Backpacker Digs

Backpacker Digs

When you think of back­pack­ers’ hos­tels style is not what comes to mind. Flea-​rid­den mat­tress­es, grub­by fa­cil­i­ties, gen­er­al drunk­en de­bauch­ery or that hor­ri­ble slash­er film are prob­a­bly much high­er up the list. But times are chang­ing and the hos­tels are too. The Boar’s Trav­el team brings you our top stylish sleeps from around the world:

The Gershwin

Just off New York’s 5th Av­enue, the Gersh­win Hos­tel build­ing is a thir­teen storey homage to Andy Warhol and all things pop art. (pic­tured mid­dle right) Each floor is hung with prints from a dif­fer­ent artist. It works under a kind of ver­ti­cal caste sys­tem: below the snazz­i­er rooms on the top floors there are a col­lec­tion of cheap­er high-​spec, red wood-​beamed dorm rooms. Most im­por­tant­ly, the fourth floor is the “mod­els floor”, with extra clos­et space es­pe­cial­ly de­signed for mod­els try­ing to make it in the Big Apple. Don’t all hop on a plane at once boys, pre-​book­ing is ad­vised.

Eco paradise.

Ok so fly­ing there will give you a car­bon foot­print the size of a Yeti, but this hos­tel’s so green you might leave look­ing more like the hulk. Built com­plete­ly from re­cy­cled ma­te­ri­als and re­new­able prod­ucts He­do­nisia Hawaii of­fers a trial of the good life in stun­ning sur­round­ings. Guests are en­cour­aged to try liv­ing off the land and help out in the veg­etable gar­den. One four-​bed room is made from an old school bus and an­oth­er from a trac­tor, and all have stun­ning sea views. Even the eco-​friend­ly toi­let looks out over the Hawai­ian jun­gle for com­plete re­lax­ing ex­pe­ri­ence.

Treetop hostel in Turkey

Think you’d look good as a mod­ern Tarzan or Jane? Saban Tree­hous­es on the Olym­pos coast could be the place to give it a go. Per­fect­ly sit­u­at­ed for wa­ter­sports, hik­ing, climb­ing and ex­plor­ing the an­cient city this place promis­es a very dif­fer­ent ex­pe­ri­ence from your av­er­age flea-​rid­den hos­tel. The fam­i­ly who run it even pro­vide tra­di­tion­al Turk­ish fare in a com­mu­nal din­ing area each evening and fresh local pro­duce for break­fast, all in­clu­sive.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Hostel

The Qing Yuan hos­tel ac­tu­al­ly fea­tured in Ang Lee’s 2000 film and is full of the pe­ri­od fea­tures ex­pect­ed of a site over 200 years old. Sit­u­at­ed in the Wuyuan province in the moun­tain vil­lage of Qingyuan the hos­tel is great for ex­plor­ing rural china. But if hik­ing isn’t your thing it’s still worth a visit just to relax in the peace­ful court­yard and take ad­van­tage of the friend­ly man­ag­er’s local knowl­edge. Best of all it costs less than £2 a night!

The Santos Express

Parked right on the beach at Mos­sel Bay, a beau­ti­ful town along South Africa’s gar­den route, this hos­tel is clev­er­ly packed into an old train. Dorms pro­vide sea views and decor rem­i­nis­cent of a Vic­to­ri­an steam en­gine. Al­though it’s not quite first class, the price, great food, reg­u­lar braais (BBQs) and a live­ly bar make this a great place to relax and so­cialise.

Prison Break

Many peo­ple would think of a night in a hos­tel as a prison sen­tence, well in this case they’d be right. The HI- ​Ot­tawa hos­tel is lo­cat­ed in a for­mer prison that op­er­at­ed for over 100 years. It of­fers the chance to sleep in the cells, prison hos­pi­tal, or the gov­er­nor’s quar­ters if you can bribe your way in. On the 8th floor of this Vic­to­ri­an ar­chi­tec­tural relic the Car­leton Coun­ty Gaol Her­itage Cen­tre gives vis­i­tors a chance to learn what life what like for the prison’s in­mates and take a ghost tour of the cells. Just be care­ful not to get locked in!