Teen trip to Europe - youth hostels

Parent Cafe
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<p>Hoping there might be some advice floating around out there–</p>

<p>S1 will be busy with army-related programs til late July, so probably will not be able to get a regular summer job. He was considering trying to get a couple friends together to travel around Western Europe for 2-3 weeks in early August. Am guessing that is probably the busiest tourist season. Since they will be on a tight budget, was wondering if anyone could tell us a bit about youth hostels. Do they operate on a first-come, first-served basis, or do you need to reserve them ahead of time like hotels?<br>
Also, are Eurail passes still a good bet for teens?<br>
Thanks</p>

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<p>D studied abroad last fall & did quite a bit of traveling in Europe. She & her friends always stayed in hostels - they LOVED them! They checked them out online first, and they did book ahead. I don’t know if you “have” to, but they did. </p>

<p>They were not uncomfortable at all, either in terms of safety or amenities. The hostel in Italy (Florence, I think) was most accommodating … the guy at the desk grabbed another worker & they built bunk beds on the spot for my D & her friends!</p>

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<p>thanks, kelsmom - they sound perfect - if they can get into them! I know summer is tourist time and have visions of them walking the streets exhausted looking for a place to sleep. Am going to look online – am guessing there are different hostel networks for each country…?</p>

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<p>Gosh, I don’t know. My D grew up so much on her study abroad trip. She planned everything herself … in fact, she did all the booking for her group of friends. I can ask her for advice, but not until Monday night. She is in seclusion, non-stop studying this weekend for her last 3 finals, all of which are Monday! :)</p>

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<p>kelsmom, do you remember the name of the hostel in Florence?</p>

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<p>Florence was Plus Florence. D says it was a bit overrated on the internet info, but it was clean & everything was easily walkable.</p>

<p>The bunk bed builders were in Rome, it turns out. That was at Hostel Beautiful 2. She really liked that place - very friendly! I think Rome was her favorite city, anyway (it helps that it was decked out for Christmas, too, I’ll bet :)).</p>

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<p>My D has stayed in quite a few hostels and uses Hostelworld for both booking and reviews. Also Tripadvisor has some hostel ratings as well.</p>

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<p>lspf…</p>

<p>there are some websites that you can use… I went backpacking for a month with a friend after we graduated from undergrad. We used: [Hostels</a> & Youth Hostels Worldwide - Online Bookings](<a href=“http://www.hostelworld.com/]Hostels”>http://www.hostelworld.com/) to book all our hostels. We would book them from the previous destination. A pair we met in Rome was using [Hostels</a>, Youth Hostels & Cheap Hotel Accommodation at HostelBookers](<a href=“http://www.hostelbookers.com/]Hostels”>http://www.hostelbookers.com/) for their trip. Make sure you read the reviews to help you find a place you would be willing to stay.</p>

<p>Hostels are basically like hotels, except you are generally booking a “bed” instead of a “room”. Many hostels have different size rooms, and the more people in the room, the cheaper it is. The rooms we stayed in generally held 4-16 people. Mostly in the 8-12 range. Usually they have bathrooms on the hall, like a college dorm. I highly suggest you book a hostel before you get on the train to travel to your next city (and write down its address and directions).</p>

<p>The Eurail pass is superb. I would definitely recommend it. It takes you from the center of one city to the center of another. Some trains (including all of the overnight trains) require a reservation in addition to the ticket. You cannot just jump on an overnight train and find a bed. In fact, they will kick you off at the next station, and then you will be SOL… lol. If you aren’t going to a big city, you might have to transfer, like when we road from Rome to Interlaken… the overnight train went to Bern, and then it was local railroads to Interlaken. These railroads did not require reservation though, so we jumped off the overnight train, and onto the next train we wanted. In the timetable (schedule) on the Eurail website, it shows which trains require reservations. When you take the overnight train, that is your hostel for the night, and you might meet some interesting people!</p>

<p>Make sure you double check your tickets when you buy them… one time the person printed us tickets for Venice instead of Vienna, but it was fixed with no trouble. All the hostel staff that we encountered spoke excellent English, and the people at the train station spoke functional, though sometimes struggling English. All part of the experience.</p>

<p>Also make sure you tentatively plan out the trip, so you can decide which Eurail pass is best for your trip. If the overnight train leaves after a certain time (I think it might be 7pm) then it counts as the next day. So, if you have to jump on smaller trains after your overnight train, those will not count as a separate day. All of this is spelled out on the Eurail website, and might have changed since I was there. =)</p>

<p>The very local railroads, you cannot use the Eurail pass. The private one in the Berner Oberland (if you want to go further into the mountains than Interlaken, which I 100% recommend… you do get discounts though, on these trains and the cable cars, without using a day of your pass) was one, and the other one was the Paris commuter-type train, that we took to Versailles.</p>

<p>We hit London, Paris, Pisa, Rome (+Vatican), Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Zurich, Vienna, Krakow, Prague, Berlin, Brussels, and Amsterdam.</p>

<p>Hope that was helpful-ish =)</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks so much soccerguy – that sounds like an amazing trip. I am going to bookmark these sites and copy and paste this post to son. I was afraid hostels might have to be booked weeks in advance, and I don’t know if they’ll have that luxury.
Thanks also, kelsmom, and good luck with your D’s finals!</p>

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<p>Just something to keep in mind for August in Europe.</p>

<p>Most workers get one month of June, July or August as vacation. Most choose August, so many things will be operating on shorter hours or be closed altogether, unless they are beachy, in which case the crowds may be huge.</p>

<p>Remember that August several summers back when so many died from the heat in France? Many doctors were on holiday.</p>

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<p>

Well D already had the Rome hostel on her “list” so she booked it today. Their dates in Rome are fixed. She wasn’t as enthusiastic about the Florence one and the dates are more fluid but the price may push her over. Thanks , much.</p>

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<p>My S did 2 months using mostly hostels with a few home stays in places like Croatia. Before leaving the US, he booked his first 2 nights and last 2 nights in Amsterdam so he would be assured of a place to alight after and before his flights. The rest he booked before leaving his current place. He got shut out of Barcelona and Paris in late June, but managed to find places otherwise, although I think Rome was a challenge at the last minute. As far as I can tell, the hostels varied greatly - but mostly a good experience and all safe. He used the reviews at the hostel booking sites. He was on a tight budget, so he didn’t stay at the most popular or nice places. He also had a railpass. I am a little more hesitant to recommend it. In Italy, there were stiff fees for the required reservation on top of the pass price even when the trains were half empty. Also, he decided at the last minute, after experiencing the prices in northern and western Europe, to go to eastern Europe where his money went farther, but the pass did not cover. You should do some research on how much reservation fees are, what transportation he might need or want to take that is not covered by the pass, and even how much flights would cost. Trains in Europe are great, but not cheap.</p>

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<p>I have traveled to Europe in August and I wouldn’t be too worried about things being closed. Yes, a few places were closed but the major tourist sites were open as were plenty of shops and restaurants. Even when the proprietors are in town the small stores seem to open and close almost randomly. As an example some of them would close for siesta some days, but not all days. </p>

<p>Students traveling on a budget won’t have any trouble at all. After all, it is unlikely that they will be seeing out Michelan star restaurants. We never had any trouble finding inexpensive little cafes or places to buy pizza by the slice.</p>