Hoscar the Grouch

Travel Blog  •  Alexander Basek  •  01.27.09 | 5:10 PM ET

Photo of Lisbon Lounge Hotel by Big Richard C via Flickr (Creative Commons)

It’s the Hoscars! No, it’s not an Oscar party with your friend from Rome, but rather Hostel World’s ranking of the top 10 hostels in the world, based on the opinions of some 800,000 hostel bookings in 20,000 different properties. We heard that backpackers the world over were scratching themselves with anticipation and/or scabies while waiting for the 2009 winners to be announced. The top dog: Travellers House in Lisbon, part of a clean sweep of the top three by Lisbon hostels.

Meanwhile, hostel fans on the other side of the Atlantic are out of luck, as no American—neither North nor South—properties made it on the list. It’s proof positive of something, probably the lure of Spectravision at a Motel 6. Even so, do take the list with a grain of salt, as even old travel writing greybeards like Leif Pettersen have yet to grace the sheets at any of the top 10.

Check out the top ten below.

Travellers House, Lisbon
Rossio Hostel, Lisbon
Lisbon Lounge Hostel, Lisbon
The Riverhouse Backpackers, Cardiff
Greg & Tom Hostel, Krakow
Sitting on the City Walls Courtyard House, Beijing
Academy Hostel, Florence
Goodnight Backpackers Hostel, Lisbon
Flamingo Hostel, Krakow
Mambo Tango Backpackers, Barcelona

 

Tags: Budget Travel, Hotels, Travel Writing, Asia, China, Beijing, Europe, Italy, Florence, Poland, Portugal, Lisbon, Spain, Barcelona, Wales, News and Briefs

Alexander Basek is a food and travel writer based in New York City. He is the Best Deals reporter for Travel + Leisure. His writing has also appeared in the New York Post, Time Out New York, and Fodor's.


3 Comments for Hoscar the Grouch

Eva Holland 01.27.09 | 8:38 PM ET

Scabies? Hey now.

I’ve never been to any of these, either—or any of the sub-winners in the continental categories, for that matter. And yes, as you said, a grain of salt—I certainly take my HostelWorld recommendations/ratings with one, so I’ll do the same for their “best of” list.

Alexander Basek 01.27.09 | 9:46 PM ET

I’m just not that much of a hostel guy anyway, so your opinions likely mean a lot more than mine about these properties. Besides, so much of it is dependent on one’s hostel-mates, and their level of scabies contagion.

shakeel 02.05.09 | 11:39 PM ET

i miss you portugal

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