I walked in on most of my hostels, in some of them you can’t make reservations, like Kabul in Barcelona or the Flying Pig in Amsterdam.

In cities where you can’t speak the language and the street names are funny looking and you know squat about taking the bus, maybe then you could book nights in advance. You are right, walking in provides more freedom, but beware the peak months in high season, it’s easier to get a bed in May than it is in July.

I’ve found that calling ahead the day before works best. However, if it’s a popular hostel in a popular location, you’ll need to book well in advance for the high season.

Just to correct what Jester has said. You CAN make a reservation ahead of time over the internet for the Flying Pig. I have a bed booked there for 2 nights at the beginning of August. I made the booking through www.hostelworld.com It seems to be pretty well impossible to get a bed there last minute though in high season. So if you really want to stay at a popular place in high season, make sure to book ahead. If you don’t care where you stay, or you really want flexibility in your trip, then just show up and hope for the best. Good Luck!

Hi,

I book the more popular hostels ahead, sometimes weeks ahead, just to be secure. If I have a pretty loose itineary, then I usually just book online a day or two before I leave the current place I am in. Also, sometimes it is good to wait because current word of mouth is better than 2 year old reviews. For example, alot of people stay at Marco Polo hostel in Budapest, so I tried to get a room there and it was booked. Then I wound up at a hostel that just opened (Mellow Mood)and later in the night there were people who left Marco Polo because they hated it and said it was gross and outdated.

Also, if I stayed in a particular hostel before, and I liked it, I usually just book ahead if I will be revisiting it.

Happy travels

It really depends on what kind of trip I’m taking. If I need to be in certain place on specific days, I’ll tend to book everything ahead of time online. If I’m being more flexible, I’ll what until I get to Europe. However, I will always call places a day ahead to try to book something. It’s much nicer to show up in town with a bed than trying to track one down.

quote:
Just to correct what Jester has said. You CAN make a reservation ahead of time over the internet for the Flying Pig. I have a bed booked there for 2 nights at the beginning of August. I made the booking through www.hostelworld.com It seems to be pretty well impossible to get a bed there last minute though in high season. So if you really want to stay at a popular place in high season, make sure to book ahead. If you don’t care where you stay, or you really want flexibility in your trip, then just show up and hope for the best. Good Luck!

Wow, maybe they got the reservation deal this year because last year you couldn’t book at the Flying Pig. You had to show up somewhere between 7-8am, before check in, but it was so full of people trying to get a place that the earlier you got there, the better.

If a hostel is booked and you really want to go there, give the walk in a try, they have a certain amount of beds available for reservation, and they keep another number of beds free for walk in’s. Just don’t expect to walk into a high demanded hostel like The Flying Pig at 4pm on high season and expect to get a bed. Walk in’s are good when your night train arrives at a city very early, like 6am, but if you’re gonna be arriving at cities after mid day, then do consider reservations.

quote:. You had to show up somewhere between 7-8am, before check in, but it was so full of people trying to get a place that the earlier you got there, the better.

If a hostel is booked and you really want to go there, give the walk in a try, they have a certain amount of beds available for reservation, and they keep another number of beds free for walk in’s. Just don’t expect to walk into a high demanded hostel like The Flying Pig at 4pm on high season and expect to get a bed. Walk in’s are good when your night train arrives at a city very early, like 6am, but if you’re gonna be arriving at cities after mid day, then do consider reservations.

I agree with Jester. That said, Flying Pig may be one of the most popular hostels I’d go for[url=‘http://www.xs4all.nl/~nellys/nellmain.htm’]Durty Nelly’s[/url] instead. They have fun lock ins for the hostel guests.

since my trip started in april there was never a problem except that picadilly where i saw them turning a few people away. i didnt book any hostel until the very end of may and i called ahead for the Flying Pig in Amsterdam because it said that they were full on hostelworld. If you just call a hostel they will usually be able to fit you in somewhere.

Things at the Flying Pig must have changed in since last year. I know how bad it is trying to get into a place like that in high season. You may as well not even bother trying. I’m glad that you can book it online now, cause i’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get a bed otherwise. I’m gonna be in Amsterdam during the Pride week festival, so it’ll be extra busy. I didn’t know anything about the festival until after my flight into Amsterdam was already booked. Hopefully i’ll make out ok.

I’m a planner, and usually stick to my itineary. That being said, I always reserve where I am planning on staying, just to be sure. But that’s just me .

Always book the next hostel before you leave your current city. I once went to Barcelona during the summer and wasted hours searching for a hostel because I hadn’t booked one. Practically everything was booked. I was lucky to finally find one that had space. All it takes is just a phone call or a quick surf on the internet to book your next place – its better than wasting time looking for a place once you are in the next city/town.

If I’m on a short trip where I don’t want to waste any time looking around, or if I excpect to arrive in a popular city fairly late I usually book ahead. On longer trips I just wing it, and I’ve never had to sleep on the street. I wish I had reserved a place (or at least done some research) in Moscow though, instead of taking the metro all around the city for half a day only to settle for a hotel that cost 1000 rubles a night (way over my usual budget) and din’t even have hot water.

It may go bad once or twice, don’t let 1 day of hostel hunting ruin things. Not everything is perfect, and if it doesn’t work out in one city, don’t think it’s going to be like that in every city.

I spent the night in a 24 hour cafe internet once because I had no place to sleep. I still wouldn’t do things differently.

I always book the first night of my trip in advance so that I don’t have any problems upon arriving in my jet-lagged state.

Other than that I’ve never experienced any major problems with regards to finding a place to stay….

Just to clarify the online booking thing at the Flying Pig etc. I’m almost positive that they also took online bookings last year. It’s very possible they didn’t take phone bookings though. Hostels that take online booking usually do so through third-party companies – the largest being Hostelworld.com. To be able to do this, they have to set aside a certain number (or maybe percentage?) of beds to be available for people looking to book online. This means that if all of the online beds are gone, there is a slim chance that there might be beds available by phone, or vice-versa. But it also gives hostels the option to only accept online bookings and take no phone bookings at all, which is what I think the Flying Pig probably does.

I always book hostels I have my heart set on but if I don’t care where I stay, will just rock up.

I think Jester advised to book if you don’t speak the language and don’t know how to take the bus. I would do the exact opposite – it’s a lot more difficult to find a hostel you booked ages ago (that might have your creditcard details!) in a city you don’t understand. So if I’m going in knowing nothing about a place, not speaking the language I’ll usually just walk into the first hostel I see rather than worry about wandering around for hours looking for some place that might be far away from the train station or in the middle of nowhere.

But in Europe in August… BOOK! Holy crap travelling at that time gave me headaches. That said though, things would have probably worked out even if I didn’t book and might have led to some interesting stories of sleeping in bus shelters! It is nice to have that freedom to wander and internet booking does kind of limit that.

Kirsty
http://www.travoholic.com