Anyone ever do hostels in Europe? any good / bad stories? going to Spain in August, might save a ton by doing hostels instead of hotels....thoughts? have 3 people going...might be able to get our own room. also looking at renting private apartments or something.
Did a 10 week trip back in 2005 and didn't have an issue anywhere. Where in Spain are you going? In Barcelona, the big one is Kabul. I lived in an apartment there, so I never stayed at that hostel, but people seemed to like it. Plus they sell tickets, which you then redeem for either a 1/2 liter or 1 liter of beer. It's their way of getting around not having a liquor license. In Granada there was a great one called...Oasis I think. We went to Valencia, Sevilla, Madrid and San Sebastian too, but I don't remember any of those hostel's names. I do remember that the one we stayed in San Sebastian was open for 3 days before we got there. If you're going to one of those cities I'll try and see if I can find where we stayed.
Madrid-Barcelona-Ibiza any tips would be great. Its the busiest part of the year so everything is way jacked up. trying to finalize all plans and have everything booked by April or May at the latest.
Good idea on booking early. For Barcelona, Kabul is a good bet, but the rooms might be bigger than 3 so you'll be sharing. It's right off of Las Ramblas in placa reial. In general, Las Ramblas sucks, but it is near a lot of bars. Not sure about clubs though. Makes ure to figure out the Ibiza part early. If I remember correctly the boat only goes there 3 days a week. I could be wrong though. I actually just booked a trip to Barcelona for late April. I think we're going to go the apartment route though. I'll let you know how it goes.
Yeah. Probably flying to Ibiza, don't want an 8 hour boat ride. Probably going to try to stay in Las Ramblas in Barcelona. I'll check out Kabul. would rather share with more people not so nothing gets jacked....taking some expensive electronics. What are you using for apartments? TripAdvisor?
can you bring chicks back to your room at hostels? checked Kabul....can't book until 120 days to the date.
Kabul looks incredible. My brother and I stayed at a hostel in Barcelona and two in Stockholm. Good experiences in both.
I met a hot chick in a youth hostel in Copenhagen. I moved her back to Idaho, married her, knocked her up twice and started a pretty killer little home business with her and her parents, who also moved here. Been together 11 years. I also once bought a can of Coors out of an RC Cola vending machine in a hostel in New Orleans. Both true stories. Man, those crazy cajuns....
oh, it won't be low budget. going to be spending the saved lodging money on booze and good food and partying.
My cousins's friend's sister went to a hostel in eastern Europe once with some friends and they ended up being forced into being a murder victim for hire y frustrated Americans. Luckily, the guy that paid to kill her was a completely incompetent fool, so she was able to chainsaw him in the head and then was allowed to escape after she killed him by chopping off his nuts. Or maybe that was the plot of Hostel 2. My memory is not so good...
A friend of my uncle is going to email me the company he uses. If I ever get it from him I'll pass it along. About the pickpockets in Barcelona, they are def a problem, but just be smart about your surroundings and you should be fine. Las Ramblas is the worst for this too because of all the tourists, but it is a great location for going out/sight seeing. In general, it's a fairly safe city though. I don't think I had any issues the whole time I was there, which was about 4 months. If you're trying to take some day trips, check out Spanish Trails Adventures. The owner is from Portland and helped out with the day to day logistics of my school, which a program out of PSU. We went on a couple of their trips and had a good time. Wine tasting, which consisted of eating cured meats and cheese and drinking in a wine cellar and getting to bottle your own cava (Spanish sparkling wine) was fun. I know they had some sea kayaking trips up the coast north of Barcelona and a bunch more that are offered. Let me know if you have more questions. I'm less help for Madrid. I only spent a couple nights there and I didn't make it Ibiza, so I'm no help with that one.
If you're looking for a day trip outside of Barcelona, check out the Museo Dali in Figueras. It's like walking into a Dali painting. Very cool. Ibiza is kind of over, but it's still fun.
Yeah. Kind of just want to do Ibiza to check it off my "list". Not that pumped about it, most of the world class DJs come to Las Vegas now anyways.
Yeah. I'll check it out. Don't plan on doing anything remotely touristy really. Mainly just drink and eat tapas kind of vibe, walk around the city and pop into museums if they look interesting.
