The Hostelz.com Review
We stayed at Rainbow Lodge Backpackers for four weeks and had a fantastic time. It's great value -- it may not be the most well-equipped of Perth hostels, but the value for money and sociable atmosphere made it the right choice for us.
It’s located just down the street from East Perth railway station, which is the terminal for the Indian Pacific trains coming from Adelaide. The hostel owner usually sends someone to meet the train, so a lot of people end up here that way. We arrived by plane, found a leaflet for the hostel and called to receive our free pick-up (minimum stay three nights). Ron, the owner, is very friendly and chatty. He’s also pretty, ahem, crazy though, so don’t expect the most practical help from him. On arrival, he immediately managed to place both myself and friend in dorms which were already full. The much more down-to-earth and helpful hostel staff assisted us in calling him back, and he did fix his mistake.
The hostel is one of these somewhat erratically converted buildings, with dormitories opening off each other and the TV room housed in a separate shed-like building out the back. The garden, with picnic tables and barbeque, is the best thing about Rainbow Lodge, as most residents spend much of their time here, socialising -- it’s one of the friendliest hostels I’ve stayed in. Huge barbeques are held pretty much every weekend, along with group trips out to Northbridge clubs at least twice a week.
Dormitories are acceptable, with beds/mattresses varying in comfort. Only two rooms are air-conditioned, and a lot of rooms suffer from a lack of windows. Several dorms have their own fridges and there are also a lot of random wardrobes and shelves around the place. There are only a couple of doubles, which are also used as four-bed dorms. There are two all-female dorms and one all-male.
There are two reasonably well-equipped kitchens. Cutlery/crockery is provided free and the kitchens are some of the cleanest we’ve encountered in Australian hostels. Bathroom facilities are limited – two female showers, two male showers and an extra, unisex bathroom. athroom facilities were our only major complaint.
There's a good noticeboard with work ads. Internet is provided with three PCs but they are busy and very slow. Pool table, table tennis, TV with Foxtel, DVD player and karaoke machine (a new acquisition).
It’s located just down the street from East Perth railway station, which is the terminal for the Indian Pacific trains coming from Adelaide. The hostel owner usually sends someone to meet the train, so a lot of people end up here that way. We arrived by plane, found a leaflet for the hostel and called to receive our free pick-up (minimum stay three nights). Ron, the owner, is very friendly and chatty. He’s also pretty, ahem, crazy though, so don’t expect the most practical help from him. On arrival, he immediately managed to place both myself and friend in dorms which were already full. The much more down-to-earth and helpful hostel staff assisted us in calling him back, and he did fix his mistake.
The hostel is one of these somewhat erratically converted buildings, with dormitories opening off each other and the TV room housed in a separate shed-like building out the back. The garden, with picnic tables and barbeque, is the best thing about Rainbow Lodge, as most residents spend much of their time here, socialising -- it’s one of the friendliest hostels I’ve stayed in. Huge barbeques are held pretty much every weekend, along with group trips out to Northbridge clubs at least twice a week.
Dormitories are acceptable, with beds/mattresses varying in comfort. Only two rooms are air-conditioned, and a lot of rooms suffer from a lack of windows. Several dorms have their own fridges and there are also a lot of random wardrobes and shelves around the place. There are only a couple of doubles, which are also used as four-bed dorms. There are two all-female dorms and one all-male.
There are two reasonably well-equipped kitchens. Cutlery/crockery is provided free and the kitchens are some of the cleanest we’ve encountered in Australian hostels. Bathroom facilities are limited – two female showers, two male showers and an extra, unisex bathroom. athroom facilities were our only major complaint.
There's a good noticeboard with work ads. Internet is provided with three PCs but they are busy and very slow. Pool table, table tennis, TV with Foxtel, DVD player and karaoke machine (a new acquisition).
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
April 2006
Their Description
We are centrally located so you can experience the best of both worlds! Simply walk 10 minutes to the right, to be beside the beautiful Swan River, or, an easy 10 min stroll to the left to find yourself in Northbridge, the centre of nightlife in Perth.
he Rainbow Lodge has all the facilites you'd expect from a quality hostel.
Including -
- Free breakfast
- Free Internet
- Free Pool table and Ping Pong
- TV and Videos
- Fox tel
- Kitchen (with stove, microwace and fridges)
- Cheap Laundry Facilities
We also offer free night club passes, beach parties, rollerblade, bikes, BBQ nights (with free wine!) as well as the back garden to chill out in. Have fun!
he Rainbow Lodge has all the facilites you'd expect from a quality hostel.
