hostel vs. hotel

On average you will pay about 18-35 Euro per person per night for a hostel depending on where you are. Quad hotel rooms for 4 can sometimes be harder to find in small family run hotels. You may find some good web deals for larger 2 star budget hotels if you book in advance. With 4 of you traveling together, you'll be able to pretty much get your own hostel room if privacy is an issue. Pros of a hostel are you'll have access to laundry and a kitchen. You'll also meet a lot of backpackers around your age. Before you book any hostels, read reviews online at websites like Hostelworld.com. If everyone is commenting on the same problems over & over (ie, noise, cleanliness, safety), you can then consider whether to book or not.

This is a duplicate posting - there is an identical one in West, with another answer.

I've found that hostels are cheaper for one person, but that's about it. Using Ceidleh's numbers as a basis for comparison, there are myriad spotless budget hotels where you can put two people in a room for substantially less than seventy euro per night. Some may not be in the city center, but even if you metro/tube back and forth, they still work out to be less expensive. The Accor chain is probably the largest - - look at the ETAP and Formule1 brands at accorhotels.com. They cover most of western europe with the exception of Spain and Italy (maybe not so many in the UK, but they certainly exist around London). Not sure about Austria and Switzerland; there are few in Scandanvia that I recall. For Spain, seek out hostals (different word, different meaning) which are small, family-run places that are generally pretty interesting and can often be found close to the city centers. For Italy, I've never really broken the code, but if you use venere.com and make your sort by price, then run down the list until you find a user-rating above 8.5 (with a fair number of raters), you can't go wrong.

As a group of 4 you might also consider renting appartments as a budget solution. That way you do get kitchen facilities and often also a washer. In many locations you do not have to rent for a full week.

I preferred hostels when I was in my 20s. Just a lot more fun. Yes, read the reviews! No, it might not be hugely cheaper. But it will probably be cheaper, AND it will be more fun. Choose hostels when you want to meet fellow travelers from many lands, maybe share a meal, get travel tips from folks who have just been where you are going, and generally hang out and socialize if you want to. In my 20s - expecially in a group of women - I found hotels to be isolating. It was more likely to be just us going out of an evening. When we stayed in a hostel, a night might end with a camp fire, a storytelling session, a pub crawl.... I miss hosteling. Being a middle-aged married lady has some advantages, but being a single woman traveling Europe with her friends and meeting people is a total BLAST.

Regarding Ed's suggestion to look into Accor hotels like Etap, I just wanted to issue a gentle warning. I studied abroad with my university 8 years ago, and, after staying in a nice, fairly centrally located Etap in Bruges with our whole group, I booked a room in an Etap in Berlin. A group of four of us were going, and one of the girls had a friend living in Berlin. But, her apartment could only accommodate 2 of us, so I booked a room for myself and my roommate at an Etap. I had no idea where it was located in relationship to the friends apartment (I didn't have her address). When we arrived, the friend asked where my roommate and I were staying and was deeply concerned about the Etap because of the unsafe locationshe took it upon herself to cancel my reservation and rebook us at a nearby hostel which worked out great. Because it was late October, I think there was only one other group there, and we stayed in separate dormrooms. My roommate and I had the whole dorm room (with 8 beds) to ourselves. Plus, it was cheaper than what we would have paid at the Etap. Following our trip, our whole group traveled to Eastern France and stayed in another Etap. This Etap was quite removed from town and near some industrial areaI didn't feel nearly as good about this one, both for safety and for closeness to the action.
Sodefinitely consider Etaps as a way to save money. They can be a great value. But, do so cautiously, with an eye to their actual location. Enjoy your trip; I'm so jealous! A girls trip sounds amazing.

I find hostels are a good deal for one. Since you each pay individually, it may be cleaner, financially, for each of you to pay for their own lodging at a hostel. Hostels offer private rooms too, for two up to a family room, but I find those don't offer as nice of accomodations as you can find for the same price elsewhere. Generally, you can find better deals when you get to four people. Call some pensions, sharing two rooms with a shared bathroom in the hall might be a good idea. Apartments aren't bad either because you will have a living room and small kitchen that you wouldn't get at a hotel or hostel. I've had some decent apartments at great prices just by calling when I show up (usually they want a week to book in advance).

helen, Although I'm a long way from "twenty something", I tend to use both Hostels and budget Hotels, depending on the circumstances at the time. As this is your first trip to Europe, you might consider using both, as that will provide a good comparison between the two for future trips. As the others have mentioned, Hostels typically range from €30-35 per person per night in a dorm room. If you were all in a four bed dorm, it would be much the same as a Hotel room. Some Hostels these days provide ensuite in each room, so the days of the "bathroom down the hall" are not as prevalent (although some of those still exist). I usually try to stay at H.I. Hostels as they're well run and the facilities are fairly predictable from one location to the next. Having a membership will provide cheaper rates and preferred booking over non-members. For Hostel stays, don't forget to pack a Towel (the micro-fibre travel towels work well) and a small but robust Padlock for Lockers. Given your ages, staying at least part of the time in Hostels would be a good idea, as it's a great way to meet other travellers (which is not as likely if you're in a Hotel). On occasion I've gone out for dinner with a group from the Hostel, and it's a lot of fun. They can also be a valuable source of information on local attractions, etc. As this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door before departure, as it provides lots of good information. You mentioned that you'd be taking a "road trip". Are you intending to use a rental car to get around? Also, which countries / cities are you planning to visit? Good luck with your planning!

I think the answer is really that it depends on the hostel. I stayed at a "hostel" in Cassis, France that was more like a beautiful shared vacation home and would prefer staying there to anywhere else in Cassis. I also stayed at "The Tent" hostel in Munich and while it was unique and had a fun party atmosphere, it was kind of like camping with 200 strangers - very uncomfortable and not great for sleep. I think overall that for 4 people traveling together, a hostel is not going to offer significant savings (or any savings) over a budget hotel. As others have mentioned though, Hostels tend to have a more social atmosphere, if that's what you want. But they are generally not great for picky travelers or light sleepers. I'm only 31 and I already think I'm a bit "too old" for most hostels. After a busy day of traveling, I just want a quiet room and a comfortable bed and a hot, clean shower - which you can get at some hostels but not all. I can meet people at bars if I want social interaction. Obviously there are people older than me here who prefer hostels! It's really an individual thing. One thing to consider is a kind of room that's inbetween a hostel or a hotel - often offered in a facility that provides traditional hostel dorms. There may be a hostel on site, or the place may even be called a hostel, but they offer affordable private rooms with bathrooms, without many other amenities. For me these are a good compromise when I am on a budget but don't want to be on a bunkbed.