ABOUT YHAI

Discover the legacy of the Youth Hostels Association of India — promoting budget travel, youth hostelling, and environmental conservation.

YHAI National Legacy

The Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI) is one of India's most respected and enduring youth travel organizations, with roots going back to the 1940s. The Youth Hostel Movement found its way into India before the partition of the country in 1947, and the first Youth Hostel was formally opened at Tara Devi near Shimla on June 9, 1945. This led to the formation of YHAI in 1952, which was then established on a national scale in 1956.

YHAI is an associate member of Hostelling International, an organization based in England that serves as YHAI's parent body — a global network aimed at providing comfortable and hygienic accommodation to travellers and backpackers, irrespective of background, class, religion, age, or gender. Hostelling International has a network of more than 45,000 youth hostels across 90 countries and a membership count of more than 4.5 million people, and YHAI currently has more than 70 youth hostels across India.

Our Core Mission“To enable and promote travel, tourism, adventure spirit, national integration, and education by providing hostels of good standards to millions of youth of limited means at affordable rates, and by organizing adventure and educational events that develop understanding among youth about social and developmental issues.”

Activities organized by YHAI span trekking, mountaineering, nature study, peace promotion, and spreading international understanding among various cultures worldwide, as well as generating environmental awareness and care for nature. YHAI is a non-profit voluntary organization headquartered in New Delhi, with over 10,000 volunteers contributing to its mission across the country. For over seven decades, YHAI has been the backbone of budget travel and youth adventure in India, making the great outdoors accessible to every young person who dares to explore.