HostelTrail.com is an online network of hostels and tour companies in South America providing up-to-date information for backpackers and independent travellers. Our aim is to bring together local businesses giving them the opportunity to promote themselves online while helping to show South America for what it is, an amazing continent and a fantastic travel destination. We pay particular attention to locally run businesses and hope to offer a little more publicity to the lesser known companies and hidden gems of South America!

HostelTrail is now an established backpacker network and already one of the largest in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. HostelTrail is ranked in the top 125,000 most visited websites in the USA and in also one of the fastest growing tourism websites in Latin America. We now have writers and contributors from all over the world which, we feel, gives HostelTrail has a unique, international and unbiased approach. Our base for the project is the HostelTrail Guesthouse in the beautiful colonial city of Popayan in Southern Colombia. Read more...

Having travelled in Europe during my earlier days, I set my sights on Latin America in 2003, travelling from Tijuana in Mexico to the Colombian border before stumbling across a former Scottish colony in the Darien Gap.

Returning home to Scotland, I spent two years as Deputy Manager of the HI Edinburgh Bruntsfield Youth Hostel. During this time, I built the website hibackpacker.com which brought a 40% increase in email enquiries - a clear demonstration of the important part the internet plays in the hospitality industry.

After two trips to South America, it was clear that many of the smaller, locally run hostels and tour agencies were at a massive disadvantage in having no web presence. Seeing a gap in the market, I decided my next trip to Latin America would be one to make a difference - as such, the project of HostelTrail.com was born.

Read Tony's Travel Diary >>>

Setting foot for the first time in South America aged seventeen, I was amazed by the world of absolute contrast I'd stumbled across. Immediately falling in love with the people, the landscapes, the culture and the blissful simplicity of life on the road, I proceeded to spend the following ten months soaking it all up!

Working in hostels both in South America and at home has been a great experience, allowing me to understand more about people, languages and of course the hostelling industry. This project has been a great way to combine what I have learned, both travelling and working, to help others make the most of South America - as travellers or from the business point of view. It's a great way to share first-hand information and advice with like-minded travellers and an excellent way for local businesses to get their name out there!

Read Kim's Travel Diary >>>

Hanneke and Roy are a Dutch couple who spent the last few years living in Munich. They both gave up their jobs and home to spend their 12-month honeymoon travelling through Latin America. Hanneke is an epidemiologist who grew up on Curaçao and studied in the Netherlands and Spain. Roy is a consultant & product manager who studied Business Administration and for the past eight years has worked in the UK and Germany.

Hanneke & Roy have kindly offered to share the tales of their journey from Guatemala to Patagonia with HostelTrail.

Dominic and Alex, both 31, hail from Brighton in the UK and are pursuing their dream to explore Latin America for a year. Both are language graduates and have travelled extensively for pleasure and with their jobs in the UK travel industry.

With their combined experience in languages, sales and editing both make a welcome addition to the HostelTrail team.

Meike and Werner are a Dutch couple who gave up their life in Holland to travel from Mexico to Patagonia in 10 months. Back in Holland Werner studied Commercial Economics and Meike studied Communication, Information Sciences and Photography. During their trip, the pair also took photos and wrote articles for a travel website about Argentina as well as helping out HostelTrail.com with the addition of many new hostels and tour companies in Brazil.

Taking a break from the day-to-day routine and university lecture rooms in Frankfurt, Vicky and Till have decided to travel South America for a year. Till found himself infected with the traveller's bug on his very first journey through Latin America - Vicky picked up something similar in India! Vicky currently holds a diploma in Social Work and Till is coming to the end of his course in American Studies, Spanish and History. Both of these intrepid travellers relish the opportunity to improve their Spanish as well gain more experience in the travel journalism field.

Sonja and Jan decided to start their joint exploration of the South American cultures in Quito, Ecuador. To do so Sonja, a graphic and web designer from Canada, gave up her steady home-base to join Jan, a general manager from Holland, on the latest of his extensive travels through different parts of the world. Their intention is to learn as much as possible from each other but foremost from all the cultures they encounter on their happy travels. They believe that the best way to experience another culture is to travel low budget and get out on the street as much as possible to meet local people. Their view on life: be positive, enjoy whatever you're doing and respect others.

Kate and James are both from Sydney, Australia and took the decision to pack up their day jobs in exchange for 18 months of travel through Central & South America. Starting their trip in Guatemala in May 2008 they have rough plans to end it sometime around August 2009 in Buenos Aires.

Back in Australia, James works as an Engineer and Kate is involved in the tourism industry. With such a great trip ahead of them, we're delighted to hear that they have offered their services to expanding the HostelTrail Network.

Luke and Jana are a British/German couple who met in Nicaragua in 2002. Their shared passion for travel remained a priority through several years saving and studying in England while Jana completed her photography degree. Luke is a web developer and writer and Jana is a professional photographer, a perfect team for travel blogging. The pair are now realising their dream to leave the UK for good and embark on a grand travel odyssey in Latin America. They plan to put their experiences to good use when they return to Europe and open a hostel of their own in Spain.

Ali Cartwright is a Primary School Teacher and Ed Edgington is an Engineer and Business Analyst both from the UK who decided to sell their cars, house and all their worldly possessions and travel the world for 2 years.

During their trip they have travelled to China, Mongolia, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, North America, Europe and South America and have experienced budget travelling to the full. Both are strong believers in good information for travellers in order to gain the greatest experience and as such will be helping HostelTrail to update the Central America section.

Louis and Amy were born to explore.  Fate brought them together and destiny is set to launch them into Central America carrying the Hosteltrail mission with them.  Heralding from the South-west of England and Wales respectively, the recent graduates of Politics and Geography, have put their Bristol lives on hold in favour of travelling Latin America. 

The couple began their journey in Brazil and after a three month break working in a Buenos Aires hostel, they have been on the road since working their way up to Colombia and now onto Central America.

Film publicist Kate and languages teacher Seth already had a taste for travel before leaving England, having spent extensive amounts of time in China, Saudi Arabia and much of Europe. A five minute chat confirmed that they were both eager to give up everything to spend a year exploring Latin America and improving their languages. A journey that started with a slight detour to French Polynesia and New Zealand will make its way North through the Americas to finish in Mexico. The couple have kindly offered to help with improving the Brazil, Argentina and Mexico sections of HostelTrail.com .

Since a two-week vacation to Peru following her graduation from university in Canada, Emily has felt drawn back to Latin America. An online job gave her just the chance she needed, and she plans to travel through Central and South America, learning Spanish and improving her writing. A believer in both budget travel and the value of good information, she looks forward to both contributing to and using the HostelTrail site.

Past Writers & Translators

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