Hostel Suggestions?

[loomis]

My boyfriend and I are going to Europe this summer for 6 weeks...we've been busy booking hostels but some cities we have yet to make a decision on. We'd really appreciate it if someone could give us suggestions for these cities!

Just some info, we're both 22, like to have fun, but are not really into the "party hostel" thing. Even though we're travelling together, seperate rooms could work if the hostel was really good. To get an idea of some places we've already booked: Mountain Hostel (Gimmelwald), Wombats (Munich), Sunrock (Corfu).

Anyway, here are the cities:

-Amsterdam
-Paris
-Rome
-London

A note for Amsterdam, while we do plan to go out to the coffeeshops, we'd prefer it if our rooms at least could be non-smoking.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Jules80]

Paris i liked le village hostel. social atmosphere but not party per se. rome i stayed in the beehive which was fabulous and the best place i stayed on my trip.

Jules

[SantaKlaus]

Ah, Wombats, good choice!

In Rome I stayed in a double room at "Alessandro Palace". Air condition, en suite, very clean, fairly quiet, good location. Nice hostel bar, 3 times per week free pizza!
I heard good things about "Pop Inn", too.

In Amsterdam I only know the Flying Pig Hostels, which are indeed ace party places, but if that´s not your cup of coffee have a look at the Bolldog. I haven´t seen the rooms (only went there out of curiosity to check out the lobby), but it seems to be as good as hostels get.

Happy travels,
Klaus

[gougeAway]

These are the places I stayed - and had no problems with.

Amsterdam - Stayed at Hotel Aspen. It was cheap, clean, and nice and in a decent location. Lots of stairs, but that shouldn't be a major issue. www.hotelaspen.nl/

Paris - Stayed at Absolute Paris - They have double rooms, but I think most rooms have four beds. Breakfast was not anything special, but it was clean and relatively cheap - and in a decent area (lots of restaurants, and grocery stores - close to the metro) www.absolute-paris.com/

Rome - Stayed at a bed and breakfast near Termini. Very clean, air conditioned, but maybe more than you want to spend. www.gulliversplace.com - they are affiliated with www.gullivershouse.com - which I've heard good things about too.

[jennifer]

Check out the Shelter City in Amsterdam!

[grwillian]

11 posts, 11 ads. Nice one.
No ads without prior approval.

[tigerlilly]

In Amsterdam we stayed at the Flying Pig. No smoking in the rooms, and a great atmosphere and breakfast. Good location too.

In Paris at Le Village, very nice and good breakfast. Close to metro and Sacre Coeur church - there is a grocery store right accross the street.

In Rome we stayed at Allessandro Legends, but would recoment either the downtown or palace locations. The ammenities were limited at the one we were at. But we visited the other locations and they seemed a lot better. Close to termini.

In London we stayed at the Astor Museum, very nice and accross the street from the british museum. Great staff, very helpfull with directions and places to eat. Good kitchen to cook your own meals.

[sil]

Hi everyone, I have a question about hostels too. My boyfriend and I are going to visit London, Paris, Rome (you already give good advice on this) and Venice, any idea? We are 24 and 28, like to party, but we would like to get some sleep once in a while. Also I have allergies to cigarrette smoke so it would be really, really nice for me to go to non-smoking hostel.
Thank you everybody!!!

[rchua]

allessandro legends had a great location but the hostel itself was ok. the bed that i slept on had bed bugs so i spent two days in rome with bug bites on my arms and legs. i spent my time in rome scratching myself and complaining about it. thankfully i had a wonderful time in rome otherwise.

[WillTravel]

That's scary, rchua. Hopefully the bugs didn't follow you to the next hostel, or home?

[Eagle]

sil,

I was in Rome recently and stayed in the Alessandro Palace, and can certainly recommend it based on my experiences. It's very clean (they have paid cleaning staff that come in every day) and I had no problems with bed bugs. I believe they do have some private rooms available but I'm not sure how many? If you like to party there's a bar there (which can get quite lively in the evenings, but there's not enough room for dancing!). There's also Internet facilites right next to the main desk, with about six or eight PC's available. The Staff are great and I found them to be very helpful. There's a laundry place about a block away (drop the laundry off and pick it up about two hours later). The Palace is an easy seven minute walk from Termini, even with a Backpack. The Metro is close as well as there's a station at Termini. There's also a good restaurant right around the corner from the Hostel, which gives a 10% discount to Palace guests (ask the Staff for details on this).

You also won't have to worry about cigarette smoke there, as I believe that smoking is banned at all public establishments in Italy (there are signs all over the place) and from what I heard there are some stiff penalties for anyone that allows smoking. One evening while I was in the Bar at the Hostel, several younger kids that had just arrived from New York came into the room with lit cigarettes (guess they didn't see the large sign on the wall?). The Hostel guy promptly showed them the door, as smoking is only allowed outside on the street. They were a bit annoyed by all this, and made the comment "who would have thought you couldn't smoke in Europe".

Be forewarned though!!! If you're also going to France (especially Paris) it seems that just about everyone smokes and the locals are not always too considerate about others sitting next to them in restaurants or whatever.

Hope this helps. Happy travels!!!

[pupkus7]

In Rome we stayed at the Beehive Hostel.... best place we stayed the entire trip!