One of the most commonly used questions regarding planning a trip are about accommodation. Do I need to book everything in advance? What site I should use to make the bookings? How can I find cheapest accommodation?

Unfortunately there is no single answer to when to book your accommodation. There are multiple things affecting when you should book your stays. Rule of thumb is that the more criteria you have, the earlier you should book. If you are not sure how early you should book, check a city you are interested in and see what places there are available (cheapest price, how many options available etc.). Check these again in a week. If there are lots of them still available, you can most likely book later. If you are on a budget and some hostels starts to be nearly full, maybe book your accommodation now. Remember to check cancellation policy, as it is often little bit more expensive to select refundable option. But this small fee, sometimes as cheap as €1, can give you the possibility to remain flexible.

I just want to sleep somewhere

Congratulations, you probably can book your accommodation last minute. Just be sure to know that cheap options or places with great locations can be sold out, meaning your options are more limited or more expensive.

Do you have some criteria for your accommodation?

For example, do you want to stay near the railway station or near some popular sights?

When you are traveling?

If you are traveling at peak holiday times or during popular events, you should book your accommodation more earlier than usually. Booking last minute will mean less options and usually more expensive stays.

Are you on a strict budget?

If the answer is yes, you should book in advance. Cheapest places are generally sold out first. Luckily many places offer free cancellation or free change of dates, so you can still remain flexible. You can also lower your accommodation costs by traveling during spring instead of traveling in July or August.

Can I book too early?

Kind of. Many places open their bookings 2-6 months before the date of your stay. So if you are looking for places to stay and your travel dates are longer than six months, it might mean that not all locations have opened their bookings yet. You can confirm this by checking dates that are in next 3-4 months – you should be able to see more options avaible. If this is the case, just wait before booking. Or if you have some special place you would like to book, you can always try and contact the place directly and ask for an reservation.

Is there a group traveling?

If you are traveling in a group and you definitely want to stay in same dorm room, you should be booking earlier than a solo traveler. Even when the hostel has six beds left, it might mean that you are placed in different rooms. Booking a private hostel dorm is a way of making sure that your whole group stays in a same room without strangers.

If your friend group has made separate bookings, hostels cannot know that you would like to stay together. Contact the hostel before arrival and ask if they can arrange a room for you all – but do not be surprised if it is not possible without reserving a whole dorm room.

Where to book from?

There are multiple large booking and search engines to use. The writers of this Wiki have successfully used mainly these two large platforms.

Hostelworld

Great for finding affordable stays in more than 900 cities in Europe. You can sort the search results by price, location (shortest distance from city center) or by reviews. You can also filter it to show only private rooms or to show only dorms – it even has possibility to show only mixed, female or male dorms to you.

You can head to Hostelworld by using our link. By using this link to make your next Hostelworld reservation you will help support the Wiki. We will get a small percentage of your booking price at no extra cost to you.

Booking.com

Booking is great for finding both affordable stays as hotels from everywhere between one and five stars. It also has some apartments avaible. You can filter the search results to make it only show for example hostels or hotels to you. You can also sort out the results to see best reviews, cheapest price or best location first.

You can use Booking.com with our link and help support the Wiki. We will get a small percentage of your booking at no extra cost to you when you use link above.