Ultimate Guide to Accommodation for Solo Travellers: Finding Your Perfect Stay

Common type of Hostel Room

Intro

Accommodation is one of the most important decisions you can make for your trip. Where you stay can turn a weekend into one of the best of your life or result in you hating a destination. This blog will go through my thought process and what I consider when choosing accommodation. This information is primarily valuable for solo travellers but can also be used for travelling in groups or with a partner.

What to consider before booking accommodation

Booking accommodation might seem straightforward, and many times it is, but there are some catches and secrets worth learning about before you embark on your first solo trip.

Budget

Your budget is the most criticall factor for determining your available accommodation options. While different types of accommodation havlocationent costs, the most significant factors are the location, the season, and the day of the week. Be aware that the accommodation will be more expensive if you plan to go somewhere during the peak season or a large event.

It’s worth looking into the types of places you want to stay and finding what your budget allows within your destination. This can help you find great deals where you can stretch your budget for a great experience. I ended up staying in a hotel in Oslo since a hostel was €60 and a hotel was €80.

Always look to book directly as well. You’ll likely find that most places, especially on the cheaper end, want you to book directly with them instead of through third-party sites. They will reflect this with more affordable prices from booking directly (I even got a free T-shirt once).

A quick tip: Avoid popular party hotspots on the weekend, as prices are usually lower during the week. If you’re meeting up with other travellers, any night of the week can be a good night out.

Distance to major transport

Another factor is the distance to international or inter-city transport. If you’re flying in and out of a location, there’s likely not much to consider here. However, if you use buses or trains to get between cities, you should consider where they depart. If you need to catch an early morning train, you must know how to get to the train station. The same goes for buses; you need to know how to get from your accommodation to your bus. Sometimes, this isn’t simple.

For example, in Rimini, I either had to walk for an hour or ride a bike to the bus station.

Access to Public transport

Depending on the size of the city, this can be super important or not matter at all. In a small, walkable city, you don’t need to factor this in too much. When travelling, I consider anything less than a 30-minute walk mandatory, and if it’s less than an hour, I’ll consider it if there’s not much on.

But this can be hell in larger cities if you get it wrong. For example, you need to be near an underground station in London. Don’t even consider staying somewhere that isn’t within 10 minutes of an underground station.

It’s worth researching the best ways to get around a city before you visit. Most places have a mix of metros, trams, and buses, but they aren’t always equivalent. In Tokyo, buses were a lot worse than the metros. I even filtered Google Maps so they would not show me bus routes.

Culture

When you’re solo-travelling, culture is a crucial aspect of accommodation. My favourite places build a sense of community and culture within the hostel. You want a place that aligns with your goals for why you’re there.

My favourite places for culture have been where they run events themselves, where people who work in the hostel set up game nights, cook dinners, or take groups out to pub crawls. But sometimes, that’s not what I’m looking for. If I need to focus on working and have some early nights, I look for a quieter place.

The culture also helps with making friends. Some places aren’t aimed at people trying to make friends, so you’ll find people don’t interact much. Other times, everyone is friendly, and you’re easily able to make friends.

The key here is to read reviews about a location and find one that aligns with your goals.

Amenities

This won’t matter as much for hostels, but it is still important. I’ve had some iffy experiences when I didn’t know what the amenities looked like.

For hostels, the key things you’re looking for are: What’s the breakfast situation like? Is it included? How are the bathrooms? Are the rooms ensuite or shared bathrooms on the floor? Do they offer mixed or gender-specific rooms? Is there much of a shared community space? Is there a kitchen?

Many different features can be included in hostels, and lacking a key feature can be a nightmare. I recently stayed in a hostel that only had one toilet per floor!! On the hotel side, you’ll want to see whether a gym or fitness facility is included. How easy is it to get around? Can you organise airport transfers, etc.?

Read reviews, visit websites, and do your best to understand what’s available before you book. Don't be afraid to Google "Top Hostel in X".

