Youth Hostel

Youth Hostel, Chennai is a joint venture of the Central Government of India & State Government of Tamilnadu. It conforms to the norms followed by International Youth Hostel Federation and is a non-religious, non-political, non-commercial unit transcending barriers of race, colour, sex, caste, creed or social background.

Youth Hostel is a Home away from Home.
It provides young people on their educational excursions inexpensive hostelling facilities in the form of dormitories – separate for ladies and gents, a dining hall with self-service, a common room or lounge.

It is a place for forming friendship, recreation and informal education.

Youth Hostels are not to be mistaken for luxury homes; not are they to be mistaken for residential hostels, which provide boarding lodging for long periods.

Youth Hostels provide simple accommodation at moderate cost for short period, 3 days at a time, extendable at the discretion of the Warden in deserving cases.

Unique features of the youth hostel are that both men and women can stay and that it is looked after by two wardens – a husband wife team who are also known as hostel parents.

Located in the beautiful city of palaces known for scenic beauty and favourable climate, Mysore Youth Hostel is a joint venture of the Central Government of India & State Government of Karnataka. It conforms to the norms followed by International Youth Hostel Federation and is a non-religious, non-political, non-commercial unit transcending barriers of race, colour, sex, caste, creed or social background.

ORIGINATED FROM GERMANY
YOUTH HOSTEL moment was conceived by a German Teacher RICHARD SCHIRRMAN who started the first Youth hostel in his own school on 26 August 1909. He is used to take his children on outings on weekends. They were encouraged to leave the towns on short holidays and explore the country, enjoy the open air and natural surroundings. He used to take his classes on such journey lasting up to a week covering as much as 100 miles on foot. His school was known as “THE ROMING SCHOOL” and he was called as “WALKING MAD TEACHER”, but the students and their parents used to like him.

FIRST INTRODUCED IN INDIA
In the year 1948, some enthusiastic citizens in the state of Mysore sowed the seeds of the movement in India and a nucleus office was set up at space given by Mysore University. Within the three years the movement attracted many in India and the office was shifted to New Delhi where it functions today as the National Youth Hostel Association of India Head quarters. The Association is functions in more than 80 countries with 5000 Youth Hostels with large number of members. Our country has also valuable contribution towards this movement. We have a number of Hostels in India which are built by Central Government like the one in Chennai and some Hostels are under construction. Recently about 19 private hostels are functioning recognized by Youth Hostel Association of India

CONCEPT OF YOUTH HOSTEL
Youth Hostels are not residential hostels. They offer cheap accommodation for traveling youth. These are “HOME AWAY FROM HOME” with separate dormitories for men and women, clean mattress washing facilities, common rooms, recreational space, and kitchen for hostellers to cook simple meal. Youth Hostel differs greatly from country to country and sometimes within the same country but the basic features all over the world are identical.

OLD BUILDING
Youth Hostel, Chennai was built by Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India on the land provided by State Government. This is a joint venture of State and Central Government.

Initially, Government of India built 5 Model hostels in India and one of them is Chennai Youth Hostel. The Hostel Started functioning from 13 January 1975 with 46 bed capacity spread over 6 dormitories and 2 single rooms.

YOUTH HOSTEL, 
2nd Avenue, Indira Nagar,
Chennai – 600 020, Tamilnadu, INDIA.
Tel: +91 – 44 – 24420233
Fax: +91 – 44 – 24420233