Best Hostels in Istanbul for Erasmus Students in 2026

The one people name first when you ask, and the reason is the programme rather than the rooms: walking tours, party nights, pub crawls and periodic yacht trips, run often enough that you can arrive alone on a Tuesday and have a group by Thursday. The terrace bar with a city view is where that actually happens, so the social side is unavoidable in a way it is not at a hostel with a basement common room. Practically: beds have their own reading light and power outlet, linens and lockers are free, and the Galata location puts you five minutes from the tower and ten from the İstiklal end of the crawl routes. Best for a first two weeks where meeting people matters more than sleeping well. Location: Şahkulu, Beyoğlu, a few minutes from Galata Tower.

The boutique end of this list, in a fully renovated historic building a street back from İstiklal, which buys you quiet without losing the location. The rooftop terrace is the selling point and the Turkish breakfast served on it is included, which over a two-week stay is a real line in the budget rather than a perk. It runs weekly pub crawls like the others, so the social route in is the same, but the room you come back to is closer to a small hotel than a dorm. Best if you want the hostel social life without the hostel building. Location: just off İstiklal Caddesi, Beyoğlu, 10 minutes walk to Taksim Square.

The cheapest way to be this central. Simple rooms, a rooftop terrace for the evenings and staff who have travelled enough to give advice worth taking, all a walk from Taksim Square and İstiklal. What you trade for the price is comfort and stairs, of which there are many and no lift, so a large suitcase is a genuine consideration rather than a joke. Best if the plan is to be out of the building most of the day and you would rather spend the difference on the nights. Location: central Taksim, Beyoğlu, about 12 minutes walk from Taksim metro station.

The small one, and small is the whole proposition: fewer beds means you meet the same faces repeatedly rather than a rotating cast, which suits some people exactly and bores others. Staff are flexible with the kind of requests bigger places refuse, the location splits the difference between Taksim and Galata, and there are resident cats, which in Istanbul is less a quirk than a civic norm. Best if you want a social hostel that is not a party hostel, and if arriving somewhere calm after a flight matters more than a programme of events. Location: Beyoğlu, 13 minutes walk from Taksim metro, 17 minutes from Galata Tower.

The only one on this list across the water, and that single fact changes the whole stay: Kadıköy is where Istanbul lives rather than where it hosts, so the street outside is cafes and bars serving locals at local prices rather than a tourist strip. Clean rooms, a proper common room and cheap laundry, which matters more on a two-week stay than a two-night one. The trade is the crossing: 25 minutes by ferry to Eminönü or Karaköy, pleasant during the day and a real constraint after the last boat. Best if your campus is on the Asian side, or if you would rather live somewhere than stay somewhere. Location: Kadıköy, near Moda, 25 minutes ferry to Eminönü or Karaköy.