January 2013
8 posts
1 tag
Beating Dorms-Day When On The Road
Dorms. The very word brings some people an intensely happy feeling, a flashback to the glory days of being on the road and in the grip of wanderlust. But for others the idea of sharing a room with so many other slumbering individuals conjures up only dread. They shift angrily through memories of dorms past that filled them with a hate only eclipsed by exorbitant airline credit card charges.
So,...
3 tags
Weekly Hostel Feature - Cocomama, Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s first boutique hostel, Cocomama is a brand new hostel right in the heart of Amsterdam. Cocomama guests can check out the big, sun-soaked garden, cook wonderful meals in the equipped kitchen and meet lots of other travellers during hostel organised activities, or just while handing out in the common areas. They even have a hostel cat, named Joop, to keep you company around the...
1 tag
Are Hostels In Asia Worth It?
For backpackers all over the world, Asia is the Promised Land. It is the land of the $1 meal, where nobody ever goes hungry. It is the land of the 50c beer, where nobody ever has to forgo a night of fun. And most importantly, it is the land of cheap accommodation, where backpackers can afford to stay and explore all that these wonderful Asian countries have to offer. From the temples at Ankor...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Travel Joy Hostels, London
Travel Joy Hostels in London is a professional and experienced hostel aiming to provide a friendly, fun and pleasant experience. Their staff work to make the space clean and safe, so guests only have to worry about the socializing!
They are the only hostel in London that overlooks the river, and are centrally located between Chelsea and The Houses of Parliament. There’s an open mic night...
2 tags
WANTED: Dynamic Duo for Awesome Island Job
Have you ever wanted to live on a tropical island? Do you dream of untouched beaches and crystal clear waters. Do you want to spend your days swimming, snorkelling and stand up paddle boarding your way around paradise?
Well here’s your chance to do just that on Hostelzoo Island!!
Hostelzoo, the world’s largest hostel comparison website, is currently on the lookout for two talented people...
2 tags
The Secret of Domestic Hosteling
It seems strange that in many cases the first country that people really explore when they travel is not their own. Australians often go to Europe or to Asia, and Europeans in turn come to Australia or head off to New Zealand. There’s undoubtedly many reasons for this, one of which is definitely the feeling of being able to explore somewhere totally new and different. But, in many countries,...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Riad Layla Rouge,...
A small, family run riad in the centre of the souks, Riad Layla Rouge breathes in the Mad Hatters tea party of colour that Marrakech conjures, and breathes out the nearby chaos with a gentler (but still eccentric) heartbeat.
Just one minute from Place D’Jeema el Fna, Riad Layla Rouge is the perfect hostel for both adventure hungry travelers, and just hungry ones! There is free tea, and a cake...
December 2012
8 posts
1 tag
Hostelzoo's 5 Favourite New Years Destinations
This year has certainly been a year of interesting developments and adventures for the folks at Hostelzoo. We’ve been visiting all sorts of exciting places and meeting some seriously interesting people. What can we say? We’ve had a great year. We even had a great New Year celebrating all the awesome stuff we’ve managed to accomplish this year. So, seeing as we’re in a New Year mood, we decided to...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - City Circus, Athens
City Circus is a cozy new hostel in the cool Psirri neighbourhood of Athens. With 11 rooms, City Circus can accommodate a wide variety of needs at practical prices, no matter what your budget is. The neoclassical building features restored wooden floors and painted ceilings dressed up with antiques, retro furniture and wall art by local artists. City Circus is one seriously unique setting to...
2 tags
Why Hostel Christmases are Awesome
Despite the unavoidably fluorescent consumerist streak currently embodied in the modern celebration of Christmas, it is still very much a family affair. Whether you get together with your large extended tribe, or just a few members of your wolf pack, you’re around the people you know, celebrating the year that was.
But, when you’re travelling you don’t always have the luxury of being around...
3 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Trek Global, Wellington NZ
Trek Global is a fresh, fun and friendly backpackers right in the middle of Wellington City. Located close to just about everything, the folks at Trek Global have all your backpacking needs covered. And, if that wasn’t enough, they’ve even provided some great extras and freebies to boost your mood and your time in their lovely Capital!
Feel free to join in to the FREE in-house and locally...
2 tags
Hostelzoo Is Actually Going On Holiday!!
