Is a hostel any place for a family? Sometimes, it sure is!

If you’ve dismissed hostels as exclusively for the single, young, party-hearty sort, you may wish to reconsider.

Some hostels have private rooms for families, rather than the dorm-style accommodations that singles use, and you sure can’t beat the price.

I’m going to start poking my head into hostels when I travel, to check them out on the Kid-Friendly Scale, but meantime here’s a great BootsnAll article by Jennifer Miller:

Hosteling with Kids: Benefits and Tips.

Why hostels?  From Jennifer’s article:

“Finding lodging for families while traveling can be a real challenge. The more children you have, the bigger the challenge and the more expensive it gets. If you’ve got kids and you haven’t tried hosteling with them, give it a try; it’s fun, it’s easy and there are lots of benefits over the traditional hotel stay. Among them, it’s generally cheaper. At $15-20 a bed per night our family of six can stay for an average of $100 a night in a hostel. Try finding two hotel rooms that adjoin for that price!”

Let us know about your own hostel experiences in the comments: recommended places, and places that may seem family-friendly but don’t work out so well in reality.