As you probably know if you either know me or read the blog, I am a staunch advocate of hostelling. Hostels are fun, safe, social and cheap. They’re usually in great locations, often with great stories behind them (I mean, you can stay in jails or old military buildings!) and you get to meet tons of people that you would never meet in a hotel.
And did I mention they’re cheap? That means more money for doing things! (Often with the new friends you’ve just met!)
Something I find that’s missing a lot on blogs is where people have stayed (unless it’s a sponsored stay, in which case are you getting the whole truth?). Lots of bloggers even talk about their horror stories in hostels, but then don’t mention the name, even when something terrible happens. Thankfully due to researching, we haven’t had any terrible experiences, but I’ve compiled short reviews of everywhere we’ve stayed, which will hopefully help a few of you.
Here’s a list of everywhere we’ve stayed along with prices we paid, TripAdvisor reviews and booking links (now split into continents!).
🏡 HOSTELS IN ASIA
🏡 HOSTELS IN AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND
Booking a hostel
I almost always book the first night in a new place, even if it’s hours in advance. I’ve seen plenty of people turned away from a great hostel and nowhere else to stay. It almost happened to us a few times; most times we got lucky and found nice alternatives, but it added hassle that we didn’t really need (in Koh Tao we had to go around 5 different places before we found somewhere!). All part of the adventure of course, but I’d rather get off a 12 hour bus journey knowing that I’m going to have a decent night’s sleep.
Hostelworld is my go-to booking site now that they seem to have merged with Hostelbookers, and I always TripAdvisor any that catch my eye to check the reviews. I also double check the price on agoda (they don’t always list hostels but I’ve made some fab savings through them, particularly in Asia!) and booking.com.
Plus don’t forget that you can earn cashback with Hostelworld, Agoda & many other booking sites here! This is one of my best money-saving tips for accommodation.
(for more blogger hostel reviews, check out The Hostel Girl’s fab directory!)
An Orcadian Abroad 
Hi Clazz,
James’s friend Lucy (from T Wells) here! 🙂 This is massively helpful to me as I’m off to Vietnam and Cambodia Sept-Nov. By coincidence I’ve already booked the Central Backpackers – OQ hostel in Hanoi as that’s where I fly into, so great to hear you liked it so much! I was wondering though, how far in advance is it generally best to book hostels? Is just rocking up somewhere and taking your chances a very bad idea?
Thanks so much – glad you and Ash are having such a great time! xx
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Ahhh! No way, that’s so awesome!! Central Backpackers was one of our absolute favourite places so I really hope you like it there! 😉 Honestly, I’m not sure about Vietnam & Cambodia for booking and I don’t know how busy they’ll be that time of year, I know lots of people just turn up but in Thailand we didn’t book on 3 occasions and 2 of those led to traipsing our stuff around looking for somewhere else. I usually book the first night, even if it’s the day before, and then for example with Central we only had 2 nights booked and just added another night every morning lol and we had no problems with that! And then did the same in Saigon and Siem Reap. 🙂
That’s so cool though, I’ll have to have a catch up with you about your plans!! 😀 Very exciting! Are you going alone?
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Yeah when I was looking up places to stay when I first fly in, that hostel seemed like a good option. Got a few days booked there to get over jetlag etc! Thanks very much for the info – I might just try booking a few days ahead then generally, once I’m on the road. 🙂 Really don’t want to over-plan the trip or commit myself to anything too rigidly, but also don’t want to end up with nowhere to stay! Good to know that it probably doesn’t need to be months in advance – although I guess it’ll depend on the season too.
Yep it’s a solo trip, seven weeks in Vietnam/Cambodia and then two weeks in Japan. Scary but exciting! Where are you guys off to next?
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That’s so exciting!! Japan is now top of my list but I want to go with empty suitcases and a lot of money so we will do that separately one day, haha!
Yeah, that’s the best way to do it, we didn’t want a schedule either. 🙂 Plus you’ll meet so many people you never know if your plans will change! I’m a little jealous, we only did 3 weeks in Vietnam and missed out Dalat and also didn’t make it to Sapa. And I wasn’t sure what to expect from Cambodia so we only had 10 days there before the Thai new year, but we loved it!! Heard many good things about Kampot, Koh Rong and Battambang (I wanted to do the bamboo train!!) which we didn’t have time for so I’d love to go back.
We are in Australia at the mo, I’m having to go into Macca’s to steal their wifi lol (seriously, Asia had far better wifi than this!!!), we’ve got a year’s visa so we’ll see what happens with jobs. 🙂 Then “swinging by” NZ, USA & Canada on the way home! Eeek!
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Hi Clazz – it’s great to see other bloggers being upfront about where they’ve stayed and writing great reviews! I’ll have to keep an eye on your website.. and definitely update my directory! 🙂 Safe travels, Katie x
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It’s really great you shared the websites on which you look for an accommodation. Agoda is really awesome and very reliable. Excellent post!
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Thanks Agness! Agoda is fantastic for Asia especially. 🙂
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