We might live on a holiday island, but starting a hostel of our own has been hard work! To recover, we’ve decided to take some time off over Christmas and New Year. Lucky for us, our new hostel is totally booked out anyway from the 18th of December to the 8th of January, so we are back on the road living wild and free.
So, where are we going?
Well, Hostelzoo founder Scott Ryan is heading to...
3 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Friends House Downtown,...
Friends House Downtown is a friendly, laid-back hostel, perfect for your comfy co-op home in Houston. If you love laid back hostels managed with lots of love, you’ll feel right at home at Friends House Downtown. It’s quaint, cosy and friendly, catering especially for travelers who want to wind down, take it easy, chill out and enjoy ann overall peaceful, fun time.
They are located in a historic...
3 tags
Hostelzoo’s Guide to Identifying and Neutralizing...
Hostels are usually absolutely packed full of interesting people from amazing places all over the world. They are travellers, journeymen, explorers and folk with generally itchy feet and a wondrous sense of adventure. But, among all of these people there is another force, more dark and sinister than we realise.
Hostel bandits.
The people you never want to meet yet always seem to be colliding...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday – Hostel Kabeh, Cancun...
The Hostel Kabeh believes in slow travel, you’re on holiday after all! So, they have tried to minimize the restrictions that might otherwise limit your life. They want to be your home away from home. It is for this reason that they provide a free breakfast with no time limit, available all day. They breakfast is your choice of a hearty Mexican breakfast with 2 eggs, Mexican chorizo and bread OR...
2 tags
The Seedy Underbelly of Hostel Reviews
There has never been a time when hostels reviews are so important or prevalent to the traveling community. Before, people found hostels based on word of mouth, or recommendations from other traveling friends. Now, they can read the opinions of total strangers in order to decide what accommodation is best for them. Although this has caused significant changes to the travel industry, it has opened...
November 2012
15 posts
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Bossa in Rio Hostel, Rio...
The Bossa in Rio Hostel is a brand new boutique hostel well located in Rio’s most charming neighbourhood, Santa Teresa. The hostel has all the facilities guests might need, to ensure everybody experiences the best that Rio de Janeiro has to offer.
Offering shared rooms in all tastes from 4 to 6 and even 10 bedded-dorms, the Bossa in Rio Hostel is a great place to explore the wonderful...
3 tags
So, Hostelzoo's Opening An Island Hostel!!
Hostelzoo.com, the world’s largest hostel price comparison website, are opening their own backpacker hostel…on a tropical island! After relocating their HQ to one of Australia’s hidden gems, Great Keppel Island, they’re returning the ex backpacker haunt to its former glory with Australasia’s most exclusive island hostel: Hostelzoo Island Eco Backpackers!
After operating hostels and working in...
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Hostelzoo's Guide to the Backpacker Species
There’s lots to be said, and lots that has been said about backpackers. They’re an interesting bunch, full of quirks and varieties. But, over the years we’ve been living, traveling, working and owning hostels we’ve had some interesting scientific thoughts about backpackers. The more we observe and interact with these fascinating human beings, the more we learn about their different forms, and...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - BAMBOO, Nadi
Hostel Feature Friday – BAMBOO, Fiji With about 333 tropical islands and almost 1 million happy, friendly people, Fiji is an amazing place to explore and BAMBOO is the perfect base. A fun budget spot, BAMBOO is located amongst a cluster of cool hostels in the middle of Nadi’s BEackpacker Beach. It’s an ideal spot to acclimatize, meet people, organize your travel plans and then head out to the...
4 tags
5 free things to do in Madrid, Spain
Capital European Cities can be costly- but not with this guide. It’s One World Travel brings you 5 things to do for free in Madrid, Spain - A Hostelzoo Guest Post special!!
From fulfilling your craving for culture, to partying till dawn with the locals- don’t miss these five free activities in Madrid.
#1 Prado Museum Officially Spain’s most popular tourist sight and free seven days a...
2 tags
Backpackers Get Backpackaged
There was a time when backpacking meant to travel the world. It meant to explore in a way that only you could. Whether you travelled alone or in a group it was about the individual journey, finding yourself on that wide expanse of new things.
That’s how it was.
Now travelling is more of an institution, something that has to be done in the scope of a life well-lived. It’s not that we don’t...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Hostel Terraces (Terrazas...
Hostel Terraces (Terrazas Estoril) is a hostel run by a family with more than 25 years of hostelling experience.
