YHA Cairns Central

Nice location, and the hostel was really nice with the pool.

I arrived outside of check-in hours, which I called in advance about. They give you a key via a lock, unfortunately the key did not work for my room. It was after midnight so I could not reach anyone via e-mail or phone. Eventuelly another guest helped me and directed me to the call for after hours help outside the gate. Then, they re-activated my key. It was resolved, but very stressful and annoying to a female solo traveller. Also no apologies or anything. I specifically called in advance to make sure check-in would still be possible and still this happens. The directions to my specific room were also a bit unclear. There was a sign for room Numbers 100-200 but the sign for 300-400 was more hidden. I booked a private room. Room was clean enough for a hostel and there is AC. Bed not great, bit lumpy, but fine for a hostel. Glad I only stayed one night (or half a night realistically). Shower was okay. Just arrive during check-in hours and you should be fine. It seems like a decent, clean hostel in a good central location. I am assuming that I just got unlucky with the key.

Late check-in was allowed and a special arrangement for late check-in was made by the duty manager. Appreciated. The location is good, which is next to Cairns train station. Very convenient if you will take the Kuranda train at Cairns train station at 0830. Also, it’s a walkable distance between the hostel and reef fleet terminal. Booked a room for 2. The room was clean and spacious in which a few cabinets were provided. Your own padlock was required if you wanted to lock the cabinets. No Hairdryer was provided as a hostel. There were a small swimming pool, big common area and a big kitchen.

gooood

Forgot something at the hostel and called to let them know I was on the way to grab it only to be transferred and put on voicemail. While I grabbed my item, I also checked through my entire belongings beforehand to see if my airpods were there and if the were maybe somewhere on the floor when I went back to get my other item when they were not, although I was sure that I left it in my bag right next to me as I slept, making me think it was stolen from me. Also mixed dormitory allocation was poor as I was put as the only woman in a room where the first night the room was shared with only one other guy and the second night the room was full with solely all men half of which were 50+ (for context, I am a solo 20 year old female traveller). No encouragement of social activities to foster a friendly environment at the hostel and pillow was flat and offered no head support. Although my room had an ensuite bathroom which was nice, the light system was incredibly confusing and there were no outlets near the stands next to the beds at all as well as poor ventilation.

It was an awesome experience and also made me feel at home. I will definitely recommend it to whomever is traveling this way to cairns.