Hostels U.K.: The Comprehensive, Unofficial, Opinionated Guide

Most of the hostels in the UK are run by the Hosteling International-Youth Hostel Association. They dont open or close very often so, although the guide is 2004, its not really out of date for smaller towns. But in the big popular cities there are quite a few private hostels. Paul lists some of the private ones but misses some very good ones in the cities. For Manchester he lists the YH but not Hatters hostel, for Bath he lists Bath Backpackers but not St Christophers or the lovely but bit far out YH. For Nottingham he has Igloo but not "Mid-town", for Oxford only the YH and not Central backpackers. For London which has over 90 hostels he lists only four private ones including my favorite International House. But he misses top rated London School of Economics residences (I liked Passfield hall) and good ol Astor Museum. There are hot new ones like Palmers or Globetrotter that have opened since 2004.He also doesnt list many web sites, although that is the way hostellers tend to book these days. His comments on hostels add a lot more info than you will get in the annual YH handbook, so the book is still a really good buy.

This book (and its siblings) are absolutely the BEST hostelling books out there! I use it like a bible to travel place to place. It has clear, concise guides and easy-to-use icons that allow you to quickly identify the place you're looking for. Don't travel without this book -- honestly.