It is a brand new hostel, located conveniently in the heard of Buenos Aires. The hostel itself is situated on the top floor of a fully restored century-old builing on the world famous Avenida de Mayo.
Some city sights nearby include the Obelisk, the Government House (i.e. Casa...
3 tags
Hostel Booking Online - How to Get it Right
Sun & Moon Hostel - Barcelona by Oh-Barcelona
We noticed the other day that there’s a whole lot of articles out there about how to choose a good hostel, or what makes one hostel better than the others. Having been in the hostelling industry a while, we were a little surprised by some of the facilities now considered to be the norm by travelers. Some things, like a free breakfast, did not...
2 tags
Hostelzoo on Holiday - Island Paddle Adventure
If you’ve been keeping even a vague eye on us, you probably know that for the last little while we’ve been on holiday. As we discussed a few weeks ago, after working ourselves to the wire for the Hostelzoo website, we felt that we were in sore need of a break.
So why are we still on holiday?
Well, we might say that we aren’t yet recovered from months of crazy website development stresses, but...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Sky Backpackers - The...
In Dublin’s city centre, Sky Backpackers - The Liffey is within walking distance of some of Dublin’s best pubs, clubs and restaurants.
Sky Backpackers - The Liffey was once the Litton Lane Rehearsal & Recording Studios. In the past musicians including U2, Van Morrison, Sinead O’ Connor, Def Leppard (Hysteria Album), Eddie Clarke (Motorhead), Jim Steinman (Meatloaf), The...
2 tags
Hostelzoo Goes to Agnes Water & 1770
You might have heard a little while ago that we were on holiday on wonderful Great Keppel Island. We loved the island life, but Hostelzoo founder Scott Ryan started to get a little island fever. It wasn’t because we were ready to leave our little paradise, no way. It was because there hadn’t been anywhere on the entire island that he’d been able to find a single wave.
Now, surfers are a funny...
2 tags
Meet the Zoocrew - Oceana Setaysha
How did you become interested in travelling?
It’s kinda hard to pin down a specific event that really made me interested in travelling and in seeing new places. I think I always liked the idea of being somewhere new and learning about a new place or culture. I was a massive bookworm, and I read so many books about different countries (and different worlds in my fantasy phases!). I knew at some...
2 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - NapPark Hostel, Bangkok
NapPark Hostel is a recently opened hostel in an amazing location right in the centre of Bangkok. It is surrounded by all of the must-see and do attractions for travelers of all types like the Grand Palace, Khao San Road, Temple of Dawn and Wat Pho. It is also very close to the Bangkok nightlife and shopping streets.
Specially decorated for backpackers, NapPark Hostel has elements of real Thai...
October 2012
7 posts
1 tag
Five Things We Learnt Living In Hostels
‘Things are getting rough’ by Katie Brady
1. Everyone has a better idea of how to travel better, longer, cheaper or a mix of the three.
The advice can be useful, but it can also be really annoying. People who have been on the road for extended periods of time sometimes think it’s their divine duty to impart their sage knowledge onto those travellers starting out. But beware, not...
2 tags
Meet the Zoocrew - Scott Ryan
What inspired you to start travelling?
I guess it started when I was a kid. I grew up on a bush property, very rural and about an hour away from school. We lived on a lake near a tiny town where the main street only had sixteen houses (and even then not all of them were occupied). I was always taking little adventures on my own. Like, I’d take a surf ski and paddle across the lake and then walk...
3 tags
Hostelzoo on Holiday!
Working in the travel industry is, surprisingly, a lot harder than it seems. Now, we’re not saying that we don’t love meeting backpackers and talking to people all over the place about travel and all their adventures. But, we sometimes get a bit lonesome for the times when we were young and free in the wilds of the world. We miss having our own adventures and making our own discoveries and just...
3 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - White Nest Hostel, Granada
A funky hostel built in a traditional 17th century Andalusian mansion (talk about flashpacking!) White Nest is in Albaicin, which is the old part of the city. It’s not that far from the Alhambra, and there’s so many things to do nearby. There’s even a flamenco bar just 200 meters down the road for all the loose hipped wanderers!
The common areas are clean and fantastic to hang out in. White...
4 tags
Hostel Review: Banana Bungalows, Vang Vieng
Prior to arriving in Vang Vieng, we’d heard about lots of places where you could stay in little cabanas on stilts, right on the river front. So we went out in search of such a place, eventually deciding on Banana Bungalows. It sits just across the river, right in between two other bungalow residences, named Otherside and Cliff View. We chose Banana because of the quality of the huts and the...
