zaiShanghai

“I’m going to be stay­ing in a hos­tel.”

This sim­ple short sen­tence tends to gen­er­ate sev­eral dif­fer­ent reac­tions. Some stu­dents scurry away in fear of bed­bugs, most par­ents fiercely dis­suade chil­dren from fol­low­ing suit with their hostel-going friends, and I skip with joy as I hear the clink of kuai coins mak­ing their way back into my wal­let, eager to jump on board the hos­tel train.

Unfortunately, a cer­tain Hollywood por­trayal of hos­tel cul­ture has made these afford­able, cen­tral­ized accom­mo­da­tions seem like a breed­ing site for ver­min and ser­ial killers. But, my fel­low bud­get trav­eler, this is just not true. With a bit of wits, one can for­tu­nately find a safe place that is actu­ally quite fun and a social cen­ter in a for­eign city.

And in Asia, it takes some time to dis­tin­guish the good from the bad and the ugly. Luckily for us, oth­ers have done the grunt work and nicely com­piled all of the hos­tels on super con­ve­nient sites.  So throw out any thoughts in your mind that your hos­tel expe­ri­ence will be some­thing rem­i­nis­cent of that unfor­tu­nate Amsterdam scene in Eurotrip, and could play a piv­otal role in the suc­cess of your week­end.

During a longish stint in Shanghai, vis­its to Xi’an, Guilin, and Beijing are typ­i­cal.  So make your way over to hostelworld.com to find out where to stay. These hos­tels are arranged by avail­abil­ity, price, and rat­ing. Usually, some­thing below an 85% rat­ing is a bit risky. Here is where we stayed and enjoyed our time there.

Xi’an

Han Tang Inn Youth Hostel

Rooms: $8–20

93% rat­ing on hostelworld.com

With a great out­door roof deck com­plete with ping pong table and relax­ing loungers, not to men­tion the lobby bar and a wel­com­ing staff that puts on weekly dumpling-making par­ties, this hos­tel pro­vides a chill atmos­phere after a long day of explor­ing pago­das and bik­ing along city walls or trekking over to the Terracotta Army site.  Rooms are bunk bed style – sim­ple but com­fort­able.  The hos­tel is in a con­ve­nient area but prob­a­bly best to walk in groups back to the hos­tel after a night out as it is on a local side street.

Yangshuo

Yangshuo 11 Hostel

Rooms: $5–10

91% rat­ing on hostelworld.com

When peo­ple say they are going on a week­end trip to Guilin, they mean they’re going for a week­end in Yangshuo…or at least, they are if they are plan­ning to do the bam­boo rafts, bik­ing, and mud caves. Yangshuo is a crowded lit­tle town right in the mid­dle of all the action, and Yangshuo 11 is parked right off super-popular "West Street." With its cen­tral loca­tion, it is very easy to spend a night out walk­ing around town and head back to the hos­tel. The rooms were incred­i­bly nice for hos­tel stan­dards, dirt cheap, and had fan­tas­tic views. Definitely a great spot to stay.

Beijing

King’s Joy International Hostel

Rooms: $7–30

87% rat­ing on hostelworld.com

While the rat­ing is a bit lower, this hos­tel felt more like a hotel at insanely cheap prices and was one of the best stays in all of my hos­tel expe­ri­ences in China. Right next to Tiananmen Square and a cen­tral sub­way stop, it was about as con­ve­nient as you can get. In the mid­dle of a vil­lage of mul­ti­ple hutong, the hos­tel was immersed in typ­i­cal Beijing cul­ture. The hos­tel pro­vides a minimalist’s – but free – break­fast in the top floor lounge that pro­vides amaz­ing views.  You can see the mod­ern TV tower, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City while munch­ing on cereal and man­tou.  There are so many hos­tels to choose from in Beijing, and this was def­i­nitely a good choice.