Holland Offers Chance to Sleep Cheap Abroad

Visitors to the Netherlands can get lots of help on where to stay, what to see, how to get around and other practical tips in a special publication for young visitors. Free copies of “Holland, a Young and Lively Country,” are available from Holland’s North American information offices.

The publication includes a listing of phone numbers of 80 youth hostels and student-style hotels and 21 camping areas. It does not include specific rates but does include helpful details such as student/youth travel agencies, events and who to contact in an emergency.

For a copy write: Netherlands Board of Tourism, 605 Market St., Room 401, San Francisco 94105.

Three Types of Lodging

In Amsterdam, one firm providing budget visitors good accommodation value is Cok Hotels. Three hotels offer three standards of lodging: first, tourist and student classes. The student-class building has 60 rooms, 220 beds, a TV lounge and gift shop. Rooms have showers but other facilities are down the hall. You’re right next door to restaurants, coffee shop and bar in the other Cok Hotels.

Rates are not as low as they were but still a good value considering it’s clean, safe and convenient, and you’re likely to meet other young travelers.

Summer rates--which include breakfast--at the student-class hotel will be about $34 for a single room, $22 per person for a twin room and $16 if you are willing to share a room for men or women with as many as five other travelers. There is a $1.25 surcharge if you are only staying one night in a multiple-bed, shared room.

If you want to step up to the tourist-class hotel, whose 70 rooms do have their own washrooms, you’ll find summer rates will run about $40 for a single, $30 for a twin room and $20 if you share a room that accommodates three or four.

Information: Cok Hotels, Koninginneweg 34-36, 1075 CZ Amsterdam.

A good day trip from Amsterdam is the 7 1/2-hour bike tour that leaves Amsterdam’s Amstel Station at 10 a.m. daily between June 1 and Oct. 1. Reservations are not required; just show up at the bike depot at the station. The $13 fee includes bike rental, a guide, a visit to a cheese farm and windmill, and boating--if weather permits--on a small lake where you can picnic. You must provide your own food.

If you go to France, both Paris and Chamonix will have new youth hostel facilities, according to the International Youth Hostel Federation. The new D’Artagnan in Paris will have room for as many as 377 visitors. Check with local tourist information offices for details on hours and locations.

London’s Tent City

If you are in London, you can sleep cheap at Tent City, opening for its 16th season. It won’t suit everyone’s taste but it is inexpensive. This year it will have 400 beds in 12 large tents (men’s, women’s and mixed). Nightly rate is about $4, and if you have your own tent you can set it up at the same price per person.

This year Tent City will be open June 2 to Sept. 9 and usually provides accommodations for about 10,000 summer visitors. Tent City is at Old Oak Common Lane, London W3, or phone 743-5708 from London. You can get there by the Underground or Heathrow Airport Bus No. 105 to East Acton.

Another low-cost London alternative for those with their own camping equipment is Hackney Camping at Millfields Road, London E5; phone 985-7656 from London. Nightly rate per person is $3. You can reach it by taking Bus 38 from Victoria or Piccadilly to Clapton Pond and walking down Millfields Road.