The Guide to Hostels Abroad

Backpackers Hostels Canada offers budget travelers a list of friendly, warm, healthy and safe places to stay in Canada.

Eurotrip Hostel Guide, www.eurotrip.com/index.html, is a European youth hostel search engine and review.

www.guideforeurope.com. This very well-done website offers a wealth of information about hosteling, including instructions for making a sheet-sack. Check out its list of castle hostels!

Hostelbookers.com, www.hostelbookers.com, offers an online hostel booking service for destinations worldwide. No booking fees charged.

Hostelling International, www.iyhf.org. The site for the granddaddy for budget travelers worldwide is well designed, well run, and very useful. The news section keeps you well updated on new and renovated hostels. Hostelling International USA. 301-495-1240; www.hiusa.org. Join the American branch of Hostelling International so you can stay in hostels all over the world at low cost—often in private family rooms. (Over 80 percent of European hostels have family rooms.)

Hostels.com, www.hostels.com, lists private hostels worldwide featuring a search engine, forum and extensive posts from those who have participated.

HostelTrail, www.hosteltrail.com, is South America's fastest growing hostel and tour network providing travellers detailed information and photos of some of the continent's top sights and cities.

Hostelworld.com, www.hostelworld.com, provides hostel bookings, forums, guides and travel help.

Hostelz.com, www.hostelz.com, is a reservation site and search engine which prides itself on the no-nonsense approach to the hostel experience, with lots of feedback from backpackers.

Travellerspoint, www.travellerspoint.com. The philosophy on this great interactive site—which provides booking and many other forms of travel information—is that those who go to hostels should be able to form friendships and contacts, and they provide the tools to do so.