A hostel is a hotel for traveling youth that are short of money and are ready to overnight ten people per room with no television, no conditioning and no bathroom in it. There are thousands of hostels all over the world and they are all members of some hostel clubs. These clubs are forwarding the philosophy of hostel movement: giving poor students a possibility to travel cheaply, live in youth environment and meet age mates from all over the world.

In Venice there is only one hostel – a brick building of former cereal storehouse on the embankment of Guidecca Island. Now there are 254 beds, and also shower-rooms, toils and a canteen. The young live 16 people in a room, couples not being able to sleep together – there are separate girls’ and boys’ wards. The rooms’ doors are always open – there are no keys. Valuables are stored in metal safes. A night in a 16-bed-room will cost you ˆ20 if you have a member card of Hostelling International Organization. Without the card you pay ˆ23 for a number of nights in the beginning, and then the card is given to you for free. It is not very cheap for a hostel, but you get a free breakfast of coffee and a bun with jam.

The furnishing is quite Spartan, but everything is new, freshly renovated, and the narrow windows afford a view of the lagoon and the main Venice’s beauties. Going to the city itself will require crossing of a canal, but it is not at all difficult – at Guidecca Island there is a stop of most vaporetto routs.