Cash-strapped visitors to Philly are in luck, because this stalwart hostel is planted right in the heart of Old City, just a few blocks from the marquee sights of Independence National Historic Park—the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and all the rest—and right in the middle of the neighborhood's picturesque cobblestoned streets lined by restaurants, art galleries, bars, boutiques, and colonial-era sights. 

It's still just a hostel, with dorm-style bunks, a television lounge with billiards, shared baths, impromptu sightseeing days and nightly pub crawls arranged with strangers—like college, only cheaper. Plus, this is modern hosteling: No curfew, no lockouts. The hostel also lards on the freebies, offering Wi-Fi, foosball, linens, laundry detergent, tea and coffee, and Nintendo Wii. You can also store your bags for free on checkout day, and take a free guided pub crawl on Thursdays.

There are standard sex-segregated dorms, co-ed dorms for mixed-gender families or groups, private rooms (with just one bunk-bed, the lower bunk a double-wide), and semi-private dorms (which are really just a room with a single bunk-bed, only there's a lock on the door connecting it to the dorm at large). No rooms have private or attached baths; everyone uses sex-segregated, shared bathrooms down the hall (or, in some cases, on the floor above or below). 

It is an HI hostel, so members pay $2 less.