Hostel to Open in Beijing in Spring

Work has resumed on what will be the first official international youth hostel in China. Expected to open next spring, funding for the hostel is being provided by the International Youth Hostel Federation.

Last year, as a result of the Tian An Men Square violence, tourism to China plummeted, sales of the backpackers’ favorite guidebook (Lonely Planet’s “China--A Travel Survival Kit”) ground almost to a halt, and federation funding for the hostel was put on hold.

As a result of recent discussions between IYHF and the China Youth Travel Service (CYTS), financing has resumed and work is proceeding. Money for the project comes from a portion of membership fees charged by national youth hostel associations in 59 participating countries.

The Beijing hostel’s success is important for future independent travelers because it will provide them with a home base, allowing them to share information.

Such information is often the best “up-to-date” source on budget travel.

The hostel will be designed in the style of a traditional Beijing home--a complex for three or four families surrounding a courtyard.

It will have four courtyards and a restaurant and will be located in the former Lu Song Yuan Hotel, at 22 Jiao Dou Kou Lu, which is north of the China Art Gallery. From the train station, the hostel will be reachable by bus No. 4.

In the meantime, if you want to find other young independent travelers, try the Qiao Yuan Hotel on Dongbinhe Lu, near the moat (you can reach it from the center of the city on bus No. 20).

The hotel’s popularity is more likely owing to its listing in a popular budget guide--rather than due to the quality of its budget rooms.

Because washrooms are poorly maintained, I don’t recommend staying in the older building even though many young travelers do.

Doubles cost about $9.50 per person, and beds in 15-bunk dormitory rooms are about $2.40. Conditions are better in the newer building, where double rooms are about $14 per person. All doubles have air conditioning and television. (In China, you can get English-language television news each evening at 10 p.m.)

The good news about the Qiao Yuan Hotel is that it has currency exchange facilities, long-distance telephone service and rental bikes that cost about 70 cents per day. Also, for a small service charge, hotel officials will book rail tickets, although this should be done six days in advance.

At the hotel, guests can sign up for economical day-trips to the Ming tombs and the Great Wall. Cost for the all-day trips is about $6.

Travel in China is still a controversial issue. Some young travelers are choosing not to go as a way of protesting government actions. Others think that traveling and having contact with the people, despite one’s feelings about the government, is a positive move.