We all know that Halloween nowadays is just another excuse to party and have fun while wearing scary costumes!

However, for centuries Halloween was considered a moment when the dead, or magical creatures like witches and elves, would walk around on Earth, scaring the hell out of us poor humans.

You might not remember this while you are having a beer and trying to pick up that sexy dressed up Catwoman, or that cool vampire – but if you are staying in one of this hostels, you might suddenly be reminded…

Here are our Halloween hostels: mysterious places, whose past is rich with history and whose present is sometimes disturbing… discover the best hostels for Halloween!

1.  USA Hostels San Diego: located in an 18^th century brothel, this hostel has a number of stories that  is simply unbelievable, from the age of the Spanish missions to the time of the cowboys, to the Gold Rush, probably every sort of strange event has happened here. If you are a fan of old western gunfights at the Ok Corral, this might be the best place for you: it is said (whispered, actually) that the ghost of Sheriff Wyatt Earp still wanders around seeking revenge for his friend Doc Holliday.

Former guests of Usa Hostels San Diego recall seeing the light go on and off for no reason in the middle of the night, and an entire dorm was once awakened by a strange knocking on the walls… the worst part being that the knocking was moving all around the room, including the ceiling and the floor! You may not believe this – but the management later decided to turn that room into a bathroom… and not to forget, the unexplainable night breezes, or all the guests that were woken up after having been “touched and grabbed by icy cold hands”…

2. A convent in Tuscany might not look scary… but what if we talk about an old monastery in the heart of Florence, home of the poisonings and treacheries of the Borgia family?  The monastery of the Seven Founder Saints has now been turned into a hostel, conveniently named Ostello Sette Santi (Hostel of the Seven Saints). You might be awakened and taken for a free night tour of the hostel by the soul of an old dead monk, who still has to find forgiveness and eternal peace… and might need your help to find them!

3.  The High Street Hostel is located in one of the oldest building of the capital city of the first nation that comes to mind when mentioning legends and mythical creatures: Edinburgh, Scotland! Who knows which creatures haunt the halls of this scary 16^th century palace!!

4. If you are one of those who “want to believe” that the Lochness monster exists, there is no better day than October 31^st to go find out! The West End Hostel in Edinburgh organizes day trips to the Lake of Ness.

5. But if you want to stay even closer to “Nessie”, you might want to check out the conveniently named Highlander Hostel Inverness, in one of the oldest building in town, just a stone’s throw away from Loch Ness.

6. The Falu Prison Hostel is not just another “prison hostel”. First of all, the prison closed only in 1995, but it has been active since 1850! But that’s not all, near Falu you’ll find a 1000 year old copper mine and an abandoned wooden village: the souls of those who died in the dark tunnels of those mines are said to wander around here!

The best experience of your life (or, maybe, the last one?) could be sleeping in the in the isolation cell of the former prison, but will you be able to resist the obscure presences gently suggested by the graffiti carved by inmates who would never see the sun again? Go and check if their souls have found eternal peace.. or if they still haunt the prison, looking for revenge!

Happy Halloween!

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Now you can always stay up to date with the latest travel news and travel tips from HostelsClub while on the move whenever and wherever you are!

When it’s cold somewhere, it’s hot somewhere else and if you’re into surfing, HostelsClub has the best surf destinations for you. Check out the full List of Surfing Destinations and Surf-Friendly Hostels so you can get your Surf On!

Some of the hot spots are Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Morocco, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain and the US, so be sure to check out the best places to surf and where you can stay at budget pricing since just getting to these places might take a toll on your wallet.

Cowabunga Surfer Dudes! Ride the waves and save money while you sleep!

Thinking about travelling with Fido? Well, while it use to be difficult to find pet-friendly accommodations, now there are many places which welcome you and your four-legged friends! HostelsClub has added it as a searchable facility so you can filter out only those hostels that are animal friendly.

To give you some ideas of where you can go around the world at budget prices, we decided to make a little list for you.

Here are a few hostels where you can take your pet on holiday!

1. Rome – AD 1 House is a few steps from Termini train station and offers dormitory beds from € 18 and private rooms from 38€. AD 1 House staff are always available and friendly and will have no problem welcoming your 4-legged companion.

