Amsterdam has many hostels dotted throughout the city. Naturally, a vibrant and exciting city such as Amsterdam has a lot to offer all ages, including the very young who are often on a tight budget. Speaking of which, Flying Pig Downtown has an age limit of 40 although during my stay there I met only a handful of people over the age of 30.

Booking a bed is done via the internet for which there is an excellent booking engine that shows availability down to the number of available beds on the days that you are staying.

There are many different types of rooms with the most expensive being a private double room and then either a queensize or single bunk in rooms varying in capacity from 6 to 32 persons!

I decided to go for the largest room available during my stay (a 16 person room) in order to obtain the authentic Flying Pig "hostel experience".

A 5% deposit is required to confirm your booking. This is different to a standard hotel booking elsewhere which will typically require a credit card for confirmation but then full payment on arrival (or on departure for a very upscale hotel). Still, 5% of what is already a cheap bed is nothing to worry about. The remaining 95% is paid on arrival at the hostel.

Upon arrival, you get a swipe card (the standard Ving card used in many hotels) which is used to get into the main hostel entrance and for entry to your dorm. From what I could tell, this worked very well and the hostel was secure and I saw no gatecrashers there.

New sheets are provided daily although you have to change them yourself which is no big deal. Either beneath or beside each bunk is a locker. This is standard fare for a hostel as I have stayed at other places in the past with the same deal. Either you can buy a padlock from reception or you bring your own. I recommend bringing your own combination lock as it will save you any bother and you need not carry a key. A full size rucksack won't fit into the locker but a weekend bag will so there is plenty of room for valuables.

You'll find the rest of the rooms at the Flying Pig to be littered with luggage, guitars and other possessions belonging to your fellow backpackers. There's also a sink in each room.

I was staying on the ground floor and there were showers located in the basement. Apparently for the other floors there is an associated shower room on each one. They looked clean enough but, as with all shared shower facilities, I recommend that you take some flip flops with you and wear them in the shower to avoid catching verrucas and the like.

One of the toilets I found was not in great condition but the rest were fine. I put this down, not to the cleaning regimen, but the fact that you are sharing these facilities with a bunch of young drunk and stoned types who are probably having regularly toilet trouble due to their party lifestyle! The good thing though, is that every toilet contains a dispenser of liquid toilet seat sanitiser so with some paper towels you can make your toilet trip more comfortable than otherwise.

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