Refund policy

This will be huge if you’re on a long trip. Ideally, you want to understand where you are heading but don’t want to be locked in. If a place offers free refunds, absolutely take advantage of it. Part of the fun and freedom of backpacking and solo travelling is that you aren’t locked into going somewhere. A friendly refund policy is your best friend in this situation.

Types of Accommodation

Hostels are the primary accommodation you will be going for as a backpacker or solo traveller. They’re the cheapest and most accessible way to stay in a city. However, you will likely come across times when a hotel is affordable or just need time to yourself.

Note: I haven’t considered couchsurfing or other types of ad-hoc accommodation. I’ve seen that they aren’t always reliable, and I’ve heard some horror stories.

Hostels

Hostels will be the most common and affordable type of accommodation. For those who don’t know, Hostels are a type of shared accommodation. You rent a bed in a shared room in a hostel, usually for 4-30 people per room. These are considered the cheap and affordable way to stay in a location. Especially since it nearly forces you to interact with other people in similar travel situations as you do. They are best for solo travellers or small groups of people. Having spoken to many other travellers, the consensus is that groups larger than 3 quite difficult to engage with and hard to integrate with as a solo traveller.

One thing to be aware of is the gap between hostels and hotels, especially in Europe, is closing. Hostels in the major hot spots of Europe are no longer the cheap and easy accommodation they were pre-COVID. Don’t be surprised if you find cities where the cheapest bed is €60 per night. Knowing that you can still find good deals, and surprisingly, some of the largest cities are the most affordable for nightly rates. Typically the mega cities will be cheap as they have lots of competition, prices will then rise as you get to smaller cities until you hit a flipping point, usually the further east you get where it will get cheap again.

If you’re with a partner or in a group, you will likely find that Airbnb and hotels are cheaper or more valuable than hostels as you can share the costs.

Here are some example costs I’ve paid during September and October 2024:

Location	Per Night
Ireland	~€40-€60
London	~£25
Zurich	~€55
Paris	~€50
Rest of France	~€30
Budapest	~€15
Prague	~€30

Hotels

I do want to mention hotels since they are an option. The difference in price between a hostel bed and a hotel room isn’t always consistent. In some places, a hostel bed might be €25, while hotels are €200+, and sometimes the difference might only be €20. It’s worth looking into a hotel room if the hostel prices in your destination are expensive.

If you’re in a couple or a larger group, you might find that hotel rooms cost the same per person as a hostel. Don’t write them off, especially since many hostels organising social events do so through third parties. You can commonly find pub crawls and social events booked seperately from hostels; don’t think you can't meet other travellers because you aren’t staying somewhere social.

Types of Hostels

I’ve found on my travels that Hostels can be broken up into three tiers:

• Party Hostel

• Social Hostel

• Digital Nomad Hostel

These tiers aren’t strict; many features can and do cross over between them. But it’s a common guideline when looking into Hostels. Cities with a wide range of hostels usually have three tiers in pricing, which aligns with the tiers here.

I won’t quote any prices here since they relate to the city. In one city, the party hostels might be €50, whereas in a cheaper city, the digital nomad hostel might be €50.

Party Hostel

These will likely be the cheapest hostels you will find. They have minimal amenities, and the beds are metal skeleton frames with thin mattresses. Typically, the rooms are larger, with as many beds crammed in as possible. Don’t expect much in terms of courtesy or a good night's sleep. But if you’re staying in a party hostel, that’s not what you’re there for.

The reason you go here is to spend the whole night out partying. A good party hostel will have an upbeat vibe, usually organising pub crawls every night. The people staying there are all looking for the same thing, and they actively encourage you to join along with nights out.

These are where the 18-25 year olds thrive.

Social Hostel

Social hostels are typically the mid-tier hostel within a city. They will be more expensive than a party hostel, but you get nicer amenities. Depending on specifics, the beds might be nicer, with some curtains for privacy and even breakfast offerings. But that doesn’t mean the people there won’t be up for socialising. These hostels will organise social events, but much more towards hostel dinners, walking tours, etc. They will also commonly have pub crawls and nights to go out, but it won’t be all they offer.

