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Compared to Stockholm and London, finding a place to sleep in Spain is relatively cheap. But it’s still not as cheap as you’d think it might be so it’s a good thing there are plenty of hostels in Spain for the budget traveler. And one great thing about Spain hostels compared to many other places is they tend to offer a lot of group activities such as pub-crawls and outings to local sights. English isn’t widely spoken in Spain so these scheduled activities can be a great way to beat the language barrier if you aren’t fluent in Spanish.

This is a vast country and many of the big cities for travelers are spread out, so planning your time in Spain can be a bit tricky. Most people start in one of the two biggest cities, Madrid or Barcelona, and then connect a few other places on the way to the other one. Unfortunately these are the two most expensive cities in the country to find a bed, so the hostels really come in handy.

Barcelona feels very unlike the rest of Spain and its citizens consider themselves Catalan first and Spanish second. They even speak Catalan more often than Spanish, but English isn’t as rare in Barcelona as it is elsewhere. The city is quite spread out and there are smaller hotels throughout the area, but most of the sights and great nightlife are concentrated near the Las Ramblas area that leads to the port. The new Centric Point Hostel has a great location and over 400 beds, but the dorm rooms themselves aren’t too huge so it’s not like sleeping in a storm shelter.

Madrid is even larger than Barcelona, and just as expensive for hotels. Fortunately there are many Spain hostels to choose from as well. This is another sprawling city and there are properties all over town. It may be tempting to save a few Euros by booking the cheapest place you can find, but in Madrid that might be a 15-minute subway ride to the things you actually want to see and do so it’s probably not worth it. Gran Via is the main street with the up-market hotels, but the best place for backpackers to stay in near the Puerto del Sol area or even to the south of it. Hostels in this area will cost a bit more than the far-out ones, but when you are coming home at 5 a.m. you’ll be happy you are only steps away instead of facing that long public transportation journey.

There are plenty of hostels in all the other major cities as well. Granada, Seville, and Valencia are all nice, and offer different experiences. Hotel prices are more moderate and the cities aren’t so spread out, but the hostels are still great places to meet other travelers in a country where English is quite foreign.

For something that is unique even within Spain you might consider staying in Tarifa. It’s the windsurfing capital of Europe, the best place to depart to Morocco from, and a major backpacker hangout with some very cool hostels.