3 tags
Hostel Feature Friday - Gallery Hostel, Porto
Every Friday Hostelzoo has decided to feature one of the fantastic hostels available for comparison on our website. Our Hostel Feature Friday not only gives us a chance to show off what is out there, and the interesting differences in hostels worldwide, but might also help to narrow down your choices when choosing where to stay.
The Gallery Hostel is situated in a recently renovated...
2 tags
Indian Festivals and Granny Hijackings
India is an unpredictable place. The day we arrived in Pushkar, Rajasthan my friend Gay was not feeling up to scratch. I informed her that I was popping out for a second to visit the ATM a few blocks away. As I descended on the streets I came across a rather lively festival. Now, festivals are definitely not an uncommon thing in India but I was entranced and proceeded to take a number of vantage...
2 tags
Meet the Zoocrew - Rob Ryan (a.k.a. Papa Smurf)
This is the first of our four part Travel Tuesday series. For the next four weeks we’re giving you a chance to get to know our Zoocrew, the people behind the scenes at Hostelzoo.
Q. Where did you get your love for travel?
A. I started surfing when I was 10 years old when surfing was in its infancy. Probably about 1960! In those days I was just a young kid getting lifts up or down the...
June 2012
7 posts
1 tag
Hostelzoo Edition 1
Edition #1: New flipping book of hostels in San Diego, Cadiz, Venice, Perth and Toronto.
***Click here to view online
2 tags
Compare hostels in Toronto
Todays spin landed in Lake Ontario, so close to Niagara Falls I can feel the spray on my face! However, I’m glad we landed on the Toronto side, hugely popular with day-trippers visiting the Falls, and one of the most culturally tolerant cities around.
So, let’s get into some details and compare hostels in Toronto, Canada.
Our stats:
There’s a total of 46 budget properties...
2 tags
Compare hostels in Perth
Today I was aiming for something in the southern hemisphere, something a little closer to home. I know Australia’s east coast like the back of my hand, so I was aiming south-west…..and again, the finger stopped in the middle of nowhere! But that’s not too hard to do given the enormity of Western Australia and I was glad to end up not too far from Perth.
You see, if you want to...
2 tags
Compare hostels in Venice
Well, well well, let’s see what’s happening in Venezia! This city is awesome and a true backpacking mecca with plenty of hostels and some really cool campgrounds which embody the social interaction of hostelling. The most interesting thing about pulling all the stats from Venice was the sheer amount of budget accommodation and the huge differences between the booking engines. Hostels...
2 tags
Compare hostels in Cadiz
Have you heard of Paterna de Rivera? Me neither and I’ve even been close! Today’s spin was all about trying to hit somewhere in Northern Africa, somewhere a little less urban than yesterday’s San Diego hit. However, my positioning was way off centre which resulted in the globe halting in Andalucia, Southern Spain. Unfortunately, there’s no hostels listed in Paterna de...
2 tags
Compare hostels in San Diego
This morning in Sydney was a cracker of a day, the sun shining, the cool chill of an Aussie winter. Not bad for a Monday really. But this Monday was like no other, for today we begin Spin to compare hostels in___?
I started out with the excitement of a school kid, spinning the globe as fast as I could, imagining this would heighten the randomness of my city selection. I quickly learned that...
Spin to compare hostels in ___? →
Click the link above to check out our new page! Soon to be filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful hostels from around the world.
May 2012
4 posts
Plane or Train?
What would you rather stay in, a plane or a train? Have you stayed in either?
1 tag
“There are only two times in life, NOW & TOO LATE!”
– Terry Hawkins
SMILE :) » Happy travels
April 2012
5 posts
1 tag
World hostel links
Browse by continent / country below:
Africa
Algeria
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Comoros
Egypt[[MORE]]
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana
Kenya
Lesotho
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Republic of Chad
Republic of the Sudan
Réunion
Rwanda
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
South Africa
...
5 tags
London Olympics 2012
Home to the 2012 Olympics, London welcomes over 205 nations to participate in the biggest international sporting event. Gear up to support your favourites win medals as the best athletes in the world come together to showcase their skills.
Courtesy Getty images
London has become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in [[MORE]]1908...
