10 exceptional properties, 8 spectacular destinations

Each of our hostels is utterly unique and offers its own mix of features and amenities, as well as things to see and do in the surrounding area. For details about each hostel and destination, please choose a location from the map above.

Not sure where you're headed? Below are a few highlights to get you started. 

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San Francisco has something exciting to do or see over every hill

An amazing 96 percent of San Francisco visitors plan a return visit for a second round of ideal weather, stately Victorians, nostalgic cable cars, rolling terrain, and a blazing orange bridge that inspires the heart and soul to wander time and time again. We offer three hostels in the city: the San Francisco City Center Hostel is a recently renovated 1920s hotel near the Civic Center arts district and Hayes Valley; the San Francisco Downtown Hostel is a block away from Union Square in the heart of the tourist district; and the San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf Hostel is housed in historic waterfront buildings in a National Park.

Join 16 million annual visitors who find it hard to resist San Francisco's legendary neighborhoods--from the home of the Summer of Love in the Haight to the home of the Beat generation in North Beach--historic landmarks and exciting nightlife. 

Discover the history and recreational opportunities of San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay offers hundreds of opportunities for recreation. People hike and bike along its shores, and more than 500 species of fish and wildlife thrive in its wetlands.

Windsurfers take advantage of the bay during sailing season when they practice their moves near or under the Golden Gate Bridge and by the Candlestick Park area. Sailing enthusiasts since the 1850s have considered the bay one of Northern California's top destinations.

Learn more about maritime heritage at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park at Hyde Street Pier. The nation's only floating National Park provides an opportunity to board turn-of-the-century ships, tour a museum, and learn traditional arts like boat building and woodworking. 

The world's most beautiful bridge is the northern gateway

The Golden Gate Bridge is the quintessential symbol of San Francisco and one of the best places to walk or bike in the Bay Area. The 1.2-mile-long suspension bridge (once a world-record holder) opened in 1938 after four years of construction. It sways 27 feet to withstand winds of up to 100 miles per hour and contains enough strands of steel wire (80,000 miles) to encircle the equator three times. It also inspires poetry, daydreams, and wedding proposals.

Just across the bridge outside Sausalito is the Marin Headlands Hostel, housed in restored former officers' quarters at Fort Barry. The setting is many moods apart from San Francisco: windswept ridges, protected valleys, and access to Rodeo Lagoon and Beach, the Point Bonita Lighthouse, Muir Woods National Monument, and Mount Tamalpais State Park. The Point Reyes Hostel and the Redwood National Park Hostel are located further north along Highway 101.

Reserve a coveted spot at one of two lighthouse hostels in California

Our lighthouse hostels are an adventure for some guests and a romantic retreat for others. Either way, the unique setting is a destination that fits every travel budget.

The Point Montara Lighthouse is one of California's most charming, while the Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of America's tallest. The nearby lighthouse keepers' housing has been renovated into a mix of private rooms and shared dorm rooms for individual travelers, couples, families, and groups. Hostelling International saved these historic lighthouses in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and California State Parks for the benefit of the local community, the preservation of California history, and the support of HI's mission to promote international understanding through travel.

Be dwarfed (and humbled) by ancient redwoods

Visitors to Redwood National and State Parks behold trees taller than the Statue of Liberty, only to venture a bit farther into the mist-shrouded forest to find one even taller. Redwoods can survive for more than 2,000 years and grow to heights of more than 300 feet. The Redwood National Park Hostel is situated on the edge of the forest and the ocean where a mosaic of habitats intersect: woodlands, underbrush, waterways, and wildlife. The landscape also reflects the parks' restoration efforts to preserve the area's Native American and logging history.

Muir Woods National Monument near the Marin Headlands Hostel is home to the tallest type of tree in the world, the sequoia redwood, as well as countless other plants and animals--ferns, redwood sorrel, stellar jays, black-tailed deer, and banana slugs,  to name a few.

Butano State Park, about five miles southeast of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel, is a secluded 2,200-acre canyon filled with redwoods. Visit the park during the summer for a guided nature walk or embark on a self-guided adventure along miles of hiking trails.

Observe marine life along the coast without an entrance fee

The Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, which begins near the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel, is a spectacular four-mile stretch of protected California coastline. During low tides, a colorful array of starfish, crabs, mussels, abalone, sea anemones, and other marine animals are exposed and visible in tide pools. Año Nuevo State Reserve near the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel is another popular coastal destination. During northern elephant seal breeding season, witness the largest-ever North American native mammal to come ashore (the seals weigh up to 5,000 pounds).

Both lighthouse hostels are sought-after destinations during the annual gray whale northern migration season. The gray whale averages 10,000-14,000 miles during its migration--one of the longest for any mammal. 

Spend a memorable afternoon hiking in the great outdoors

Many Northern California visitors enjoy a leisurely hike along the Bay Trail, a 210-mile recreational corridor with access to numerous beaches and 130 parks. The Point Reyes Hostel is convenient to more than 140 miles of hiking paths for a step-by-step adventure through Point Reyes National Seashore, a geological "island in time." The habitat includes sandy and rocky beaches; salt and fresh water marsh; riparian, coastal prairie, and scrub; and dense forests. Redwood National and State Parks, the home of our northernmost hostel, has a 16-mile round-trip trail that provides a one-of-a-kind journey to three of the tallest trees in the world, each soaring 300 or more feet upward. The hike also provides immersive encounters with giant ferns, dogwoods, alders, and willows. 

It's a (Northern California) jungle out there

Northern California is home to a diverse array of wildlife, including breeding and migratory birds, fox, elk, deer, bobcats, elephant seals, and sea lions, just to name a few. More than 40 percent of the waterfowl in the Pacific Flyway stop to winter at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, located about 50 miles north of the Sacramento Hostel. The coastal scrub and grasslands at the Point Reyes Hostel are a sanctuary for a herd of 400 Tule elk that nearly disappeared in 1860. A 20-mile-wide "highway" in Point Reyes National Seashore provides vistas of awe-inspiring gray whales, the fun-loving antics of harbor seals, and the sheer sloth of elephant seals.

The Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge near the Redwood National Park Hostel is an ideal location for wildlife observation, study, and photography. Nearly 55,000 acres of water, marsh, agricultural crops and uplands is the predominant nesting grounds for a diversity of fowl including mallards, cinnamon teals, ruddy ducks, and Canadian geese.

Experience the beauty of Northern California on two wheels

Northern California is a biker's haven with more than 20 advocacy groups and about 60 bicycling clubs that work to improve safety and access to public land. Their efforts have created a playground of mountain trails, country lanes, and scenic routes throughout the region.

The Redwood National Park Hostel is near a seven-mile loop of the Coastal Trail with a classic north coast landscape of sand, tide pools, sea breezes, and ancient redwoods. The Point Reyes Hostel is near a variety of off-road biking paths that pass through diverse habitats and terrains, including evergreen forests, coastal scrub, estuaries, and beach bluffs.

The 23-mile American River Parkway is a recreation area and trail near the Sacramento Hostel that attracts nearly five million bikers, walkers, and rafters every year. The trail begins in a foothill setting at Folsom Lake and heads west until the American and Sacramento rivers converge.