After a long backpacking trip across Europe I have settled down to live and work in France. Now that I'm stationary I'm going stir crazy, and I need to get back into the hostel scene where I belong.

For me the hostel experience is an important part of exploring a new city. While I have received plenty of city recommendations, I haven't heard of any GREAT hostels in France that I simply have to visit. Maybe you can help me!

What I want is a hostel that has decent dorms, a comfortable common room, and an atmosphere that is conducive to meeting other travelers. Simple right? Apparently not...

In Paris I have found two hostels that I find to be acceptable, but not great: Le Village and Aloha. There are countless other hostels, but I have been severley disappointed by many of them.

In Nice I really enjoyed the Villa St Exupery, which is not for everyone because it's a party hostel, but it's by far the most social hostel I have found in France.

I have heard of a place called Sidsmum's near Carcassonne that is supposed to be good, but I haven't had the chance to check them out yet.

Have any of you stayed in any really great hostels anywhere else in France?

Cant help you seeing i have not yet been to France(leave on Dec 27th), but if anyone has stayed in Rennes and know a great hostel if you could add it to your answer that would be great.

Thanks

I stayed in the 3 Ducks Hostel in Paris the last time I went. Its located in the 15e and has a great atmosphere. It's away from all of the touristy stuff but a 3 min walk to a metro stop. The common area is a patio, not a room like most. As long as the weather is nice you can meet people from all over. It doesn't hurt that the hostel has a bar it it. Next time I go back I will be staying there again.

Thank you very much for the recommendation!

3 Ducks tends to come up a lot among travelers who have gone to Paris. Unfortunately for those people I have met, most of their experiences were not as positive as yours. It's nice to hear that some people DO enjoy the place.

I stopped by 3 Ducks myself a few years ago. After ensuring the management wasn't around the reception staff actually recommended that I find a better place to stay. I had never before (and have never since) seen a hostel try to dissuade guests from staying with them.

On a more positive note, just before Christmas I had the opportunity to visit Hostel Vertigo in Marseille. I was very happy with the atmosphere and the facilities, and I am comfortable recommending it to other backpackers.

In Paris I stayed at the Auberge Internationale des Jeunes near Bastille.
It was not your typical fun atmosphere party hostel, but the rooms were clean and I paid 14 euros a night, good location too, near metro, free breakfast.

Avignon had a hostel, but the rooms smelled bad, and didn't have much of an atmosphere either, but again it was 15 euro a night.

Other than that I wouldn't know, because I couldn't find any other youth hostels in other cities I went to.

There are a handful of really great hostels in France. While I have enough family in France to keep me mostly out of hostels when I have lived/traveled there, I have discovered some really great hostels in stay in around the country.

Nice actually has one of the top rated hostels in the entire world, called the Villa Saint Exupery. It is housed in an old monastery perched on top of a hill overlooking Nice and the Mediterranean ocean. Great, clean facilities, great crowd, great bar. Check out my post on Best Hostels in Nice.

If you are in Paris and are looking for a great, fun, party atmosphere NOT at the 3 ducks, you should check out the 4 Best Party Hostels in Paris.

Hope that helps!

I can’t say that it was in the middle of everything, but with Paris being as huge as it is, it’s hard to find a hostel that is right in the centre. This was more on the east side of the city. The FIAP Jean Monnet hostel is located in Paris, France. The hostel was pretty big, so the cosy feeling some hostels have was definitely not there… To be honest, we weren’t really tempted to spend a lot of time at the hostel, it was just too plain. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it was just lacking the social part lots of hostels have. I think FIAP Jean Monnet is a great place if you’re travelling in a big group, like with 15 people or something. But if you want to meet people and just chill, I would pick a different one. There just wasn’t that much to do ya know.

I would entirely recommend St Christopher's Hostel in Paris. It's new and int he 19th arr., and it's fabulously clean, the rooms themselves are conducive to meeting people (found them nice and big, with a table area. . . but each bed has a little privacy curtain! The best of both worlds), and has a bar/restaurant downstairs.

I would also recommend the FUAJ in Carcassonne simply because it is actually in the walled city. But I guess it doesn't really have the greatest hostel atmosphere (There IS a nice common area and bar, but at least when I was there, it wasn't open.)

Sidmums is great
not exactly a hostel
ok
it sort of is but isn't
it's a "traveller's retreat"
actually its hostel like
there are 2 cabins. each with 4 bunks i think.
and maybe 2 more beds inside the main house where the common room and kitchen are

and it's not in Carcassonne proper . instead in the suburb village of Preixan - spelling? - that you take the local bus to get to or ask the Sidmums owner to pick you up

But hanging out with the people at Sidmums was great
very peaceful
you're in the countryside and nobody else is around. just the villagers who stay in their own house.
there's a bakery to buy breakfast in the morning and then your off in the morning into Carcassonne to explore or off on a tour of the Carcassonne area to look at old castles up on hills

i liked it alot
i think i reviewed it on bugeurope but that site is cold now