Go Niche

If you’re broke after Christmas but still hope to travel in 2013, there are some great value – and quirky – options available from Hostels Club.

Head to Mossel Bay, South Africa, to stay at the Santos Express Train Lodge where you can get a private room for €12 a night.

The hostel, situated along the Garden Route, is an actual train, parked on the beach, with a restaurant, bar, beer garden and sun deck.

Or stay in Japan for just over twice that amount at the Capsule Hotel Asakusa Riverside, in Tokyo.

Measuring just 2m by 1m, it’s purely a place to lay your head but is handy for exploring the nearby Senso-ji Buddhist temple or taking a river cruise down the Sumida from the nearby wharf.

Those heading Down Under can stay down under too, in a cave motel in Coober Pedy. The town, in the northern part of South Australia, is the world’s biggest opal mining centre and is famous for its underground world including homes, shops and churches.

Stay at the Radeka Underground Backpackers Inn from €28 per person, per night for a four-bed dormitory, 3m under the earth, and then try your hand at the grassless golf course nearby.

In Sweden there’s the Jumbo Stay Hostel, a grounded aeroplane close to Stockholm Arlanda airport, for €52 a night for a private room. Cheaper still, book five or more nights in any destination with Hostels Club and get a night’s accommodation for two in Venice for free.

So that’s the accommodation sorted.

All you have to do is fund the flights.

[ HostelsClub.com ]