Including -
- Free breakfast
- Free Internet
- Free Pool table and Ping Pong
- TV and Videos
- Fox tel
- Kitchen (with stove, microwace and fridges)
- Cheap Laundry Facilities
We also offer free night club passes, beach parties, rollerblade, bikes, BBQ nights (with free wine!) as well as the back garden to chill out in. Have fun!
Rainbow Lodge Perth Details
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Rainbow Lodge Perth Reviews from the WebHostelz.com Guest Reviews
WE LOVE RAINBOW LODGE This place is Awesome, totally great vibe with really positive energy. We stayed 3 months, using Rainbow as our home base while working in the city. Highly recommended with friendly, switched on staff & a helpful, very funny owner. Great times with cool people is what this place is all about. — Anonymous , Canada (2012-01-18) Best hostel, Awesome people Hard to describe the relaxed comfortable vibe here, you really have to check it out for yourself. We loved our stay at the Rainbow because everyone was so cool & happy. We felt very safe and loved the backyard bbq parties! The new internet machines are free & up to speed but we kept missing the free breakfast since it finished @ 10 am & we'd still be sleeping in! But @ night we all got together to cook up a huge meal in the other kitchen with our new Italian friends. Awesome time & just the best memories. — Sara , England (2011-09-08) Ron's BBQ I love this place! Free Drugs, booze, women, shemales, you name it its here. beds are pretty good if you like sleeping with cockroaches and sharing with a 100 people for a room meant for 5. Overall a 5 star place. — Nathan , uk (2011-05-31) Absolute disgrace The place is dirty. The security is absolutely atrocious. I had stuff stolen and so did others during the three weeks i spent there. They just leave the door open all day. The place is full of scumbags, drug users. The manager paul is a disgrace. He is always drunk and stoned. Also the owner ron is a complete headcase. I am sure he is on something. I dont recommend this place to anyone. By far the worst hostel i have stayed in. — Peter , England (2009-11-13) Very friendly place with lots of freebies and they help you with jobs! I've been traveling through Australia and i've seen hostels around here. This is one of the best, mainly because of the people here, is very friendly and it's like a very cosy place where everybody is like a family. I spent some weeks there, then i went to another backpackers at north to look for job with no luck and a bad experience, then i went back to the Rainbow Lodge and within two days i was working. The place is very comfortable, apart from that they give you free breakfast, free tea and coffee twenty-four hours a day, free internet twenty-four hours a day and it's great because it's right next to the free bus stop, also you can use the linen and eating stuff for free, so there's a lot of freebies and also they help you get a job and everything, cool! If i go back to perth, i'll stay there again. Best vibes for the manager Paul and all the friends i made there. Top Quality! — Phillip , Chile (2009-09-16) Not a great place for what you pay for! rooms are dirty. if you're lucky you will be issued fresh sheets and blankets when you arrive, i wasnt! this place just seems to be full of pill heads and speed taking junkies and not the nice types! toilet facilities are poor! didnt see any pool table! TV room is controlled by the above and you just feel intimated anytime you enter. as for job board my friend found work through hostel and the owner and manager both felt he should be giving them 10% as a result of him ringing the number himself! the icing on the cake came when a very distressed girl came into the common area to ask us for assistance to remove the manager who had wondered into the girls dorm naked and fell asleep! as regards bbqs and passes must have stopped! while there the owner ron came into the TV room wanting to fight another guest he seemed to be after taking something. — jon b , welsh (2009-05-15) This place just grows on you Well when i first walked in i thought i cant wait to leave but strange enough i got to like this place. If you cant cope with a bit of a rundown hostel dont come here -- this place needs new everything but is such a sort of community hostel. Its also quite far really from supermarket, bars but if you've legs, twenty minutes, you'll get there. one of the good things about this place is its not one of those backpacker factories where everything is big and they want every penny you have and you meet no one. here the common rooms great, seem to get talking to everyone. yes its got super slow internet but its free so again cant complain all for $120 a week. overall ok i enjoyed it and was actually sad to leave. — Phil , English (2007-12-22) The positives for me were the free internet as you don't have to put your name down just wait for one of the three terminals to be free (be aware that it can be very slow at times) as well as the neighbourhood cat that would come and visit! (I'm a cat person.) Otherwise, I don't have much good to say about the place. The bed I was sleeping in my first night was majorly uncomfortable. The showers for the females -- only two showers and one toilet so you can have to pick your time carefully. The kitchen very basic and lacking utensils (so bring your own to be sure you have a knife, etc). I'm damn glad I was only here for two nights as I doubt I would've enjoyed staying longer. — Vanessa Stacy (2006-05-22) It's a great place. Got stoned all day everyday. Black Betty's is a great spot. Ron (owner) is away with the birds most of the time. Met loads of great people. The barbecue was unbelievable...overall 5 out of 5. You've got to stay there. — Sarah & Martina (2005-11-10)