11
Rant: Everyone swears by hostel dorms but they nearly ruined my Europe trip
I was in Barcelona last June and booked a 10-bed dorm to save cash like everyone says. Third night, some dude came in at 3am drunk and threw up right next to my bunk. I spent the next two days couch surfing with a friend of a friend and actually saved more money than the hostel cost. Has anyone else had a bad experience with the "dorm is always cheaper" advice?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
barbara_moore734h ago
My cousin had almost the same thing happen in Prague a few years back. A guy came in at 2am, tripped over someone's bag, and landed right on her suitcase breaking the zipper. She spent the next morning trying to find a luggage repair shop instead of seeing the city. I think the real problem is that hostels don't really check who they let in or set any rules about noise after midnight. A private room in a guesthouse or even a budget hotel costs a bit more but you actually get some peace and quiet. The math stops working when you lose two days of your trip to bad sleep and having to deal with someone else's mess.
4
Geez, that Barcelona story is rough. I actually read a travel blogger's breakdown once where they crunched the numbers on hostel dorms versus cheap hotels in places like Barcelona and Lisbon, and once you factor in stuff like laundry costs and the occasional lost day, the savings were way smaller than people think. Totally agree with @barbara_moore73 on that math stopping working - losing a morning to finding luggage repair or washing puke off your shoes is a hidden cost nobody talks about. For what it's worth, I've had better luck with smaller capsule hostels in Japan, but even then I got stuck next to a guy who snored like a lawnmower.
4