I fancy myself a bit of a Sydney hostel expert after my month-long stint of being homeless. Since one of my initial objectives for this blog was to offer helpful information to people thinking of doing a working holiday in Australia (but let’s face it… I’m not much for goals, as this has turned into an outlet for me to bitch), I’ve compiled my thoughts on the three hostels I stayed at. I present to you, in order of best to worst, my guide to hosteling in Sydney. Note: We were staying in twin share rooms and using a communal bathroom in every hostel, not staying in dorm rooms.
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1. The Strand Hotel, 99 William Street, Sydney
The Strand was the second hostel I stayed at, and considering how wretched the first hostel was, my expectations were pretty low. This hostel takes up 3 floors above a pub. It used to be a hotel but was renovated into a hostel within the last year. It’s walking distance to the city, Kings Cross and Darlinghurst, but it’s a 10-15 minute walk to the closest train station (we went back and forth between using Kings Cross or Town Hall for trains, it’s pretty much right between those two stations). The rooms were very clean and comfortable. The bathrooms were pretty clean, too, and there was a private shower and toilet on one floor which we usually used to shower in and there was also a communal bathroom with only 2 showers and one toilet. It had two kitchens, one of which was really nice. It looked like the kitchen in someone’s house and not the typical hostel kitchen. There was another kitchen on the top floor near the laundry room and roof deck. The pub downstairs had good food and beer at a decent price, so that was a perk. My biggest complaint is there was no common area with a TV, there was just a roof deck with picnic tables. We saw a sign that you could rent a TV/DVD player for your room, but didn’t look into that. If I was staying in a dorm room I would want to have a common area I could escape to, since we were in our own room I guess that wasn’t as bad. Also, this didn’t feel like a hostel experience. The “reception” area consists of walking up to the bar in the pub and having one of the bartenders check you in. That was fine by us, since we’re old maids and weren’t looking for a hostel partying experience. This definitely wasn’t a party spot. Overall, it gets my highest vote. OH! Huge bonus: one of the managers gave us a 50% discount for two nights when we booked here for the second time (we stayed here 4 nights, then came back for another 2 nights) AND it was for the nicest room, a twin share with its own bathroom. I think it was only because my gentleman friend knows him and tipped him off to give the 2 American girls top notch treatment, not sure if the guy gives people discounts on a whim.
2. 790 on George, 790 George Street, Sydney
This one is neck and neck with The Strand. If I was looking for more of the typical hosteling experience, I would have chosen this one. It would have been a good place to socialize but since this was our last hostel we were grumpy and ready to have our own apartment by that point. It was located right next to Central Station and walking distance to just about anywhere in the city (we walked to Darling Harbour one day in about 20 minutes). There’s a bar almost literally below the hostel, called Scubar, which we actually went to one night before we booked this hostel. I think it’s normally filled with backpackers, hence the really decent prices. This hostel was huge compared to the others we stayed at, it had 6 floors, 2 commons areas, laundry room, and huge kitchen. Our room was pretty clean but the pillows were NASTY! Fortunately they provide sheets and pillow cases, but I was still skeeved out by the pillow. A huge perk is all of the rooms have air conditioning. The bathroom was decent, although one of the showers’ water pressure was enough to knock you off your feet. Judging by the amount of food being stored in the kitchen, there were roughly 5 million people staying here. The kitchen was always busy, we actually cooked dinner in there one night and had to wait our turn to use a stove top. We also did laundry here. It cost $4/load and they sold detergent at the front desk. Since it cost so much for one load (how I longed for the days of 75 cents/load in my college dorm laundry room), there was never anyone using the laundry machines. There was also an iron (with Japanese writing) and ironing board down there that I used a few times. My favorite thing about this place was the staff at the front desk. They actually knew what they were talking about and seemed like they enjoyed working there. They were always really friendly and would actually recognize us as we came and went, by the end of our stay they were asking how our job interviews/apartment hunting was going.
3. The Pink House, 6-8 Barncleuth Square, Kings Cross
This dump comes in dead last on my list. I would almost put sleeping on the sidewalk above this place. I’ve already written about it here and Mandi wrote about how we had to evacuate here, but there is plenty more to say. The only redeeming quality about this place is it’s location. There are tons of bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants right there, as well as the Kings Cross station. Upon checking in, we were greeted by a French guy at the front desk who either I couldn’t understand or knew absolutely nothing. The staff here are employed a few hours a day in exchange for staying at the hostel, and the woman who runs the hostel is extremely wacky. Basically, no one knew anything, not that it matters, since there’s not much to know about this hostel other than it’s the most disgusting place I’ve ever slept in (and I’ve slept in a frat house or two back in the day). Not that I slept much here, since people enjoy fighting outside at 4 a.m., the fire alarm likes to go off in the middle of the night, and a monkey lived outside our window (I later found out this was a kookaburra, a bird that sounds freakishly like a primate). The hostel itself is an old house that’s exactly what I would imagine the house of a crazy cat lady to look like. Seriously, every time I went down the stairs I wondered if the whole place was gonna collapse around me (please refrain from jokes about how that may be from the amount of McDonalds I’ve eaten). I cannot say enough bad things about this place. Don’t stay here.
Tags: Sydney hostels
