Upon arrival at Surfers Paradise Backpackers Resort you will be greeted with a smile and a guide on what the hostel has to offer…which is a lot. Not only is there a swimming pool and a fully licensed bar (with sofas and tv), but there is also a big tv room, ping pong and pool tables, basketball net and tennis/volleyball court too!
The hostel is about 15-20 minutes walk out of the main town but only a few minutes walk from a quiet stretch of beach. If you don’t want to walk they run an hourly shuttle bus between the hostel and the bus station in the centre of Surfers…very convenient for when you’ve just gone shopping and have got heaps of heavy bags.
As for the facilities…you really couldn’t ask for more. There is a big, clean kitchen, with plenty of space to cook in, although they could do with two microwaves and toasters, as there’s often a bit of a queue. A few more pots and pans wouldn’t hurt either, but it’s perfectly adequate and, to be honest, if you have to wait five minutes for someone to finish cooking it’s not really the end of the world.
All of the rooms are excellent…with either 5 or 6 beds, all of which are ridiculously comfortable, maybe the best I’ve slept in on this trip so far, and an ensuite bathroom (with an epically powerful shower). The rooms and bathrooms are cleaned daily which means that even if you’ve got a total slob in your room, it’s never going to be disgusting! My favourite thing in the rooms was the multitude of hangers for towels and coats etc…a lot of hostels don’t even have one! If I could change one thing though, it would be to add more plug sockets, as there were only 4 outlets in our rooms…and between 5 people, that’s really not enough!
The hostel does have a bit of a motel feel, probably because it was purpose built, but the atmosphere of the place definitely makes up for it…there’s always people milling about, and there are plenty of places to hang and sit and meet new people. They also run a lot of bar crawls and get you free entry into the majority of the clubs in town (a different one every night), with a lot of free drinks deals too. However the busy bar area does mean that there is never a moment’s peace and quiet…there’s always music blaring from somewhere or someone having the loudest conversation you’ve ever heard, or people jumping into the pool…but it’s a hostel…what do you expect?!
Whatever it’s shortcomings however (and there really aren’t that many), Backpackers Resort totally redeems itself with the offer of completely FREE WiFi! This is the first place I’ve stayed in Australia that has had it, so this is a BIG DEAL. Thank you Backpackers….I’ll definitely come again!
Dates stayed: 22 – 27 Jan 2012
My Rating:
Overall: 86%
Atmosphere: 84%
Cleanliness: 93%
Location: 76%
Staff: 86%
Safety: 90%
Value for Money: 87%
Roo Around The World 