The tents are returned to SHP at the end of the trip. Some of the showers will be pay showers. Each person has a bunk with a pillow and blankets provided by the hostel. You carry your own sheet sleeping sack - a sheet folded in half and sewn together like a sleeping bag, with an attached pillowcase. Both the sheet sleeping sack and a hostel membership card are included in the trip cost.
Some hostels are very small and rustic, while others are huge and modern.
They add a dimension of local color and European flavor missing from hotels and campsites. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are included in the trip cost. Groups prepare most of their own meals, shopping every day at grocery stores along the way. Except for normal desserts, group food money is not used to buy junk food. The leaders try to insure that the cooking committees buy food that is nourishing, filling enough to deal with days filled with exercise, and cookable by whoever is on the cooking committee.