Old people in youth hostels

[jimm]

Here in Oz we sometimes stay in YHA hostels and apart from the counter staff and other travellers sometimes being a bit disinterested in us we are happy to stay in such places for a few nights. Likewise in north America, we stayed in IH hostels in Boston, Montreal and Toronto last year and found no prejudice.

We have bought flights to Europe next year (after Easter) and need to look at internal travel and accom next. We have a plan, but all things can change. Anyway, amongst other things I was thinking of staying in IH hostels in Spain and Portugal (2 or 3 nights at a time), and now I'm wondering how we would get on in such a circumstance. Would we be sneered at or mocked, ignored, or otherwise made to feel unwelcome? I have never travelled in Europe or UK so have no knowledge of the cultural norms we might strike.

What do you advise?

For longer stays eg a week in London I will look at something like AirBnB.

[poppy]

sorry no idea - do you know your dates yet. I'm in England 5/5 till the 21/5. Numbers will be in Scotland with a stopover in the US (I think NY and a stop in Rome) around May or June, his dates are still undecided.

[Bastet]

I don't know how old you are but we always stayed at the top rated hostels when travelling in Europe (when we lived there) because it was always better than the cheapest hotels. We alway stayed in en-suite rooms though. Was never ever made to feel unwelcome or mocked.

[HalcyonDaze]

The only thing I can think of that might stop you is that in the old days at least, the official HI ones in Bavaria had an age limit of 27.

But even the non official ones, as long as you don't end up at a party one by mistake (and it is easy enough with reviews to work out which are which), I can't imagine it would be difficult or awkward. I haven't been backpacking in hostels for about 10 years, but up until then I always found a mix of ages etc and was always happy to chat to various people.

[jimm]

Poppy we should be in Spain from about 7/4, UK from about 20/4 to 4/5, France for the next 2 weeks then back via Honkers.
Ria we are both retired, early 70s., but fit and active.
I'll see what I can find out about an age limit and report back.
Thanks.

Later - clipped from the HI Hostels FAQs:

Do age limits exist?

Hostels are open to everyone. However, minimum age limits may apply for children in some places - please check the You should know section on the Preview tab of the hostel page or with the hostel directly. There should be no upper age limit to stay at a hostel.

[MsU]

Hostels are fine in Spain, depending on where and when. I'm 50+ and haven't been the oldest.
However check the reviews, they tend to tell if it's a party place. I did the mistake to choose the one with highest reviews but didn't read why
That said, if you just want hostels (albergues) because they are budget friendly, check out hostales (guest houses) and pensiones.
It's common that breakfast not is included, but every town and village has a cafeteria or a bar that serves morning coffee and toast or madelines.

[Bastet]

I never encountered an age limit but then again it might apply to the places I disregarded from carefully read reviews due to sounding like party places.

In London I got a 4-5 star hotel last minute that cost the same as a top rated hostel...

[mox]

I just stayed in a HI in California and I am well over 27. Can you email the hostel you want to stay in to confirm?

[whothingie]

Age restrictions were lifted years ago in most of the YHA chain hostels and many moved into 'flash packer' mode with bathrooms available in ensuite type situations in the newer or more upmarket range. Check each hostels website and wise decision to read the reviews for party hostels - for or against depending on your wishes

[jimm]

Thanks for the suggestion about hostales and pensiones - I've spent a pleasant couple of hours looking at them, and I think I've found some interesting ones. We get doubles in YHAs, nearly always with ensuite bathroom. The price is much the same as the hostales, but my guess is that the albergues might be more bland. Anyway we've got 3-4 months to work it out.

Note to self - watch out for auto completion getting it rwong. We had hostages and pensioners in the above para.

[MsU]

Haha, yes autocorrect often goes autowrong
Where in Spain are you planning to go? I may have some tips depending on the region.

[Phar Lap]

BVJ hostels in Paris have an age restrictions for anyone over 35. Although I stayed in hostels in Ireland, I chose hotels and B&B for Europe. The Hi hostels in Paris weren't in the area/arrondissement I wanted to be in. 

[MsU]

If you go to Granada I recommend Hotel Almenas in the centre, across the street from Basilica de Nuestra Senora de las Angustias - and the warehouse El corte Ingles
The standard price for a double is 40€, (but can be more expensive in high season, ie around Easter)and for that price it was a bargain. I stayed there with my mother a couple of years ago during a heatwave and we looooved the aircon!

www.hotelalmenas.com/

And my favourite cafeteria in Granada is Café Fútbol.

That's not a sportsbar, but a quite elegant turn of the century café where you can have your Sunday morning chocolate con churros. www.cafefutbol.com/especialidades.html

[tzarine]

when tzar tzarevich & i stayed at the hostel in santa monica, there were many seniors there
things are changing
its not all 20 year olds snogging

also the santa monica hostel is great
it's walking distance from the pier & beach & the restaurants of the promenade

[leela]

There are a fair few hostels in London with upper age limits.