2. Naples – Also in Italy, Hostel and Hotel Bella Capri, welcomes families and pets with high ratings in cleanliness and tranquility. The Hostel and Hotel Bella Capri is located in downtown Naples, at Piazza Municipio, and with 20 € per night, it can accommodate you and your pet.

3. Barcelona – The AAE Rey Don Jaime is located on the lively Via Laietana, a two minutes’ walk to the famous Las Rambas area full of bars and restaurants. Prices start at € 23.80 per night and you and your pet will sleep in the middle of Barcelona!

4. Paris – Hotel de la Herse d’Or is in the heart of the Marais, near Place de la Bastille were all the nightclubs/bars are allows you to leave your pet and enjoy the night in the land of love with secure, clean private rooms with free WIFI !

5. London – Forest Gate Hotel is located in East London with basic amenities but including a kettle, fridge, microwave and toaster in the room in case you want to make your own breakfast for you and your pet, has private rooms starting at 23 € per person!
The list of hostels that accept pets could go on and on, but for now we’ll stop here and wish you and your pet safe travels!!

HostelsClub promised to give a free iPad to the lucky Facebook fan for those that added our fan page to their favorites by June 1^st, 2010. All fans were eligible whether they liked us prior to this giveaway or not, but one fan in particular won the new iPad. The winner chosen is Hanson Cheng from Virginia, USA!! A Chinese-American college grad that loves to travel and enjoys the latest gadgets, Hanson was very surprised to see he finally won something!

He graduated back in 2004 where his first solo travels began in Puerto Rico and since then he has traveled to the Caribbean and all over the US. He believes that traveling within the States is great because the country itself is so varied with having all terrains, from snow-capped mountains to desert areas in Las Vegas to tropical zones in South Beach, Miami, for example. Hanson will use the iPad to surf the net for his future travels and to research more exotic destinations in the future. It will also serve as a backup for his pictures while traveling and as a GPS once he downloads all the apps.

Congratulations Hanson!

Enjoy the iPad and we look forward to our next giveaway!

Beach Parties, Summer Madness and Amazing Waters!

1.  Italy – Beach cities like Palermo, Rimini, Naples, Ravello (Amalfi Coast). Click here for current Italian sales and discounts!

2. Greece – Visit the clear waters of Mykonos, Crete, Santorini, and Zakynthos. Click here to see the Greek Discounts!

3. USA – Miami, Los Angeles, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts! Massachussetts might sound weird, but you haven’t seen the cool beach houses there…major house parties….

4. Portugal – Check out the Algarve Region on the Southern Coast! To die for…

5.  Spain – Ibiza, Barcelona, and the southernmost Andalusia region!

This is the inside scoop where you can find the locals and non-stop parties on all these coasts!

Rainbow pride can be fun for everyone!! And these festivals below are definitely unforgettable events!

1. Rome – Gay Village 2010 – June 17- September 12

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2. London – Pride London Festival Fortnight – June 19th – July 3rd

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3. San Francisco – San Francisco Pride – June 26th and 27th

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4. New York City – PrideFest New York – June 27th

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5. Amsterdam – Amsterdam Gay Pride – August 5th -8th

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Enjoy!!

Washington D.C. is one of the most quintessential American cities there is. There are so many things to do in DC that it’s easy to get lost in all the American history. Renowned DC attractions like the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the U.S. Capitol building pull in a majority of tourists, but there’s so much more to do and see! Arguably the best time to visit the Capitol is on the most American day of them all: the 4th of July. Just being in the city for the amazing patriotism that is showcased is enough to make anyone feel like a real American, but Washington D.C. pulls out all of the stops to make our Nation’s birthday one to remember for you and yours. Some 4th of July events are as follows:

• Washington D.C.’s Independence Day Parade beginning at 11:45 a.m. proceeds from Constitution Avenue and 7th to 17th street.

• 4th of July at the National Archives beginning at 10 a.m. and going to 9 p.m.

• Smithsonian Folklife Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (July 4th).

• White House Visitor Center Family Events between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the White House Visitor Center.

• Concert on the Washington Monument Grounds kicks off at 6 p.m. with the U.S. Army Concert Band right in the shadow of the Washington Monument.

