Contrary to the popular belief that Europe is a costlier destination for budget travelers, the continent offers several budget-friendly accommodations and travel options for a pocket friendly trip.
Belgium is the capital of the European Union and Antwerpen is one of the major cities of Belgium that buzzes with activities and tourists. A diamond district then and now, it is a hub for traders from across Europe who come for buying and selling variety of goods. Antwerpen is popular for its medieval architecture, the Grote market square, the chocolates, diverse visitors from across the European countries and its port trade terminal.
In this blog, you will get to know more about how budget travelers can find affordable stays and travel to enjoy spending time in this medieval city. While one can find several hotels online, I recommend booking.com for the right and budget-friendly stays. I have used it a couple of times to book accommodations across Europe and it has never failed our expectations.
The Ash Antwerp Student Hostel, Antwerpen
The Ash Antwerp Student Hostel is one such budget friendly, clean, hassle-free accommodation with friendly staffs and pocket-friendly charges. Plus it is strategically located near to both railway and bus stations. Just a walkable distance from both Antwerpen Central railway station (around 400 meters) and only a minute away from the bus station that would open the entire Europe for the travelers.
Friendly staffs
The hotel has a friendly staff who allowed to place my luggage in their basement since we arrived a couple of hours early, helped me with the day’s planning which enabled me to visit Bruges on the same day without wasting time.
Another staff, the cleaner of the hotel named Audre helped me with a free replacement of my neck support when mine was misplaced somewhere after check in.
Facilities
It is a perfect stay for both singles and family as it offers both hostel type and individual rooms for guests. Hostels are way more cheaper and very apt for budget travelers and solo travelers.
Do it yourself kitchen
For the convenience of guests, the hotel offers a full-fledged do it yourself kitchen with all facilities and ranging from cutleries and stoves to dishes and knives. It is a very good experience to cook our own food and it is very affordable compared to buying and eating from outside.
The kitchen is open until 11 PM in the night and opens by 7 AM in the morning. Adjacent to the kitchen, there is a dining space and a small office space for people who would like to get an undisturbed working environment. The kitchen is located on ground floor behind the reception. After the kitchen, adjacent to the office space, there is a open space which offers a cool semi-private space for conversations and discussions.
Basement
Ash offers self laundry facilities with two fully functional washing machines which works for a couple of Euro coins. All one has to do is load the machine with clothes and insert the coins. Clear instructions are available next to the machine.
Storage space: Beyond the laundry area, there is a space with series of racks to place our luggage. This space helps us especially in times of early check-ins and late checkouts. The need for us to block the room until last minute is eliminated as we can vacate the rooms while keeping our luggage in this storage space. And it is free of cost for the guests.
Cycle hire: One will miss a major fun across several cities in Europe if one doesn’t opt to roam around the city in cycles. Yes, all major cities in Europe (almost) have carved out spaces for cyclists. It is cheap, budget-friendly and the roads and traffic are made to include and support cyclists. So what more one wants. In my opinion, cycling is the most budget friendly way to have fun and visit several places in the city. The Ash enables guests to hire cycles with different packages. For 2 hours, it was 10 Euros and for one full day, it was 15 Euros. Note that cycle theft is one of the major and common things in these countries. Yes, one can see cycle locking bars almost in every street to enable the cyclists to lock their cycles, chain them along the cycle bars to ensure safety. Hence, The Ash has made it a policy to get the passport as a pledge until the cycle is returned by the guest. Sounds ridiculous and highly unfair, however, that is a rule. I took a cycle for 2 hours and enjoyed riding across the whole city.
The Ash Antwerp Student Hostel – rooms and facilities
The Ash Antwerp Student Hostel is a heaven for solo and budget travelers who look forward to covering more places with little expense. These are typical narrow rooms with 4-5 bunk beds per room. This means, one will share the room with 4 other strangers. Yes, it is important to take care of their belongings and valuables. There will be space constraints to place luggage and limited charging points for which there will always be a competition in today’s mobile phone and laptop age. The top bunkers are slightly unlucky in the way that they don’t get access to direct charging points. They have to rely on their neighbors below to charge their electronics. Also, every time, one has to get down from the top bunker bed to access their luggage, clothes, etc. The Ash could have thought through this and could have provided better and equal access to charge points for the top bunk occupants too. But, yes, that is a limitation.
Hostel rooms have its own limitations, especially, the space and privacy. Trust me when I say there is ZERO privacy. And if you get a super snorer in your room, your night is done. Also, you never know who stays until what time. You might be striking a good conversation with your neighbor and all of a sudden, the same night or the next day morning, the person would have been gone, checked-out. So, it is important to be aware of such dynamics and accordingly keep only your clothes and necessary things in your luggage while keeping your electronics and travel documents in a small bag along with you all through.
The toilets, that too dry toilets, being used by 5 inmates who come from different backgrounds, will mostly be miserable. In my case, somehow the toilet was manageable. At times it was smelly, but, one cant help much. Hostel toilets and smells cant be separated. Your budget stay comes with this inconvenience and The Ash is not an exception, toilet care requires improvement.
Pro-tip: I never used the room toilet. I used the room toilet only for hot bathe. However, for nature calls, I used the common toilet which is in ground floor, adjacent to the dining area. It was hardly used by any.
The Ash Antwerpen student hostel room charges
I booked the hostel shared room for three nights and I booked it for Rs. 9500 approximately. i.e. per night stay costs around Rs. 3150. This is pretty decent considering the facilities one get from The Ash.
Pro-tip: Book the rooms well in advance. This gives you sufficient time to plan on the rest. Also, with Booking.com, you don’t have to pay the amount immediately. The website offers certain days of time before which you can always cancel without making the payment. They block the rooms for you and unblock if you don’t want. This is a feature, though I dint use, liked it very much, as it gives flexibility for the solo-travelers to make plans and more importantly change their plans if required without losing money.
The Ash Antwerpen student hostel is good for budget travelers
One can always make last minute comparisons on the facilities and the pricing, however, The Ash hotel satisfies most of the criteria required for a solo traveler. It is strategically located near to railway and bus stations, it offers do it yourself kitchen and laundry, the hostel rooms are comfortable (though the toilets are slightly smelly), they offer cycles which can be hired to go around the entire city, the staffs are friendly and the stay is affordable in most cases, compared to other hotels nearby.