[sprite]

i've stayed at the YHA in london at St Pancras a few times. i've stayed in the dorms but i believe they have doubles. it's a good location and a nice facility with decent breakfast.

we stayed mostly in hostels in south america, reading reviews carefully to make sure they weren't party hostels, and met a wide range of ages. however, we found that the cheapest places were almost never on the online booking websites. we stayed in many pleasant places which we found by one of us wandered around the neighbourhood after we got off the bus, or just by picking a neighbourhood we wanted to be in and walking.

[viv]

Depending on where you're staying in the UK, you could consider chain hotels like Travelodge and Premier Inn - that can often work out cheaper if you catch them doing sales or if you're booking well in advance. I'm staying in a Premier Inn next weekend for £29 for a double room for the night for two of us (not including breakfast as we'll go out for that).

YHA in the UK is usually good - I've always found them clean, but even in my early 30's I've been the oldest person in there. You may want to check out the St Pauls one as that's a beautiful old building - it used to be the choir accomodation. I'm not sure if they have private rooms.

Paris is expensive, so I'd book that well in advance as well.

Are either of you ex-military at all? The Union Jack Club is right next to Waterloo and is very cheap for forces, ex-forces and the police as well.

[tzarine]

weve stayed at premier
convenient & lovely staff

[sprite]

premier has very comfortable beds. soulless, but clean, well-lit, and a good night's sleep.

[Bastet]

The YHA in Sydney is awesome. Doubles (en-suit) with views of the Opera House at the cheapest price for the area you could imagine.

[MsU]

Jimm, where did you stay? Any favourite places or hotels? I need to plan a trip or I'll go crazy. Or is the word crazier?

[riverhorse]

Nov 30, 2014 11:18:19 GMT -5 viv said:

Depending on where you're staying in the UK, you could consider chain hotels like Travelodge and Premier Inn - that can often work out cheaper if you catch them doing sales or if you're booking well in advance. I'm staying in a Premier Inn next weekend for £29 for a double room for the night for two of us (not including breakfast as we'll go out for that).

YHA in the UK is usually good - I've always found them clean, but even in my early 30's I've been the oldest person in there. You may want to check out the St Pauls one as that's a beautiful old building - it used to be the choir accomodation. I'm not sure if they have private rooms.

I can also vouch for especially Travelodge for cheap deals - I stayed in a Travelodge right next to the Olympic Stadium the night of the Paralympic Closing Ceremony for just £40 and you can often get good deals for £29 like Viv said - just check their websites.

I have also stayed in the St Pauls YHA a few years ago and they do indeed have private rooms. I think I had to share an ensuite bathroom though, although there was a washbasin in my own room.

In Spain, my favourite YHA was in Toledo - it was in an old fortress castle. The 4 bed room I was in was in one of the big round turrets, and each person had shelf space for luggage in the "sill" of the deep deep shafts leading to those narrow arrow slits to the outside. Very cool. I was well into my 30s when I stayed there and I remember there was a lovely couple staying in the same room as me, 2 Dutch ladies way older than me who were walking the Camino to Santiago.

[riverhorse]

Here is a link about the amazing castle hostel in Toledo!

[jimm]

Jul 17, 2015 13:18:26 GMT -5 MsU said:

Jimm, where did you stay? Any favourite places or hotels? I need to plan a trip or I'll go crazy. Or is the word crazier?

We never got there. See this thread to see why. figjamnation.proboards.com/thread/5295/easy-day

But I did pick some pensiones and make reservations - if you want I could put up a list.

[MsU]

Jimm, my deepest condolences. I'm so sorry to hear this.

[jimm]

MsU - looking back maybe my response was a bit, um, abrupt so I hope you were not offended. Back to your original question, I too need to make plans, even if I don't strictly follow my plan to the last dot. I need to see how the dots on a travel plan are joined - ie how to get from the train to the hotel, how to get from one town to the next etc. all part of the fun imho.

Btw I now have your sig as an earworm. Not a bad thing but I can't remember how the bass line goes.

[MsU]

Oh no, on the contrary. I'm sorry I brought this thread back to the surface.
Planning a trip is part of the fun in traveling.
And sorry for the earworm.

[jimm]

Well I'm now in a hostel in Parnell, Auckland, NZ and I'm feeling somewhat out of place. Ppl are polite to me, but other than that I might as well not exist. The glances I get suggest that would be a preference.

The hostel is a nice enough place, but I don't belong here.

Btw I'm enjoying Auckland - I've walked miles today and had Louisiana crawn cakes for lunch and tapas for dinner. Parnell is a pleasant but hilly area. The big Auckland Museaum is wonderful.

[poppy]

Glad you are enjoying yourself, thought you would be there about now. Not sure about the not belonging there, think it may be just another learning curve for you.

[HalcyonDaze]

Ditto on the enjoying yourself. And I think maybe there is a bit of self consciousness and that the glances may not be what you feel they are? (Am I making sense?)

Anyway, hope the trip continues to be enjoyable. I remember staying at the YHA in Parnell many years ago and meeting a very friendly man who would have been in his 80s. We all enjoyed his tales.