Hostels
Vancouver & BC in general have a large
selection of Hostels. Hostelling International has 18 Hostels in
BC and there are many private non-affiliated others. Hostels
range from the Apartment-like HI Hostel in downtown Vancouver to
tree houses on Saltspring Island. Hostels may be pre-booked at Backpacker
hostels in Canada - Backpacker site and Confirmed Online bookings
in Canada.
Alternatively, whether you are after hostels
in Toronto
,
hostels in Vancouver
or other
locations in
Canada,
HostelBookers has your accommodation covered, whatever your
budget is..
There was a time when Hostelling International
was pretty well the only choice out there in a hostel. There are
now numerous alternatives, such as Global Village Backpackers
& CN Backpackers (located near the main train & bus
station and about $12 a night) listed in the table below. As far
as HI Hostels are concerned, there are three of them in Vancouver.
One of them is located at Jericho Beach (a nice white sandy
beach, great in the summer) and one in the West End, close to
downtown, plus a new one on Granville Street in the downtown core. Links to Hostelling International are in the table
below. It is advisable to phone them from the Airport to check on
availability, or better still follow the link below, to make an
online reservation. The downtown Hostel, is often full, even in
Winter (mainly with Australians). The Jericho Beach Hostel
usually has more beds available. The price is about $20 Canadian,
or $14 US a night per person. ($4 more if you don't have a Youth
Hostel membership). The Downtown Hostel is slightly more
expensive. There is a free shuttle bus from The Jericho Hostel to
Downtown (20 min) and the main Bus and Train Station. See my
"Getting Around" section for information on
transportation and Vancouver Airport.
The phone number for the Downtown
West End Hostel is
604-684-4565 (or toll free 1-888-203-4302),. For the Downtown Granville Hostel, the phone number is 604-685-5335 (toll free
1-800-203-8333). For Jericho
Beach (seasonal May thru September), the phone number is 604-224-3208. (toll
free 1-888-4303) (You don't have
to dial any more digits than the numbers shown, from a payphone at the
Airport, and it costs 25 cents. Try the 1-888 numbers first, you probably won't
even have to put any coins in, dial all 10 digits). The Downtown West End Hostel is located
at 1114 Burnaby St., the Downtown Granville Hostel is at 1025 Granville and Jericho is at 1515 Discovery. To get to
either from the Airport, catch a #100 bus and transfer to a #8
Fraser at Granville and 70th. For the Downtown West End Hostel, get off
the Fraser Bus at Davie street (after crossing bridge) and catch
a Davie St. Bus westbound (to your left) to Davie and Thurlow.
Walk down the hill one block to Burnaby and the hostel is to your
left. To get to the Granville Hostel, get off the Fraser Bus at Granville &
Nelson, and your there. To get to Jericho, get off the Fraser bus at the last stop
before the Granville St. Bridge (ask driver), walk through the
pedestrian underpass to 4th Ave and catch a 4th Ave. bus
westbound (to your left). Get off at Discovery St., and walk
towards the beach. The Hostel is an old converted Army barracks.
To get CN Backpackers Hostel, Take Bus # 100 to Marine Drive and
Main Street, transfer to Bus # 3 (Main Street Bus), get off one
stop after the bus depot. This Vancouver
Map is large and slow loading, but I
have marked the location of both HI Hostels on it for you. (The
CN Backpackers Hostel is near the Via Rail terminal at the right
hand side of the inset map. Global Village Hostel is at Granville
& Nelson on the same inset.)
There are several other Private Hostels and
cheap Guesthouses. They are less well known than the Hostelling
International ones and therefore more likely to have room. They
also run around the $20 a night range. See below for addresses
and links.
You will also find information on Hostels in
the BC Interior and Vancouver Island through the links in the
table, below. See my "Rest
of BC" section
for information on the rest of BC.
Please E-Mail me if you come across any places
you think deserve special mention.
Jericho Beach Hostel (from Hostelling
International - Vancouver Jericho Beach)
Links & Alternative
non-HI Hostels:
Note: For
Hostels in the rest of BC, check my Rest of BC section. For Hostels in the Whistler Area, check my Whistler Section.
