YHA

[GdS]

I've only stayed in 2 YHs in the last 10 years; both in the Peaks. They are now remarkably similar to the NL versions (Stayokay) which have also evolved over the last 25 years to become more mainstream (and they are always full!)

IIRC the one in Edale had a youth bookings only bit which the general public were barred from.

I've booked a proper HI hostel (dorm bunk) in France for next month it was £25 not sure how that compares with YHA

[campagman]

I'd say £25 for a dorm is high compared to YHA but where is the hostel. In town or rural?

[GdS]

I'd say £25 for a dorm is high compared to YHA but where is the hostel. In town or rural?

centre of Millau the next cheapest room is £50

[Cudzoziemiec]

Just had a quick look. "Bed in a shared room" in Bristol is £20, in Bath is £28, and in Canterbury is £40.

[hellymedic]

Copt Oak's 'Motorway' rubber stamp struck me as WEIRD.
'Your Motorway Youth Hostel' in the strapline made me baulk as a cyclist. It was a fairly recently opened YH IIRC...

It seems to have opened in 1959 according to https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Former-youth-hostels-of-Great-Britain/3
It would have been fairly local to me - and is there as a private house.
Another site gives it as having 18 beds ( https://youthhostelsguide.com/hostels/view/48) although I question that site's reliability as it shows it as still open!
The route of the M1 through Leicestershire was fiercely debated and it may be the result of this battle that led to some local pride in having the route close by and hence the strap line (seems weird now, but in 1965 carmaggedon was on the ascendency)

The M1 did seem to be a Wonderful Thing in the early 60s.
Dad commuted from our home in Leicester, to work at AEI in Rugby every day and it got the family bak to London to visit his widowed mother very efficiently. Carmageddon wasn't really A Thing...

[mzjo]

My first YHA experience was in a school party of 10yr olds (led by a scoutmaster, it was a prep school with its own scout troop) going round the IoWight. Lots of chores making the sandwiches. It didn't really switch me on to hostelling, I preferred camping (only to be expected when you're only 10, camping seemed so much more fun).
In the early 70's I joined the junior section of the local YHA group in Cheltenham and that was what got me into cycle-touring (and also club cycling and, much too briefly, TTing).
In 2009 I brought a small group over to N Wales from my french club, intending to use hostels to keep the price reasonable. It was at that stage that I learnt how much the hostelling scene had changed. Our mix ended up with three hostels (Liverpool, Llanberis and Chester), one pub b and b (Prestatyn) and one independant hostel (Bala). The closest we got to the hostel atmosphere that I remembered from my youth was at Bala!
I have never stayed in a youth hostel in France or even researched the idea. I did a FFCT training course at one in Brive but it didn't seem to have much in common with the YHA. I think the FAJ hostels are probably a bit far apart and probably car-orientated as well. Camping is so much more accessible and more fun as well.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Apparently the changes in youth hostels are not down to them either being taken over by school parties or becoming boutique hotels – it's the fault of the hippies in "the long sixties" wanting to hang out, fall off, tune over and smoke dope.

During what British cultural historian Arthur Marwick has called the “long sixties”, the profound shifts that reshaped western European and north American societal attitudes led to an explosion of youth travel across the world. YHA hostels, though, could not keep up.

With hostel stays largely structured around booze bans, curfews and chores, the YHA appeared old-fashioned and out of date. By contrast, a new, more commercially focused breed of hostels was emerging that understood young travellers’ changing needs.

Independent guesthouses and hostels emerged on the hippie trail, including the Pudding Shop in Istanbul and Mumbai’s New Vasantashram. They offered visitors greater freedom and more privacy, with longer opening hours and more flexible sleeping arrangements. On site, travellers could buy cheap food, bus tickets, packaged trips and tours, alcohol and even hashish.

https://theconversation.com/youth-hostels-face-tough-times-but-they-are-perfect-for-authentic-spontaneous-experiences-213121

[Regulator]

I'd say £25 for a dorm is high compared to YHA but where is the hostel. In town or rural?

Average cost of a dorm bed in a local council albergue on the Portuguese Camino was €15.  Private albergues would be around €20 - €25.

[FifeingEejit]

I was 25 a night at Wooler the wothrr week.

I expect syha to be between 18 and 30 for a bunk in shared room depending on where it is.

Theyre mostly munro Bagger central

Sent from my IV2201 using Tapatalk

[Lightning Phil]

Travel lodge £25-28 for a double at moment depending on location. YHA used be price and location.  Now it’s more about location.

[Flite]

Travel lodge £25-28 for a double at moment depending on location.

YHA shared dorm is still good value for a solo traveller.
And the YHA still maintain single sex dorms, which some independent hostels do not.
But the main reason I use YHA and other hostels is for the self-catering kitchens - I do like to prepare my own food.
And the usually secure bike sheds.

Best value this year was SYHA. £13 a night in a shared 6 bed dorm in Oban, with fabulous views over the Sound of Kerrera.
Over the late Spring Bank Holiday.