These fit perfectly for someone who wants to meet people and make friends but doesn’t want to be out until 3am every night. Think of your 27-35 crowd, the groups who still go out for drinks but whose bodies can't handle a week of drinking non-stop anymore.

Digital Nomad Hostel

Digital Nomad Hostels are aimed at people looking for a comfortable and clean place to stay while travelling, focusing on working and not much socialising. They are likely focusing on working, so they need a quiet space to set up during the day, or they might have their own social plans, so they don’t need to meet people during the trip. These end up being the most expensive but have the best amenities.

These will commonly have private curtained beds so no one can see in once you’re in bed. Due to them being more expensive, you find it’s 27+ in the age range. The people here aren’t as worried about making every cent count. They're happy to pay more for a nicer experience. Especially the people who are working remotely. They're likely making good money from their jobs and can spend it on the nicer hostels.

Digital Nomad hostels have their place, but they can get lonely if you want social interaction. I love them for the quality of the rooms and amenities. They can be great in quieter cities when I want to focus on some work and see the sites at my own pace.

Location, Location, Location

I thought I’d end the requirements with the most impolocationctor after budget: the Location. Where a hostel is located can make you fall in love with a city or want to leave immediately. This is hard to judge if you haven’t been to a city before.

After the transport links, you want to look for a few things. Is it close to where you will spend most of your time? Is it in a nice neighbourhood? Are there restaurants/bars/shops nearby?

You want to look at a few sources to find answers to the location question. Start with Googling the city and where the nightlife is, that should give you a good area. Another is to Google “Is X area safe?” once you find a location. But your best source for information on individual hostels will be reading the reviews. They should give a good insight into how safe and comfortable an area is.

This will be less important in smaller cities, but getting the location right can be game-changing in very large cities.

There are a few general rules to follow. Don’t be too close to major train stations; they are commonly less friendly at night. Aim to be within walking distance of an old town; many essential sites will be there. If many hostels are clustered in one area, that should indicate a good location for nightlife.

This is where a lot of your research time should go. I’d rather be in a mid-range hostel in a great location than a fantastic hostel in a bad location.

How I book my accommodation

So, putting this all together, what does my process for booking accommodation look like?

Picking where I go next is always my starting point, but I won’t go into too much detail about that. The only essential thing to know is to look up your intended dates for the destination. Sometimes, it’s a busy time, and nothing is available. I faced that problem a lot in Italy.

I always do my first search on Hostelworld. Usually, every hostel advertises there. The reviews are also the best here since they are by other backpackers who intend to stay in hostels. Google and Booking reviews will commonly be tainted by people who didn’t know it was a hostel.

Once you get the results, always order by highest-rated first. The ratings are the most important metric. I try to book only 8+, preferring 9+. I’ll then open the first 3 to 5 on that list and review them.

When I look at each one, I look for the size of the rooms, how much each is for the size, where it is located within the city, and what the rooms and beds are like. I want to get a feel of whether I will be comfortable enough. I’ll then dive into the reviews, especially sorting them by new. I want to see the recent experiences and what the highlights and lowlights people are talking about are. Note: I usually discount reviews that mention bedbugs. It’s essential to check your bed in a room, but if you speak to anyone in the hotel industry, every single accommodation in the world will get bed bugs. The thing that matters is how well they respond to them.

If, at this point, I’ve narrowed down to a few with similar reviews, prices, amenities, etc., I will look to the direct websites for a tie-breaker. Whichever offers the best deal to book directly, I will take advantage and book there. But it’s rare for a booking experience to get that far. Usually, there are only 2-3 places over 8 in a city (especially smaller ones), so the pricing and quality of the rooms will be the deciding factor.

Conclusion

Accommodation is one of the most important parts of your trip, but don’t stress over it. If you use common sense and follow the ratings on Hostelworld, you will have a great time. Now, get out there and experience the world!