Many hostels are laid out dorm-style, often with large single-sex rooms and bunk beds, although private rooms that sleep two to four are becoming more common. They sometimes have kitchens and utensils for your use, bike or moped rentals, storage areas (many hostels allow guests to leave valuables in a safe at the front desk, but bring your own padlock for your storage locker), transportation to airports, breakfast and other meals, laundry facilities, and Internet. However, there can be drawbacks: some hostels close during certain daytime “lockout” hours, have a curfew, don’t accept reservations, impose a maximum stay, or, less frequently, require that you do chores. In Australia, a dorm bed in a hostel will average around $20-25 and a private room around $30-40. A membership card offered by VIP Backpackers (www.vipbackpackers.com) gets discounts at many hostels. Let’s Go designates these hostels with a VIP at the end of the listing. The two most common hostel chains in Australia are YHA and NOMADS (see below). A list of many hostels, regardless of affiliation, can be found at www.hostels.com.
Joining the youth hostel association in your own country (listed below) automatically grants you membership privileges in Hostelling International (HI), a federation of national hosteling associations. Non-HI members may be allowed to stay in some hostels, but will have to pay extra to do so. The Australian branch of HI, YHA Australia , has hostels and agencies throughout Australia that are typically less expensive than private hostels.
Most HI hostels also honor guest memberships —they should provide you with a blank card that has space for six validation stamps. Each night you’ll pay a nonmember supplement (one-sixth the membership fee) and earn one guest stamp; six stamps make you a member. A new membership benefit is the FreeNites program, which allows hostelers to gain points toward free rooms. Most student travel agencies sell HI cards, as do all of the national hosteling organizations listed below. All the prices in these listings are valid for one-year memberships unless otherwise noted.
Another large hosteling chain in Australia is NOMADS Backpackers (www.nomadsworld.com). Every year, more than 1.5 million NOMADS beds are occupied in Australia and New Zealand, but you don’t have to be a member to sleep in one. The NOMADS Travel Guide and Adventure Card is a complete guide for backpacker discounts in Australia. Priced at $34, it offers $1 off per night or seventh night free, discount international calling and Internet access, and hundreds of other adventure travel, touring, shopping, and transport discounts.
NOMADS also offers bargain and adventure packages into all Australian gateways; these packages organize accommodations and activities for the first few days of a trip. If you like to plan ahead, NOMADS also offers “Bed Hopper” accommodation vouchers that can be pre-purchased for five or 10 nights. Book online (www.nomadsworld.com) or with youth travel agencies worldwide.
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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