel with you. Even though I’ve often been provided a towel, I prefer to use my own. I was once given a hand towel which was insisted to me that it was a full body shower towel.

Sleep on the bottom bunk if you have the option. Bunk beds are a pain to get into and out of in the middle of the night and if you’re like me you’d feel horrible about accidentally waking up the person on the bottom bunk while finding your way down if you have to use the restroom.

Lock up your valuables! Whether or not you’re sharing a room, lock up all of your personal and valuable (passport, money, camera, etc) belongings in a locker.

Party vs. Quiet Hostel, choose wisely. If you want a very social hostel experience, then be considerate and stay at one that shares that sentiment because a lot of travelers are tired and exhausted by the time they get in at night and just want to sleep. If you want a quiet hostel experience, then you too must choose a hostel that shares that sentiment. If you end up at a very social hostel especially one that has a bar, you should not expect the other guests to simmer down when you hit the sack.

Stay close to town when you’re choosing a hostel so that you are not having to take taxis to the part of town you WANT to be in. This is one of the most important factors when I choose a hostel, I want to be able to walk to most of the sites I want to visit and feel safe doing it. Location is key.

Talk to your hostel neighbors. Meeting people who are staying at your hostel is one of the best ways to create great memories while traveling. When I was staying at the Rutan Cabinas hostel in Jaco, Costa Rica, I starting talking to a girl who is from the same town in Los Angeles and worked with one of my best friends. Small world! You would be surprised how many connections (friends, schools, sports, etc) you would have with travels you meet abroad.

Read hostel reviews on booking sites, they are there for your benefit. If there is a common thread of negative or positive points that guests have made, take them into consideration. This year I stayed at a handful of hostels and I only had one negative experience and that had more to do with us not reading the reviews more carefully.

Here’s a list of the hostels we stayed during our most recent trip:

Turkey Ates – Kas Yildirim Guest House – Fethiye Sun Rise – Antalya (We don’t recommend this hostel) Bosnia and Herzegovina Old Town Accommodations – Sarajevo Rooms Deny – Mostar Croatia Villa Garden – Dubrovnik Montenegro Sepic Accommodation – Zabljak   To subscribe to the AdriftAnywhere newsletter, sign up below for more adventures! [mc4wp_form]