Hostel Hopping/unplaned travel

[Ari 桑]

I've never stayed at a hostel in china before. This summer I'm leaving a chunk of time for unplanned travel, probably in the south unless the heat is too unbearable. While I'd rather stay in a single place longer than hop all around, I'll probably go to at least to or three places. I'd like to know:

What is the procedure for staying at a Chinese hostel? Should I book ahead? What should I expect to pay?

What are the potential hazards or situations surrounding such travel? What are your guys' experiences?

What are the ideal places to stay in the south during july? I was thinking the Guangzhou/Hongkong area.

Any other suggestions or comments?

多谢.

[adrianlondon]

I'm not suggesting you can't use google, but I put "hostels in china" there and got ...

http://www.hostelchina.com/

It's not bad. As for me - I've never stayed at a hostel in China, but the prices on the website above look accurate.

[mikevwilliams]

I've was on holiday in China for pretty much all of March, and stayed in hostels everywhere. I did book some ahead, but some I just turned up at the hostel and they had space for me, and the ones I did book had spare beds anyway. I've found the YHA hostels to be the best, and there is a bigger network of them in China. The web site http://www.yhachina.com has all the YHA hostels in China listed there, and you could also check http://www.hostelbookers.com for other hostels. I've never had a problem staying in hostels China or elsewhere, so I would recommend them, and you can meet lots of great people.

As for the price in Shanghai and Beijing I paid about 55元/night, and other places were cheaper from about 25-40元.

[Someguy]

I have only stayed in one hostel and that was in Beijing, right next to the train station. I payed around 60 yuan (forget exact price) but if you really want to go cheap they have dorm rooms for something like 10 yuan. I did call in advance but I don't think they actually reserved anything so I doubt it would matter in your case. Anyway I really enjoyed staying there and (like the above poster) met some really cool people. In my opinion I would actually prefer to stay in a hostile rather than a hotel, it's a lot cheaper and the people are a bit more willing to have some drinks and converse with you. Good luck in your travels and hope you don't end up on the streets hehe!

Forgot to tell ya, make sure to bring your own towel and other toiletries because a lot of rooms (cheaper ones anyway) don't have bathrooms in them and you use the communal ones. I didn't happen to have a towel when I stayed and ended up having to buy a really tiny one (couldn't find any large ones) at the little convience store in the hostel for an inflated price.

[Lu]

Stayed in a hostel once in Lijiang. I think the dangers for Chinese hostels are the same as everywhere, watch your things, don't leave important or expensive stuff unattended.

If you want to travel really cheap, look for 招待所, I have stayed at such places for as little as 10-20 yuan a night. Quality can be accordingly, don't expect a clean bathroom (although you might be lucky).

I never booked ahead for anything, China being China there is usually something else closeby if one place is full.

[gougou]

If you want to travel really cheap, look for 招待所

I was thinking about this the other day, are there still restrictions as to which hostels/招待所 foreigners can stay in, or have those completely been lifted?

[Lu]

I believe they have all been lifted before I stayed at such places, in 2002. But I'm not sure, and some 招待所 might be reluctant to have foreign guests, for whatever official or unofficial reason. But in such cases you can generally just go to the next one.

[renzhe]

There are two hostels I can personally recommend:

Hong Kong: There is a hotel/hostel in Patterson street 47, which is in a very nice shopping/restaurant area on the Hong Kong island near Victoria park. Right next to an MTR station and 3 minutes walk from Times Square. They even have rooms with harbour view. It's kind of small (everything in Hong Kong is tiny), but clean and quite comfortable.

Beijing: There is a small private hostel in San Bu Lao hutong, near the more famous Hu Guo Si hutong. It is in the very centre, and is by far the nicest hostel I've ever stayed in. They have a traditional hutong courtyard where you can chill, and the staff is extremely friendly. The hostel is called San Bao, but they don't have a webpage.

In Hong Kong, we had to pay the stay in advance, and they only accepted PayPal for some reason.

[onebir]

I was thinking about this the other day, are there still restrictions as to which hostels/招待所 foreigners can stay in, or have those completely been lifted?

I think they're still in place in some areas. I was staying in a hotel in Changsha recently, and the staff asked my to fill in my Chinese name. I said "that's not the name on my passport" & they said it didn't matter. My suspicion is they didn't register me. I spoke to a couple of other foreign guests and they had the same impression.