Best Hostels of 2008 Announced

The HOSCARs (Hostelworld Customer Annual Ratings) Hostel awards take place every year to recognise the best hostels in the world. More than 20,000 properties from across the globe, all featured on Hostelworld.com, are eligible for the awards. The best hostel winners were voted for by over 800,000 customers worldwide who booked their accommodation online and rated and reviewed the hostel on six criteria - character, security, location, staff, fun and cleanliness.

The Portuguese city of Lisbon was the top location for hostels with Travellers House winning the coveted prize of number one hostel in the world while Rossio Hostel and Lisbon Lounge hostel giving the popular backpacking destination an impressive one, two, three. The Riverside BP, Cardiff secured fourth place and was also voted No.1 in the world for best staff.

Alongside those mentioned above, HOSCARs were also awarded for the best three hostels on each continent, and categories including ‘Best location’, ‘Most fun’, ‘Best character’ and ‘Most improved’. In a new category for this year, and proving that a backpacker’s favourite pastime hasn’t changed, the backpacker pub crawl in Dublin won the award for ‘Best tour’.

The winners of the coveted Hoscars were:

1. Traveller’s House, Lisbon, Portugal
2. Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
3. Lisbon Lounge, Lisbon, Portugal
4. The Riverhouse Backpackers, Cardiff, Wales
5. Greg-Tom Hostel, Krakow, Poland
6. Sitting On The City Walls Courtyard House, Beijing, China
7. Academy Hostel, Florence, Italy
8. Goodnight Backpackers, Lisbon, Portugal
9. Flamingo Hostel, Krakow, Poland
10. Mambo Tango Backpackers Hostel, Barcelona, Spain

Top Hostels by Continent:

North America
1. Clarence Castle, Toronto, Canada
2. Hostel Seattle, Seattle, USA
3. Alexandrie-Montreal, Montreal, Canada

Latin America
1. HI Patagonia Hostel Puerto Madryn, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
2. Hostel Estoril, Buenos Aires, Argentina
3. Hostel Lao, Mendoza, Argentina

Africa
1. Equity Point, Marrakech, Morocco
2. Hostel Essaouira, Essaouria, Morocco
3. The Backpack & Africa Travel Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Asia
1. Sitting On The City Walls Courtyard House, Beijing, China
2. Zhengjia International Youth Hostel, Pingyao, China
3. Eight Elephants Hostel, Taipei, Taiwan

Oceania
1. YHA Rotorua Treks, Rotorua, New Zealand
2. Dreamtime Travellers Rest, Cairns, Australia
3. Jailhouse Accommodation, Christchurch, New Zealand

Special Category Awards were also given to the following hostels:

Cleanest Hostel: Lisbon Lounge, Lisbon, Portugal
Most Secure Hostel: Budapest Bubble, Budapest, Hungary
Most Fun Hostel: Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
Hostel with Best Location: Traveller’s House, Lisbon, Portugal
Best Staff: The Riverhouse Backpackers, Cardiff, Wales
Hostel with Best Character: Traveller’s House, Lisbon, Portugal
Best Small Hostel [Max 50 beds]: Rossio Hostel, Lisbon, Portugal
Best Large Hostel [Min 500 beds]: Wombat’s City Hostel, Berlin, Germany
Most Improved Hostel: Marlborough Hostel, Dublin, Ireland

Best Hostel Chain

Wombats, Austria and Germany
Hatters Hostels, England
St Christopher’s Hostels – Belgium, England, France, Netherlands, Scotland