Good cheap one? Any recommendations?
Beijing Hostels are cheap…BUT:
1)you meet the weirdiest, creepist, poorest migrant village workers
2)you LIVE with the weirdiest, creepiest, poorest migrant village workers
3)you share a communal bathroom and shower with them
4)the showers are without separate stalls, so think of a room, with some showerheads = shower room
5)1 or 2 phones, in the whole hostel, so you pay as you go at the front desk
6)usually located in the basement, no windows
7)usually no air con in the summer, no heating in the winter
and trust me, you need both. Beijing gets really hot in the summer, really cold in the winter
8)be careful of theives, so keep your valuables…in your pillow.
So it’s really really cheap if you want to live like a local, by all means do so.
If you are still interested, there is a clean one across from the Canadian Embassy. Don’t even ask me what it’s called, I have no idea.
Yeah, Beijing is not a city I’d want to hostel in again. Granted, I did so once, but that was 10 years back when a fairly select crowd traveled to China, and very few Chinese were on the move or traveling themselves. Even then it was pretty grungy.
I’d recommend staying at the Downtown Holiday Inn (near Fuchengmen subway station), which I did the last time I was in the city (several months ago). It was around $50 US/night, which is reasonable, and a pretty comfy place.
You could also try one of the Novotel hotels. Around the same price, and not too bad, but it’s a Hong Kong operation, so it definitely has that feel to it.
Wait are you talking about the international backpacker ones?
Yes, I think that’s the type of hostel we both were referring to.
I remember staying at an International Youth Hostel in Beijing a couple of years ago. It was fairly close to Qianmen Jie, south of Tiananmen Square. There were shared rooms and a couple of individual public showers. There were no migrant workers of any type. I think it was somewhere between 30-60RMB/night.
Thanks for that, I’ll look it up.
There are several hostels affiliated to the IYHF in Beijing. I brought information leaflets about them back from this year’s IYHF conference in Seoul. You can peruse them at the Youth Hostel Association, 12F, No. 50, Seciton 1, Zhongxiao West Road, Taibei 100. (The former Asiaworld Department Store building, next to the Shinkong Mistsukoshi Tower.) Open Monday-Friday in normal office hours.
Last October I visited the Beijing Far East Youth Hostel, down Dazhalan, south of Qianmen. It is run as an annexe to a hotel and seemed quite pleasant. IYHF hostels have to meet basic standards for safety, cleanliness and privacy.
China YHA (Web site is not very good - get more complete information at the Taiwan YHA office )
Taiwan YHA (English content is kaputt)
Hong Kong YHA
Hostelling International
I would recommend you go where there are more foreigners. There is safety in numbers. The hostels I posted about are local conditions, as I thought you wanted the ultimate cheap hostel.
Good luck! Beijing is an amazing place, you’ll have tons of places to visit and eat at.
Thanks for the advice! Yes I think in my inexperience with backpacking i wasn’t aware of how low you can actually go with hostels. it was very useful. On the topic of hostels, has anyone stayed in a nice youth hostel in Shanghai? Also, what are the best things to do there?
There is at least one IYHF hostel in Shanghai, too, and in several in Guangdong, etc. Sorry, I have no personal experience - haven’t been to Shanghai since 1981.
I recommend the Fangyuan Hotel. It’s reasonably price, $15-25US. It’s very close to the subway. You can walk to Tiananmen Sq. The rooms are clean and come with breakfast. There are other foriengers who stay there as well as natives. They have internet service, heat, and a resturant upstairs. You can find it in Lonely Planet in central Beijing.
As for budget accomodation in Shanghai, there’s really only one place you should consider: the Pujiang hotel. I might be remembering the name wrong, but it’s the one that’s right north of the Bund. It’s fairly cheap, but it’s got five-star atmosphere. Fantastic place to located.
Can’t help with the Shanghai budget accom, but in terms of what to see, I’d say SH is a lot like Paris. It’s a place where the city itself is the major character/attraction. Just wander the neighborhoods, see the Bund at night (or day), soak in the fabulous architecture, etc.
One place you might try that is not so frequented by tourists is the area around the Science Museum (and maybe the museum itself - though I haven’t been in). It’s the perfect example of the incredible level of architectural/spatial sophistication you’ll find in the city.
It’s like I tell people - Shanghai is the future on display now. Don’t miss it if you get a chance to visit. The change the city has undergone in the last 10 years is phenomenal.
Thanks heaps! Can’t wait, dude, totally, can’t wait.