Rick Steves Recommends Hostels

Rick Steves article from today:
Try hostels for cheap and convivial traveling

If you want to save money while traveling, consider hosteling. Several thousand hostels provide beds throughout Europe — in cities, towns, and the countryside — for $20 to $40 per night.

For this rock-bottom price, you get "no frills" accommodations in clean, stark dormitories. The good news for couples and families is that many hostels have some private rooms — a few doubles and family rooms (book ahead for these). It's a great way to enjoy some privacy while saving money.

You may assume hostels aren't for you because, by every standard, you're "old." Well, many countries have dropped the word "youth" from their hostel organization's name, and for years Hostelling International has given "youths" over the age of 54 a discount on membership cards. Even the last holdout, the German state of Bavaria, finally dropped its youths-only restriction. If you're alive, you're young enough to hostel anywhere in Europe.

He plugs remote hostels:

Young backpackers can overrun big-city hostels. Rural hostels, far from train lines and famous sights, are usually quiet and frequented by a more mature crowd. If you have a car, use that mobility to leave the Eurail zone and enjoy some of Europe's overlooked hostels.

And calls hostelling a philosophy:

Some travelers love them and will be hostelers all their lives, regardless of their budgets. Hosteling is a philosophy. You trade service and privacy for a chance to live simply and communally with people from around the world.

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