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Hostels Guide > Australia & Oceania > Australia > Queensland > Brisbane Hostels > HI - Brisbane - Brisbane City YHA Hostel

HI - Brisbane - Brisbane City YHA Hostel

Brisbane

39 of 40

Hostels in Brisbane

Address	392 Upper Roma Street, Brisbane Queensland, Australia Map
Price	$28-$98

Location/Contact

Details

This is a Hostelling International (HI) hostel. A membership card isn't required, but an extra fee will apply for non-members. You can get a membership card before your trip here.

Online booking is not offered for this hostel, contact them for availability and reservations (any contact info we have is listed above).

Their Description

Features

Kitchen
Lockers
Bar
Gameroom
Lounge / Common space
Pool Table
Swimming Pool
BBQ
Food/Restaurant
Washing Machine (laundry)
Elevator/Lift
Travel information provided
Bike Rental
24 Hour Free Hot Showers
Phones (public or in room)
Air Conditioning
Currency Exchange
TV

The Hostelz.com Review

HI - Brisbane - Brisbane City YHA Hostel is expensive but excellent, thus well worth the money. It's undergoing a renovation and growing in size, due to finish mid-2009, which is good because this hostel is hugely popular. Be sure to book your nights in advance!

The Location

Located on Upper Roma Street six hundred meters from the transit centre it's easy to reach and close to the attractions. All coaches terminate in the transit centre, trains stop there as do most of the local buses. There's no off-street parking available at the hostel and only a limited space out on the street.

YHA Brisbane is about a ten-minute walk to the Queen Street Mall and the leisure district on the Southbank. There's a Coles supermarket across the street and other amenities (post, bank) within a walking distance. The central location comes with a price though -- noise. YHA Brisbane is surrounded by heavy traffic on all sides and close by there's a bridge for trains to cross the river.

Rooms and Bathrooms

YHA Brisbane offers twin/double/family rooms and dorms. This hostel uses key cards for both room and bathroom doors. Dorms have only three or four beds, lockers (bring your own lock), desk and chair, and air con. Rooms are nice and clean, good size and mattresses have mattress protectors.

Bathrooms are located in the middle of the floor and have three toilets and three showers. Showers are very nice, bathrooms clean all in all.

Common Spaces

Common spaces in this hostel include kitchen, seating area/TV room, internet area, and laundry. Luggage storage is available for free. All common areas are brand new, clean, and modern. Kitchen is fully equipped and clean. Reception helps with all your travel questions and books tours.

Summary

True YHA style, this is no party hostel but a clean and safe place to spend your nights in the city. This hostel caters for older travelers who are willing to pay for a quiet night. Everything is new, clean, and well-maintained. Before the extension is ready, YHA Brisbane is still a cozy little place. After June 2009 they have three hundred beds more, a new rooftop pool, indoor and outdoor dining, and entertainment areas.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
May 2009

Ratings & Comments

3.2/ Average from 42 Ratings

This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites we don't censor out the negative comments.
We can't validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.

Comment by Jaimie Hall, Australia, Melbourne

July 2009

Best place in Brisbane
The booking was made over the phone on the way down from Port Douglas this July 2009. Once arriving I was asked for proof that I was a backpacker, showed ID, and I was given a key and a map of the place. Stayed a few days. The night life there was fab. Computers great, and most backpackers there kept to thier time limits, and one can use Wi-Fi. Lock up your goods, like anyplace in the world. Behind the office, there is a safe place to leave costly items. Had a great problem free time staying there. Noticed some major alterations downstairs and in the pool area. Looking forward to see the upgrades on my next stay there. Keep on backpacking -- keeps Australia alive!

Comment by Lisa, English

July 2009

Average
At the top of a hill which is soul destroying on a really hot day when you are carrying a heavy pack! Rooms were clean enough. Bathroom was a bit dirty. Kitchen very small. Swipe cards to get into rooms and bathrooms -- while we were staying there the girls bathroom door stopped accepting the swipe cards in the middle of the night, and I had to wake my boyfriend up and go with him to the boys bathroom, not amusing. Staff were really friendly and helpful. Common areas seemed nice. Air conditioning is a bonus when its mega hot.

Comment by lyncher, irish

June 2009

im not violent honest! but let you judge me on that. stayed a night with the ex, some sap recommended the dump. expect to feel like you're lower than this crowd of big brother outcasts. the ex was rushed to hospital after dodgy food she spent four days! passport stole from hostel. manager says"i dont deal with these situations" and walked away!

Comment by Nick, England

April 2009

Average
A bit of a trek from the bus station. Decent sized rooms but the bathrooms were constantly dirty. Small kitchen and few PCs for internet access. It's passable but I'd imagine there's better!

Comment by richard, England

July 2008

Better than prison but similar conditions
Not worth the time or effort or money to stay there, i was there for a week and for a whole week there was no hot water, I was told to get up early, how about 6 a.m., is that early enough for you, but no. If the internet works you're lucky, if the staff help you you're lucky, the kitchen/dining/lounge room closes at 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., there's the in house pub or the room to go to and the rooms were full of peoples things over the floor from long term stayers. if you get a blanket you're lucky, the temperature in winter isn't tropical, and i was told there were none to spare -- one bed equals one blanket, if there's an imbalance it's not an illusion, a blanket is missing not the bed. So the room was cold at night. Big brother is watching you there, as long as you drink at the pub. don't go there for any other comforts.

