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Hostels Make Travel On A Budget Possible - Iceland

Hostels can be the answer to your problems if you want to travel on a budget and don’t have hotel or resort money. People sometimes turn away from hostels because of the movie and I’m here to say it’s nothing like that. It’s actually a great experience. In some cases you can get lucky and find a 6-bed dorm room for as low as $10 a night. If you find one that serves free breakfast, you might as well consider yourself a lucky star.

My first experience in a hostel was in Costa Rica. Because it was $10 a night, I was able to eat lavishly and go zip lining in the middle of the jungle (survival tips: never look up with your mouth open when in the jungle). My second hostel there was a little fancier because it was a 5 star hostel, so I paid and paid $20 a night. But think about it, that’s splurging in the world of hostels.

Before I begin talking about how beautiful Iceland is and my experience with different hostels, I must say that Iceland isn’t cheap. This was my first solo backpack trip and didn't know what I was getting myself into. After purchasing my flight I began looking for different hostels to stay in because I'm very intrigued with getting to interact with people from around the world, and plus I’ve had great experiences in the past.

A night at most hostels in Iceland were in the $30-40 range. That's expensive compared to hostels in Costa Rica. I wanted to stay at three differently hostels and do two nights in each. I only booked the first hostel and planned to explore my options with the next two while out there. That was the original plan and at the time it seemed solid and spontaneous.

My first hostel was STAR Hostel; it was very convenient because it was only about 8 minutes away from the airport. I landed in Keflavik at 4:30am and had to wait till 5:30am to get my rental car. I chose this hostel because I wanted to be somewhere nearby after being tired from the flight. The next day after fighting jet lag, I mustered some energy to go and explore the town and there wasn’t much to see but long roads and balance rock sculptures. The next day I experienced the Blue Lagoon since it’s in the same town and I loved the experience. It was on my last night there I found out that there was a music festival going on. The Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was not something I anticipated and automatically I started to panic a little because I knew prices were going to higher than they were.

I was able to book a hostel in the capital, Reykjavik, and drove there the next day. It was only 40 minutes away and it was so beautiful to see parts of the land. Reykjavik is not lot Keflavik, it was more vibrant and I’m sure the festival had something to do with it. I surely enjoyed my two nights and when it came time to start looking for my next hostel, I was a little skeptical because the festival, though it was dying down, hostels were still booked. So I decided to stay at the same hostel and was able to stay in the same room.

To all my young aspiring travelers, just book the ticket. Look at these photos of all the unique, amazing experiences I had because I was able to budget with hostels. Everything from the Northern Lights to the Blue Lagoon. Having hostels available to us makes everything much easier if you are traveling on a budget. Not to mention you will get the chance to meet people from all over the world and those bonds you create with them is something very special.