Hostels in Europe

A Guide to Budget Accommodation in Europe

Europe is overflowing with things for the budget traveler to do. It’s by no means as cheap as traveling in South America or Southeast Asia, but when you’ve got a roll call of cities stuffed with some of the biggest sights and familiar monuments, the most prestigious art galleries, and fabulous landscapes… Well, it’s worth every penny!

 

 

A significant proportion of travelers coming to Europe for the first time find themselves in London. Vast, sprawling and almost impossible to get a handle on immediately, it can be a slightly rough introduction to the continent.

After a night or two in a bouncing London hostel, though, most backpackers have found their feet, and are ready to really get the most out of the city. Having ticked off big name sights like Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London, there’s a raft of great (and free!) galleries and museums to explore. 

While in London, many backpackers take the opportunity to visit nearby Dublin and Edinburgh. Despite being just a few hours away by train, up in Scotland the temperatures drop markedly and the city is frequently battered by horizontal rain!

But rain and wind are unlikely to dampen the spirits of the backpacker as Edinburgh in an absolutely fantastic city. Budget accommodation in Edinburgh is plentiful with Edinburgh hostels standing out for their central locations and their unremitting quality.

But the best thing about the UK, though, is the peerless travel connections to the rest of Europe it offers. Whether it’s a quick rail trip over to Paris or Brussels, or a cheap flight over to the furthest reaches of Central and Eastern Europe, London duly provides.   

And after the cost of accommodation in London and, to a lesser extent, Edinburgh, most travelers breathe a huge sigh of relief when they get out east! The Polish cities of Krakow and Warsaw feature highly; Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest can be neatly grouped together, while Vilnius, Riga and Ljubljana gain in popularity all the time.

It’s to Prague, though, that the greatest number of travelers flock to. Prague hostels – as lively as anywhere else in the world – are almost invariably full of backpackers giddy on some of the very best things that Europe has to offer.