Hostelworld.com has just announced the top ten hostels for 2009. See List below.


Top 10 Worldwide Hostels (Full article)


1. Travellers House, Lisbon, Portugal
2. Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
3. Living Lounge Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
4. Academy Hostel, Florence, Italy
5. Carpe Noctem, Budapest, Hungary
6. The Riverhouse Backpackers, Cardiff, Wales
7. Lisbon Lounge Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
8. Greg & Tom Hostel, Krakow, Poland
9. The Naughty Squirrel Backpackers Hostel, Riga, Latvia
10. Lisboa Central Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal

Top Hostels by Continent:


North America:


1. ACBB Hostel Niagara, Niagara Falls, Canada
2. USA Hostels San Diego, San Diego, USA
3. Clarence Castle, Toronto, Canada

Latin America:


1. Hostel Lao, Mendoza, Argentina
2. American del Sur Hostel Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3. Hostel Estoril, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Asia:


1. Sitting on the City Walls Courtyard Hostel, Beijing, China
2. Chinese Box Courtyard Hostel, Beijing, China
3. Nagasaki International Youth Hostel AKARI, Nagasaki, Japan

Oceania:


1. Jailhouse Accommodation, Christchurch, New Zealand
2. Sydney Central YHA, Sydney, Australia
3. Backpack Oz, Adelaide, Australia

Africa:


1. Dahab Dorms, Dahab, Egypt
2. Riad Massine II, Marrakech, Morocco
3. The Backpack & Africa Travel Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Eastern Europe:


1. Carpe Noctem, Budapest, Hungary
2. Greg & Tom Hostel, Krakow, Poland
3. The Naughty Squirrel Backpackers Hostel, Riga, Latvia

I am intrigued to find out if anyone has stayed at any of these hostels and if you agree that they are worthy of putting on the list? What do you consider as being important when choosing or booking into a hostel?

I was following the announcements on Twitter the other night for the top 10 worldwide hostels, and I just found it really weird that there were so many in Lisbon - kinda like Lisbon hostels were in some sort of competition with each other, and going out of their way to get people to vote...or am I being cynical?

I did wonder about Lisbon had so many in the top 10. Considering it is a city I have not been too I was getting excited about the choice of good places to stay....maybe it is not the case?

When I was traveling in the Baltics this past summer I met a guy in Vilnius who used to work or still works at the Travelers House in Lisbon. Very friendly guy, told me a lot about the hostel, and showed me pictures. From what I have been told and seen, there is no doubt that it is number 1.

When I was in Riga I didn't stay at the Naughty Squirrel, but I did use them to arrange a bungee jumping excursion in Sigulda. A friendly staff, including a guy who took his own car to drive us to the bungee jumping location. From what he told me, that hostel caters to the adventure seeking and thrill loving party goers...they have a pretty nice happy hour. It was a shame there were booked solid while I was there.

I was supposed to go to Lisbon in November before travelling to Faro, but (and I can say it publicly now!) the trip got a bit messed up as I ended up having an interview to go to, and went straight to Faro instead. I had been looking up hostels in Lisbon (on Hostelworld), and was going to stay at the Living Lounge or Lisbon Lounge I think (both on the top 10 list, and I think they're the same company if I remember rightly). I dunno - it's a bit fishy in my opinion that the results of a 'worldwide top hostel survey' has so many in not only one country (and a country the size of Portugal), but in one city? I wonder how Hostelworld came up with those stats? Hmmm....

my thoughts too

Thank you so much nice information for travel