Traveling Smart / Mature Travelers -- For A Low-Cost Getaway Consider A Youth Hostel

Want a weekend getaway in Port Townsend without paying $80 a night at one of the town's quaint bed-and-breakfasts? Or stroll the sands of the Long Beach Peninsula without paying the price of a motel or cottage?

Consider the alternative: stay in youth hostel near either place for just $8.50 a person a night.

Granted, the dormitory-style accommodations are basic. (Just think of it as camping, but with a few more creature comforts and a roof to keep out the rain.) But the price is right.

Despite the name, youth hostels aren't just for youths: they're open to all ages, from children to seniors - though budget-oriented youth still prevail.

Here's what to expect at a youth hostel, including the eight scattered around Washington state:

-- Accommodations are in dormitory-style rooms. There are separate dorms for men and women. You bring your own linens: pillows and blankets are supplied. Bathrooms are down the hall.

Most Washington hostels also have family rooms available, private rooms for those traveling with children or for couples.

You can, and should, make reservations at most hostels, particularly for family rooms which make a nice introduction to hostelling. Also, this winter some of the smaller hostels may close for several months:

-- Hostels have kitchens where you can cook your own food - another good way to save money.

-- At hostels, you meet people from around the world in the kitchen or common room.

Many hostelers are outdoors-oriented - bicyclists, walkers, hikers. Others use hostels in the big cities - such as Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, B.C., as a budget base for exploring city sights and museums.

-- Be prepared to give up some privacy and put up with some noise (although hostels have quiet hours, usually from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.)

In Washington, there are hostels at Birch Bay (near Blaine); Bellingham; Vashon Island; Seattle; Port Townsend; Nordland (at Fort Flagler State Park on the northeast side of the Olympic Peninsula); Chinook (near Long Beach); and Spokane.

Hostels in this state are popular, with about 60,000 overnight stays a year, according to Sheri House, executive director of the Washington State Council of Hostelling International. The Seattle hostel, near Pike Place Market, had to turn away 30 to 50 people a day this summer, said House.

Around the state, the accommodations range from a stately old house (Spokane) to an old military hospital (Chinook) and a log cabin and teepees (Vashon).

At Port Townsend, the hostel is within Fort Worden State Park, two miles north of town and right by the beach. It can accommodate 31 people and has family rooms, too. Scenes from the film "An Officer and a Gentleman" were filmed in the park.

Near Long Beach, the Fort Columbia hostel also lies within a state park - on a bluff above the Columbia River near the small town of Chinook. The small, simple hostel has 23 beds and one family room. It's right behind some stately turn-of-the century military quarters that have been turned into the Fort Columbia State Park museum, with historical and military displays.

Astoria, Ore., is just across the river from the hostel; the beaches of Long Beach and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center are about a 20-minute drive away.

To use a hostel you need to be a member: it costs $25 a year for an adult; reduced rates for youths and seniors. Membership gives access to more than 6,000 hostels in 70 countries.

For more information: Washington State Council hostels office, 419 Queen Anne Ave. N., Suite 101, Seattle, WA 98109. Phone 281-7306.

Traveling Smart / Close to Home focuses on local topics in the Northwest on the third Tuesday of the month.