Its summer now and people love to travel to new places. For younger people like me, who are running on a budget but still love to explore new places, this post is for you. I believe my Copenhagen hostel experience would pretty much be similar to those obtained in most European cities.
A hostel is a cheaper version of an hotel. It provides you a roof over your head and more coins in your pocket.
Copenhagen can be expensive. Many young people opt to stay at hostels while travelling and exploring, or even while waiting for accommodation. It could take a while to get housing in the bigger cities.
For any one who may be wandering what it’s like to stay in a hostel, here is my personal first hand experience.
I stayed at a good hostel that offered free Wi-Fi, clean bed and sheets, a storage locker, and opportunity for breakfast but with added pay. At that hostel it cost about 75kr buffet style breakfast. This price is mid-range.
Most people that stay in a hostel are very young and hostels take advantage of this to provide entertainment that young people would love. This includes drinking and loud music, so watch out for the noise.
If your given room is close to the bar area especially on a weekend, then be prepared for no sleep except you can sleep through noise, otherwise come along with some earplugs, you would really need them.
Hostels often offer bunk beds for guests to sleep in and this could be in either an all female room, all male room or mixed rooms. Usually the mixed rooms are cheaper, it’s not that weird. Consider it like staying in a shared apartment but without walls. There are also private rooms with single beds and double beds.
Some hostels have kitchen facilities while some do not. The downside of staying in an hostel without a kitchen is that you have to spend more on food.
The first hostel I stayed was without a kitchen. I always try to read reviews and they often affect my choices. I choose that hostel based on the reviews they had on cleanliness, especially of their toilets.
I also choose its for proximity to virtually everything I considered important. Give me a good toilet and bathroom any day and I can stay anywhere. The second hostel I stayed in though farther away, actually had a kitchen and that saved me some little coins. I could cook little stuff like noodles. Some guest where cooking full on serious meals.
Some hostels offer bed linens together with the total cost of boarding like the first one I stayed in, while some do not like the second. You would have to rent bed linens for between 30-50kr.
One of the major difference between an hostel and hotel aside the price, is that you have to bring everything. This includes toothpaste, bathing soap and towels etc. You could rent a towel in some.
I did not feel very comfortable with the idea of renting towels, just because I feel it’s a personal item. For hostels where you need to rent the bed linens, you could also bring yours.
There is opportunity to do laundry with added cash token.
The first time I stayed in a hostel, I stayed for two nights and I did not shower. There my secret is out. Call me a dirty girl. One of the main reason for that, was because I did not bring bath slippers. Two, there was no where to hang my clothes or anything for that matter in the bathroom and I stayed in a mixed room. That means I could not be walking about dressed inappropriately. This may sound trivial to some but I am low key germophobic and also conservative, not as a political view but in dressing.
Tip: do not forget to get slippers especially the rubber kind. They were not so easy to find or maybe I just did not have an idea of where to look.
Most of the hostels in Copenhagen are located at the heart of the city. Although I noticed that the farther away the hostel is from the city center, the cheaper it will be.
Some hostels do not encourage back to back booking. I do not know why, since it’s you spending your money
If you are afraid of theft, most hostels offer storage lockers at an added cost, can be quite expensive though or you could bring a padlock along with you to secure your personal items in the locker provided in the room.
Staying in a hostel reminded me of my girls only boarding school days only that this time I was not in a uniform, and no one was going to punish me for not waking up at 5am.
Would I stay in an hostel again? why not, it’s great value for your money. You can also form new social relationships. Just pray you have nice roommates, who aren’t too noisy and would not talk you ear off. Some noise cannot be helped. You might also need eye covers, because of the constant switch on and off of the light, by different people coming in and out of the room.
Have you lodged in a hostel before? What was your experience like? Would you stay again? What other cheaper forms of accommodations exist for people in search of an adventure?
