If you’ve ever wondered what happens when environmental sustainability, inclusive tourism, and Pride collide – meet Rayan. Traveller. Volunteer. Pride advocate. After winning Hostelworld’s ESG World Tourism Day competition, Rayan travelled to Cape Town, South Africa. Not just to explore and celebrate Pride, but to help build something new. Having previously heard Soul Fam…
Category: Travel Tips
Sustainability Stories: Pride, Place & Purpose – How The Cool Hostel built a queer-friendly space rooted in community
“The Cool Hostel, where you can show up exactly as you are.” Pride Month is a time to celebrate LGBTQ+ visibility, inclusivity and diversity. But in Coquimbo, Northern Chile, one hostel is building that – not just for a moment, but every single day. We met Cris Sankari, co-founder of The Cool Hostel, the…
Best Hostels for Solo Female Travellers in Australia (With Reviews)
Australia is one of the most consistently recommended destinations in the world for solo female travel, and the hostel scene backs that reputation up completely. Sydney and Melbourne alone have over 90 hostels between them on Hostelworld, with close to 100,000 combined guest reviews, and both cities have built genuinely excellent social infrastructure specifically aimed…
Best Hostels for Solo Female Travellers in Asia (With Reviews)
Asia is, for many solo female travellers, where the backpacking story really begins. Thailand’s hostel infrastructure is some of the most developed in the world, Vietnam’s Old Quarter hostel scenes are legendary for their social energy, and the sheer density of fellow travellers moving through the same handful of cities makes meeting people, and feeling…
Best Hostels for Solo Female Travellers in South America (With Reviews)
South America has become one of the most popular continents for solo female travel, and for good reason. Buenos Aires has the elegance of a European capital, Medellín has reinvented itself into one of the most welcoming cities for digital nomads and backpackers, and Cusco offers history, altitude, and Andean culture that rewards every traveller…
Best Hostels for Solo Female Travellers in North America (With Reviews)
North America offers some of the most rewarding solo female travel anywhere in the world. From the energy of New York City to the beach culture of Los Angeles to the colour and chaos of Mexico City, the continent has a hostel scene that’s matured considerably, with properties built specifically around safety, community, and the…
Best Hostels for Solo Female Travellers in Europe (With Reviews)
Solo female travel has never been more popular, and Europe remains one of the best continents in the world for women travelling alone. The cities are walkable, the hostel scenes are established, and the communities of fellow travellers are large enough that arriving somewhere new rarely means spending the evening alone unless you want to….
Hostelworld vs Hotels vs Airbnb: Best for Budget, Social, Flexibility
Three types of accommodation dominate how budget travellers book trips in 2026. One is built specifically for backpackers and solo travellers chasing dorm beds and community. One is the reliable standard that handles every kind of trip from business to honeymoon. One started as a home-sharing revolution and now competes across the full price range…
Why Travellers Choose Hostels Over Hotels
Something has shifted in how people think about travel accommodation. It used to be that budget travellers stayed in hostels because they couldn’t afford anything else, and hotels were the default for everyone who could. That framing no longer reflects reality. 62% of global budget travellers now actively choose hostels over budget hotels, and that…
How to Save Money Using Hostelworld’s Flexible Booking Options
Budget travel starts before you even pack your bag. The choices you make at the booking stage, which rate type you pick, whether you book in advance, how you use Hostelworld’s guarantees, determine how much you actually spend and how much flexibility you keep when plans inevitably shift. Hostelworld offers several different booking options designed…
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