Top 10 Hostels I've Never Stayed In

How many times have you walked into your dorm room in a hostel and run into who I like to call, the Hostel Pros?

You know who I mean.

That person who has been staying there for weeks and has invaded every corner of the room with their stuff and immediately lets you know that they know everything there is to be known about the place. These same people have generally been traveling for awhile, have seen all there is to see in the city but never seem to leave the grounds. They're on a first name basis with the guy at the desk and for some reason think that the length of their stay has granted them the right to one of the bathrooms available.

While the Hostel Pro will probably never disappear, it does seem that Hostels are no longer places you only stay on your first trip abroad. According to some there are more than 1.7 million hostel beds worldwide and I'm sure those don't include informal places that opt not to pay the association counting the beds.

Seems that they are getting so mainstream that they have even started an award, the Hoscars.

"These Oscars for hostels (see what they've done there?) are among the most democratic awards around with no fewer than 800,000 Hostelworld.com customers rating more than 20,000 hostels over the last twelve months according to six criteria - character, security, location, staff, fun and cleanliness- to produce the definitive World Top Ten Hostels chart."

And where is the best hostel in the world you might ask? Well look no further than nearby Lisbon. Not only does it have the best Hostel in the world, but the top 3 with another coming in at number 8! The others being in such diverse places as Beijing, Cardiff, Barcelona, Krakow and Florence.

10 places I'll probably never stay in judging by the prices listed in the above link, but just maybe they will draw away the Pros from the places further down the list in the Lonely Planet.

Photo Top Right from here.