Learn Hardcore Russian: В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом. - This time we stayed in an inexpensive hostel near the station.

The form в этом разе is technically possible but sounds archaic or stylistically strange in modern speech. You could hear в этом случае (“in this case”) or в это время (“at this time”), but for “this time (on this occasion)” Russians normally say в этот раз.

What verb form is остановились, and why is it reflexive?

Остановились is:

past tense
perfective aspect
1st person plural (“we”)
reflexive (ending -сь)
from the verb остановиться (“to stop, to stay somewhere for the night / for some time”)

Base form: остановиться
Past tense:

он останови́лся
она останови́лась
оно останови́лось
они/мы вы останови́лись

The reflexive ending -ся / -сь appears because historically it means something like “stop oneself”. In modern Russian, остановиться где-то also means “to stay / lodge somewhere”, as in остановиться в хостеле = “stay in a hostel”.

What is the difference between остановились and останавливались here?

They are different aspects of the same general action:

остановились – perfective
- a single, completed action: “(we) stayed / checked in (this time)”
- focus on the result: at some point, we ended up staying there.
останавливались – imperfective
- repeated / habitual / process: “(we) used to stay / were staying”
- focus on duration or repetition, not on the final result.

So:

В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле…
“This time we (chose and) stayed in a cheap hostel…”
Раньше мы часто останавливаліся в этом хостеле.
“We used to stay in this hostel often before.”

In your sentence, the speaker is talking about one concrete trip, so остановились is the natural choice.

Does остановились here mean “stopped moving” or “stayed overnight”? How do I know?

It can mean both, depending on context:

To stop moving
- Машина остановилась. – “The car stopped.”
To stay / lodge somewhere
- Мы остановились в хостеле. – “We stayed in a hostel.”

You know the meaning here from what follows:

остановились в хостеле – preposition в
- a place where people can stay → strongly suggests “to stay / lodge”, not just “to stop walking/driving”.

If the writer wanted to say “we stopped (the car) near the station”, they’d typically name a street, a parking lot, etc., not хостел.

Why is it в недорогом хостеле and not в недорогий хостел?

Because the preposition в with the meaning “in, inside” requires prepositional case:

Nominative: недорого́й хостел – “a cheap hostel” (dictionary form)
Prepositional singular (masc.):
- в хостеле – “in the hostel”
- в недорого́м хостеле – “in a cheap hostel”

So both the adjective and the noun change to the prepositional case:

хостел → хостеле
недорого́й → недорого́м

The phrase в недорогий хостел would be incorrect; the adjective must agree with the noun in case, number, and gender.

What exactly does недорогом mean? Is it “cheap” or “not too expensive”?

Недорого́й / недорого́м literally means “not expensive”.

Nuance:

Often understood as “affordable / reasonably priced”, not necessarily the absolute cheapest option.
дешёвый = “cheap” (and can sometimes carry a slightly negative connotation: low quality, tacky).
недорого́й хостел sounds neutral or mildly positive: budget-friendly but acceptable.

So в недорогом хостеле is best translated as “in an inexpensive / budget hostel”, not “in a dirt-cheap hostel”.

Why do we use в хостеле and not на хостеле?

In Russian, the choice of в vs на with a place is mostly idiomatic:

в is used for being inside / within most closed spaces or buildings:
- в доме, в отеле, в школе, в магазине
на is used with some open or concept-type locations:
- на улице, на вокзале, на почте, на стадионе

A хостел is treated like a building or interior space you are in, so Russians say:

в хостеле, в отеле, в гостинице

На хостеле would mean “on top of the hostel (on the roof)” and is not what is meant here.

What is the difference between хостел, гостиница, and отель?

Approximate distinctions in modern Russian:

хостел
- typically budget accommodation
- often dorm-style, shared rooms, shared bathrooms
- similar to hostel in English
гостиница
- the general native Russian word for a hotel
- can be anything from modest to quite good
- neutral, standard word
отель
- borrowed from French/English “hotel”
- often used for more formal or higher-class places, or just as a stylish term
- many establishments brand themselves as отель even if they’re small

In your sentence, недорогой хостел clearly suggests a budget, hostel-style place, not a standard hotel.

How does рядом с вокзалом work grammatically? What case is вокзалом?

The structure is:

рядом – adverb “nearby, next to”
с – preposition “with / near”
вокзалом – noun вокзал in the instrumental case (singular masculine)

The pattern is: рядом с + instrumental:

рядом с домо́м – next to the house
рядом с па́рком – next to the park
рядом с вокза́лом – next to the station

So вокзалом here is the instrumental form of вокзал.

Could we say у вокзала instead of рядом с вокзалом? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say both, and both mean “near the station”:

рядом с вокзалом – “(right) next to the station / nearby the station”
у вокзала – literally “by the station, at the station”

Nuance:

рядом с highlights physical proximity, almost “right next to”.
у is very common and can mean “near / by / at” in a broader sense.

In most everyday contexts, в хостеле рядом с вокзалом and в хостеле у вокзала are interchangeable. The original choice just emphasizes “a hostel that’s close to the station”.

Can I change the word order, for example Мы в этот раз остановились…? What sounds natural?

Several orders are possible and grammatical, but the nuance of emphasis changes a bit.

All of these are natural:

В этот раз мы остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.
– Neutral, common. Light emphasis on “this time” at the beginning.
Мы в этот раз остановились в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом.
– Extra emphasis on “this time” in contrast to other times:
“This time we (in particular) stayed in a cheap hostel…”

These would sound odd or wrong:

Мы остановились в этот раз в недорогом хостеле… – grammatically possible, but clumsy and less natural.
Splitting the noun phrase unnaturally, e.g. в недорогом рядом с вокзалом хостеле, is not good; descriptive parts usually come together before the noun:
- natural: в недорогом хостеле рядом с вокзалом

How do you pronounce the whole sentence? Where is the stress in each word?

With stress marks:

В э́тот раз мы останови́лись в недорого́м хо́стеле ря́дом с вокза́лом.

Word by word (stressed syllables in caps in Latin transcription):

В – [v]
э́тот – [É-tat]
раз – [ras]
мы – [mɨ] (“my” but with the Russian /y/ sound)
останови́лись – [as-ta-na-VI-lis’]
в – [v]
недорого́м – [ni-da-ra-GÓM]
хо́стеле – [HÓ-ste-le]
ря́дом – [RYA-dam]
с – [s]
вокза́лом – [vak-ZA-lam]

Natural speech will link many of these together, but keeping the stresses as above will make your pronunciation clear and understandable.