• The famous A Capitol Fourth Concert that goes from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. (admittance begins at 3 p.m.) on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

Of course there’s so much else to do in the city that will be boosted up by the fact that it’s the 4th of July. There’s dozens of DC tours, D.C. walking tours, and D.C. museums that it’s easy to fill your days to the brim of red, white, and blue. Over a 150 museums like The Smithsonian National Museum(s) which is free, the Newseum, and the National Museum of Crime and Punishment are all ready to let you see history up close and personal

All of these attractions are amazing but nothing compares to listening to “Stars and Stripes Forever” while the sky lights up over the city with hundreds of fireworks throughout the night. Independence Day is an amazing time to celebrate America, but with all these amazing events there’s no place better to do so then the Nation’s Capitol.

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During the first weekend of August Amsterdam hosts the annual Gay Pride march. The event, one of the largest public gatherings in Holland has been running since 1995 and attracts hundreds of thousands of people. The festival is crowded and peaceful and very liberal. Straight people are of course welcome but the more sheltered among you must prepare yourselves to see more men’s buttocks in three days than you have ever seen before.

Gay Pride in Amsterdam is basically a giant street festival with parades and parties that has a Madri-Gras atmosphere. The main event is (surprise surprise) the Canal Parade where a parade of up to 100 decorated floats and barges sponsored by the city’s gay businesses float down Amsterdam’s main canals. Each float is occupied by a different group, with leathermen, thongs, divas, dancing boys and drag queens all dancing away on their own boats.  The Netherlands is so laid back about the whole thing that the Dutch army and navy even join in the parade.

The Festival starts on the Friday with big street parties, especially around the Gay Homomonument in Westermarkt.  The hip and trendy Friday night party happens on Reguliersdwarsstraat while Paardenstraat features a mainly female gathering and there is even a straight party at Amstelveld . Also next to the Homomonument is the Pink Point Gay information kiosk, probably the best place to get all the latest information on this year’s Gay Pride festival.

The Canal Parade is the next day, starting at 2 PM and running from Central Station to the Oosterdok (Eastern Dock). Get there early to find a canal side seat as up to 350,000 spectators come and watch. Saturday continues into the early hours with lots more parties. On Sunday, the final day of the festival, everybody recovers with another round of street parties!

Gay Pride is not limited to official events and there are hundreds of smaller parties and celebrations all over the city. Every nightclub in the whole of Amsterdam camps it up for the weekend. If you want to experience the whole festival from the city centre you would do well to book your hotel room months if not years in advance. Be prepared for a wild time and not much sleep!

Book you hostel in Amsterdam now before they are all booked out!

By default, backpacking and staying in hostels is already a fairly green way of travelling. Being on a budget implies that you don’t waste resources and backpackers tend to travel by bus or train and not by plane and will share transport costs rather than take individual vehicles. There are a few simple ways that you can further cut down your carbon footprint and do your bit for the Planet while you are away.

Check out HostelClub’s Eco-Friendly and Green Hostels around the world!

Use hostel water refills rather than buying new bottles every time you need water. If there isn’t a refill option, suggest it and maybe next time you pass by there will be one. By refilling water bottles, not only do you use less plastic, but you set an excellent example to other travelers and people in places where the recycling message may not have arrived.

Take a battery recharger with you rather than leaving nickel-cadmium time bombs strewn behind you on your travels. Not only is this ecologically sound, but you will save a lot of money over a long trip. You can now even get solar chargers that do it for free!

If you have to fly, offset your carbon miles when you take a flight. If will only cost a few dollars and is well worth it for the warm fuzzy feeling alone. Another worthy option is to spend a bit of your travels helping out on a voluntary project that promotes sustainable practices in the country you are visiting. There will be information about these in most decent hostels and on the net. Just watch out for the odd scam. There is a rumor in Vietnam about an eco-project bridge that is built by paying volunteers every year and taken back down by the locals after they have finished, ready for the next year.

Support local initiatives that promote sustainable activities. Take a canoe trip rather than a Jet Ski tour or cycle about town rather than hiring a moped. Buy local crafts from sustainable forests and skip anything that you are not sure about. Avoid buying seashells and starfish as these are almost always overfished to supply the tourist trade. The same goes for those exotic sounding animals on the menu.

Instead of trying to see the whole of a country or continent in six weeks, choose one small area and see it well. The less long distance travel you do the more eco-friendly your trip becomes and the more money you leave in the local economy of the places you visit. This way, you can even save paper by not having to print off that must-see list!