Sabie Backpackers Lodge is the only hostel in the pretty town of Sabie. Many visitors miss this town, but it is one of the closest towns to the beautiful Blyde River Canyon and Panorama Tour. It is also an adventure centre, so this is a convenient place to stay after a day whitewater rafting or tubing, abseiling, or kloofing, and accommodation is half-price if an activity is booked.
Sabie is approximately a forty-five minutes' drive from Nelspruit. The town itself is a small old mining town. It is not large, but amenities include a post office, supermarket, and internet cafe, as well as several restaurants, cafes, and bars. The hostel is at the bottom of the main road which goes through the town, a five- to ten-minute walk to the shops, and is easy to find. It has a small parking space behind a pad-locked gate, but the town itself has no bus or train station. However, the hostel runs a pickup service to and from Nelspruit (for a charge each way), which has frequent buses and trains to it, and for those traveling by Baz Bus, this is also where you would depart/board.
In the main building there are three dorms -- a six-bed, seven-bed, and an eleven-bed, which are mostly bunks but with a single in each of the larger two rooms. These have no door locks or lockers, as fairly usual in South Africa. There is a bathroom with WC and sink, a shower room which also has a large hand basin and shelf (no door lock but the shower has a curtain and is large enough to change behind) and has a towel rail and one hook, a WC and sink, and another shower room with large shower but no door lock again. There are also private room options in huts outside, and there is a separate building with its own living space/open dorm, kitchen, and private bedrooms.
The main entrance is behind the drive, which steps into a kitchen with all amenities and utensils required, a large refrigerator, and plenty of guests' storage. This opens into a dining section which is one very large table with benches, where free tea and coffee with powdered milk is available all day. This is the back of the open-plan area where the main seating is -- there's two wooden sofas in front of a small log fire, which is beside the reception area where snacks can also be bought. From here is another door to outside, where there is a grassy area which can be used for camping, but also a walkway which leads down into an outside covered recreation area. This has chairs, pool table, small TV, bar, pizza oven, and plunge pool. It does lack a proper TV room, internet facilities, and book exchange. The hostel employs local people who keep the place cleaned every day.
This hostel is predominantly aimed at those who want to use them as an adventure centre. The half-price accommodation cost gained when booking one of their activities puts it on par with the average cost of a South African hostel -- to go and pay double for using them for accommodation only is much too expensive and a person would be better off staying in one of the lodges in the town or at a hostel in the towns of Graskop or Hazyview. However, they do run several activities and tours even when only one person is booked unlike many other tour operators that require a minimum number, although this cost may be inflated. It is not an especially sociable hostel, and again is best enjoyed when traveling with friends to enjoy an activity weekend or if planning on being on a guided Panaroma Route Tour. However, the staff are friendly and it can be more of a party hostel at weekends and in the summer.
-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
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