The Hostelz.com Review
Parrotfish Lodge is located in the small holiday town of Port Douglas -- located about an hour's drive north of Cairns. Our first impressions were not very positive -- the hostel attempted to charge a higher price than what we reserved through an external site and the staff were not very friendly when dealing with this, initially blaming us before eventually dealing with the issue and acknowledging their mistake. Overall, this is confounded by the hostel's strange atmosphere, mainly because the majority of guests are long-termers and we felt that travelers were not as well looked after.
The Location
The location of the hostel is excellent, just two minutes' walk away from the main strip of shops, bars, and restaurants in Port Douglas. This area offers eating and drinking establishments for all tastes and budgets. In addition, the beach is located only ten minutes' walk from the hostel and around twenty minutes' walk from the lookout (which provides beautiful views of the beach and surrounding areas).
Rooms and Bathrooms
We stayed in a six-share dorm with an ensuite; we recommend this option to anyone, as the communal toilets in the hostel are fairly smelly and do not provide the impression of being cleaned regularly. The facilities in the ensuite, however, are very clean with a large, powerful shower and plenty of hot water.
The room itself is very spacious and clean; however, two mattresses in the room were missing while we were there, which seems very odd. This may have been explained one night when two guests were moved into our room after their mattresses were found to have bedbugs.
Common Spaces
Parrotfish Lodge offers guests various common areas. The kitchen is relatively small for the number of guests, with limited equipment and only one working sink, which can encourage guests to not wash up. This can be offset by eating in the bar, which offers cheap pasta; however this isn't as cheap as cooking for yourself. The bar itself is large, has a pool table, and offers good drinks deals compared to the bars in the main town.
The hostel also has a large pool and barbecue area, which can be used for free by guests as long as it is cleaned after use. The pool itself doesn't look very appealing in our opinion, however, it is commonly used by guests who don't seem to have any issues with it.
Internet access is also offered next to reception, with six computers in place. This is fairly expensive, however, the internet on offer was one of the fastest of the hostels we stayed at.
Summary
Overall, we wouldn't chose to stay at this hostel again due to the not-overly-friendly staff and the bedbug incident (even though we didn't experience them ourselves). Despite this, it isn't a hostel that offers bad value for money and the location makes it a good base for exploring Port Douglas.
The Location
The location of the hostel is excellent, just two minutes' walk away from the main strip of shops, bars, and restaurants in Port Douglas. This area offers eating and drinking establishments for all tastes and budgets. In addition, the beach is located only ten minutes' walk from the hostel and around twenty minutes' walk from the lookout (which provides beautiful views of the beach and surrounding areas).
Rooms and Bathrooms
We stayed in a six-share dorm with an ensuite; we recommend this option to anyone, as the communal toilets in the hostel are fairly smelly and do not provide the impression of being cleaned regularly. The facilities in the ensuite, however, are very clean with a large, powerful shower and plenty of hot water.
The room itself is very spacious and clean; however, two mattresses in the room were missing while we were there, which seems very odd. This may have been explained one night when two guests were moved into our room after their mattresses were found to have bedbugs.
Common Spaces
Parrotfish Lodge offers guests various common areas. The kitchen is relatively small for the number of guests, with limited equipment and only one working sink, which can encourage guests to not wash up. This can be offset by eating in the bar, which offers cheap pasta; however this isn't as cheap as cooking for yourself. The bar itself is large, has a pool table, and offers good drinks deals compared to the bars in the main town.
The hostel also has a large pool and barbecue area, which can be used for free by guests as long as it is cleaned after use. The pool itself doesn't look very appealing in our opinion, however, it is commonly used by guests who don't seem to have any issues with it.
Internet access is also offered next to reception, with six computers in place. This is fairly expensive, however, the internet on offer was one of the fastest of the hostels we stayed at.
