Hostels or Hotels?

Thanks, I have Rick Steeve's through the back door 2010 as well as the Italy, Spain, and France books for 2010, I was just looking for a few other specifics from some others who may have been there.

Chantielle,

As this is your first trip to Europe, my first suggestion would be to pre-read Europe Through The Back Door, as it has LOTS of information that will help you in your planning as well as travelling "well" in Europe.

You could certainly stay in Hostels, as many these days have private rooms, although these tend to book up fairly quickly. Budget Hotels would be a good choice, as the cost is often not much different than a private room in a Hostel. There are great listings in Rick's Guidebooks for hotels in various price ranges and located in various sections of each city.

I also tend to be somewhat of a "planner" so I usually pre-book lodgings. May and June tend to be somewhat in the "peak" of spring shoulder season, so I'd consider pre-booking.

You'll undoubtedly get lots of specific recommendations here, but some for you to consider:

Paris: Hotel Duquesne Eiffel, Grand Hotel Leveque, Hotel Muguet (many of Rick's readers stay in the Rue Cler area, which I also prefer)

Venice: Pensione Guerrato, Alberdo Doni

Rome: Hotel Aberdeen (Termini area), Casa san Guiseppe (Trastevere)

Barcelona & Madrid: I'm sure the others will have some suggestions

You may want to purchase or have a look at some of the country or city-specific Guidebooks, as they have great ideas not only for lodgings but also sightseeing, transportation, Museum opening & closing times, etc.

Good luck with your planning!

(*EDIT: when I composed my original reply, I didn't realize that you already had Europe Through The Back Door)

Use Rick Steves and tripadvisor. You may note that quite nice yet inexpensive budget hotels are called hostals in Spain. They’re not hostels.

Paris 7th arrondissement: Hotel de la Tulipe - Very nice boutique hotel – charming actually.

Madrid: Hostal Acapulco in Plaza del Carmen - Nice, clean, highly-rated, and reasonably-priced.

We generally combine budget hotels with hostels, although we're also traveling this summer and trying out an apartment rental for the first time ... check with users on this site, and also tripadvisor.com and hostelworld.com to see user reviews of the property before you book.

Check out pension retiro in madrid. It's almost directly across from the Prado. It's a nice budget hotel (more like a bed and breakfast, just without the breakfast). Check it out here: http://pensionretiro.iespana.es/. We loved it, and it's under 40 Euros a night total.

I've stayed in hostels in several of the cities you're traveling to, but unfortunately none of them were nice enough to recommend. I've heard a lot of good things about the Beehive in Rome, but have not had any personal experiences with the property.

I pre-book everything, especially during spring/summer, but I am a huge planner, so that may not work best for you.

hi again Chantielle. Bearing in mind your whirlwind itinerary (as posted on another thread), my advice is to choose accommodations that let you exit a city or settle in quickly without wasting precious sightseeing time - ie. hostels or hotels with easy access to the train station or airport. Eg. in London, you could stay near St Pancras station so that you can easily catch the Eurostar to Paris; in Venice you may want to stay near the train station so that you can easily catch your early morning train to Rome, in Rome you may want to stay near Termini station, etc. I'd suggest prebooking accommodations to save time too. I remember on my first trip to Italy, we didn't prebook for all the places we visited and spent precious time calling up hotels/hostels - many that were recommended in guidebooks were already fully booked.

Sometimes, you can pay the same to stay in a hostel as in a cheap hotel when there are two of you. Consider that in a hostel you pay for two beds. In Paris I was paying $50 per night last year to stay by myself in a hostel, (when the Euro was higher against the Canadian dollar), and for two it might not be too hard to find a cheap but decent hotel in Paris for $100, and you get more privacy.

Consider a hostel because you'll meet more people. But it might not be much cheaper when two travel.

Cheap places in Paris

Hotel Pierre
Hotel Tourisme
Hotel Diana
Hotel Eugenie
Hotel Perfect( which is more like a hostel)
St Christophers Hostel

In Paris, June is mega high season, and if you have nothing prebooked you may find yourself having to pay alot more for something last minute.
Rates go up as rooms book up in alot of places.

I would prebook now.