What to choose in a city, party hostel or a quiet place? What do you think?

A reflection on the party hostel scene.

The traditional backpackers often wonder what hit them when they visit a popular European capital or a beach area recommended in there guide book (especially if its borrowed from a friend and a few years out of date) to find the hostel packed full of crashed out people recovering from a rave the night before. But let’s be clear about something these exist to fill a demand and they are increasingly important part of the city hostel and beach hostel mix.

 Traditionally UK citizens would take the booze cruise to Dublin or Amsterdam.  However as cheap flights and weekend city breaks began to be marketed by the travel industry, a place to stay the night became essential as local city authorities were not so keen on people sleeping in their parks. Initially city hostels set up by official hostelling societies (and their independent equivalents) were designed for people seeking to explore the cultural heritage of the city in the same way as they explore the natural heritage of the country in their sister hostels in the countryside. The emergence of the partying sub culture gave an opportunity for independent hostels to branch out.

 It is important to decide what type of experience you want when travelling. Look carefully at the hostels web page, if you want to explore a city by day and have a well-deserved rest at night; don’t book into a hostel that advertises 24hr fun and organised bar crawls then complain to the management that you couldn’t sleep. Alternatively don’t turn up to a hostel advertising as a quiet, family friendly place with a crate full of beer and vodka and then be surprised when they ask you to leave at 1am in the morning due to complaints from other guests.

There is a place for each type of hostel and nothing wrong in booking into more than one when visiting a city or holiday resort if you want to do both. We should respect the reasons for others to travel and give each other the space to enjoy the short time we have to fulfil our dreams.

What do you think?

Written by Jason Stiles