Summary
Overall, we wouldn't chose to stay at this hostel again due to the not-overly-friendly staff and the bedbug incident (even though we didn't experience them ourselves). Despite this, it isn't a hostel that offers bad value for money and the location makes it a good base for exploring Port Douglas.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
November 2011
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Parrotfish Lodge Reviews from the WebHostelz.com Guest Reviews
New parrotfish is great had a sweet time here, spent 3 amazing weeks at parrotfish, loved it, will miss it dearly. new owners there, family run hostel, so all cozy and nice, no bullsh*t. I was in a large dorm that was only 6, so was still comfortable and no bunk bed was plenty of room. pool was huge and deep and saltwater. the tour guy/reception helped me get some deals for trips. great place to meet other chilled travelers and like me go on a road trip with some now. highly recommended parrotfish to others keep up the good work. — simon wallace , new zealand (2011-10-09) A great place to stay Friendly staff made my stay great. The room was nice and the people friendly. The hostel was close to everything. I really enjoyed my time here. — Simone , Austria (2009-11-15) Alright place, don't expect to make friends Ok, first impressions were that this was a nice enough hostel. It has a good location, it is a nice building with decent rooms and a nice looking communal area. Bathrooms are decent, although remarkably warm, even in April! It was impossible to get ready in the bathroom because you would walk out sweaty. The pool is a nice touch for a hostel although it was small and a little grimy. I didn't go in. Staff was friendly and helpful enough. Apparently their internet went out for a couple days so they didn't get the memo that we needed to be picked up from Cairns airport. They got us on a shuttle and gave the ride to us for free since we had to wait. Second impressions, Kitchen is a mess. It was absolutely foul in comparison to the other hostels we stayed at in Oz. Apparently people don't know how to wash dishes, and the sinks were full of food debris. I didn't want to set my food down anywhere. To top it off, somebody ate our labeled pizza that we were saving for lunch the next day. Hostel guests were not super friendly -- it seemed that many of them had been there for several weeks and were not interested in meeting newbies. Meeting people is one of the reasons we decided to stay in hostels on our trip. We didn't bother using the internet at the hostel. There are only three computers and they were usually all occupied. You can only use the internet during daytime hours, and there is no wireless. I would recommend staying at ParrotFish lodge only if you cannot find another place with a similar price. If you do, plan on eating out and don't expect to meet too many people. — Zo , USA (2009-04-29) Great place to relax and unwind Nice people and quiet at nights. The bar was fun and cheap beer and eats. The hostel was clean and my room only had single beds in it, which i really liked. They should have more free food nights, but apart from that, Great hostel. — Francesco , Germany (2008-09-03) Not great If this ever was a good hostel the standards have dropped. Pool and bar area dirty, room dirty and had funky odor, and bathrooms are just gross. Reception not helpful and even shut a door in my face when I went to ask a question. They were "changing shifts" and couldn't be bothered with guests. It took me five minutes to get an answer regarding the lockers in the room. They have tiny room lockers with a sign saying if you would like a key you have to see reception and pay $2. Only problem is no keys. I checked out early and went to another hostel. Do yourself a favor and skip Parrot fish. — Mike , US (2008-08-23) Fantastic! The Parrot fish Lodge is the best hostel in Australia! I intended to stay for three nights, but stayed for one-and-a-half months! This hostel has got a relaxing atmosphere, big dormitories, clean bathrooms, a restaurant and a bar, and a big pool! Only a five-minute walk to the main shopping street and the beach. You definitely meet great, friendly staff and fellow backpackers there! Port Douglas is the cutest town ever! As soon as I left the Parrot fish and Port Douglas, I started to miss it! — Nina , Germany (2008-06-26) Eleven out of ten! Originally came here for three days, and ended up staying much longer! Its one of those places you never want to leave! Port Douglas is pretty much like paradise, and the Parrot fish is the best hostel i've stayed in during my six months in Australia. It's close to everything, has an amazing pool, comfy beds, and the most friendly staff ever! — KL , England (2008-05-18) This is the best hostel in the world Free shuttle from Cairns -- wow. Decent menu and specials looked hearty. i really appreciated the staff sharing a bit of their wisdom and stories. Great stuff. great to have a place with a mix of people from all over, all ages, and even a few locals dropping by to check the place out. this means a quintessential travelers inn. and the dorms were much bigger than i had expected. The pool was great and so close to the beach. Ten out of ten. — Laura , British (2008-05-18) The best back packers I have ever stayed in. The owner was wonderful and really went out of her way to ensure you had the best stay. Food in the bar was excellent and reasonably priced for Port Douglas. Bathrooms and bedrooms were very clean with very comfy bedbug-free beds. — Anonymous (2005-06-19) This was one of the best places on my trip. I came for a day and stayed three weeks! Highly recommended. — Anonymous (2004-11-10)