Comment by Wendy, Singapore

July 2008

Good
I've stayed in YHA melbourne back in 2001. So i always have good impression of YHA. They're clean and reliable, most importantly friendly and helpful. I stayed in a private room with toilet. Very satisfied with everything. The staff were very helpful and always with a big wide smile greeting us. I was there two weeks ago, stayed for two nights. So it's in the midst of winter season, the heater wasnt exactly working, so was rather chilly at night though. YHA is also situated at the hilltop, so can be quite a distance to walk and pull your luggage when you first come out of the train station at roma. But YHA is the best hostel compared to the rest along the roma street. Pleasant experience, thumbs up!

Comment by anon, uk

October 2007

Fab!
This is a small hostel with a big hearth. the staff are always willing to help and everyone i knew who stayed there said the same. the bar is amazing -- well run, a good selection of events, and fun staff -- all you need! The other thing great about city is the security. the night manager is there all night and anyone who is acting inappropriately is dealt with and so you never feel uncomfortable or unsafe!

Comment by Paul Jackson, Sydney, Australia

July 2007

Clean and cheap and close to transport
This hostel is obviously in the final stages of renovations and looking pretty good. The reception area (at the moment) is just a rough, temporary corner office but the new reception desk should look great. The room I had, which was a private room without an en-suite was basic yet comfortable and the bathroom was clean and well maintained. I also liked the close proximity to the Roma Street Transit Centre. I look forward to future stays at this hostel.

Comment by Lindsey, Irish

June 2007

Unfriendly, rude staff
Where to start -- rude, unfriendly, highly incompetent staff is a good place. If you fancy your booking to be taken wrong and then being blamed yourself for them taking it wrong then Brisbane City backpackers is the place for you. They're not too bothered if you stay or go -- that is if you can interrupt them having a beer to actually check in. If you do eventually have the pleasure in staying then get ready to be woken up from 8 in the morning and then every minute after that with all the staff "Room Checking" and banging on the door so stay if you don't fancy a lie in or left in peace. Also everyone is the manager there so if you do have any problems just grab anybody you can because when you ask to speak to the manager you always are. So let's just check this, rude staff, wrong bookings, early rises -- I have to be missing more. Oh yes -- free Internet, well, that's great, you would think -- that's if you can get on. everyone hogs the net so in turn you are forced to walk to the next hostel to use it, you might as well stay there. Nearly forgot to mention when we arrived and once again they booked it wrong and were unwilling to help this is the response we got off the so called manager "We don't need your money. I would rather have empty beds. this is a backpackers -- you are just backpackers. this isn't a hotel. you get what you're given." I wouldn't mind but we booked about three weeks in advance and by credit card for the family room and they wanted to shove us in a dorm cause they messed up and shockingly blamed us. I can't describe what a bunch of asses work there. it's comical. Also if you're not from England, then you won't be helped.

Comment by David Tung, French

April 2007

I have stayed there for three days in six-share room. The share bathrooms and toilets are clean, even though in the morning you will see someone's underpants on the floor and shirt hanging on the bathroom door. The free wireless internet is quite slow, some time there is no signal. My bed is very old and you will be woke up anytime when someone go to upper bed because the bed will shake anytime there is someone. It is very bad for me that I had two roommates who usually went to pub and got drunk and make noise anytime when they came back with his partner and tried to stay in the same bed that design for only one person. The thing that I think it very very bad is they allow people to bring their own stereo and big speakers to the room, you didn't have to bring your alarm clock because your roommate would turn big speakers to wake you up. I didn't know how they can be still alive with a short sleeping. The outside but very close my room there was some group of people usually made noise after midnight until about 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. I could sleep fully and I found I don't have any power to get up or do anything in the morning. In common room there is a small TV and a lot of people that are much more than the chairs -- you have to stand to eat or tried to sit or find a new place that is far from the kitchen. You could bring your own laptop to use in there but there was just two power points in the common room -- a room that you could use wireless internet. In my room there is only one power point so say goodbye to your mobile, laptop, and iPod.

Comment by jono, england

April 2007

this hostel utilises the holistic approach to budget living in that it encompasses all an indivdual could need with a pechant for fun and entertainment. if you want to have fun, you essentially just walk straight out of your room and fall into it. if you want to be left alone you can be -- it sounds like a paradox scenario but it's true. all the staff were genuinely friendly and fun, for they themselves are backpackers -- so can empathise with any scenario you find yourself in. the best hostel i've stayed in, bar none.

Comment by mullet

March 2007

i stayed here for a week. I hated it. the room stank, the place was really unfriendly. When you cooked dinner there was pretty much nowhere to go and sit to eat or have a chat. everybody just gets squashed into one little room, where the internet, TV, and dining space is. it was just a sick joke!

Comment by Tina

December 2006

Probably Australia's best hostel. The staff is great and very organised and helpful. Free job club and the opportunity to work here has helped a lot of backpackers to find a job, myself included. Every room, bathrooms, and common areas are cleaned daily; bathrooms three times a day and the kitchen twice! I've never even had bedbugs here during my two-month stay even though this is a fairly big hostel. The bar is great, lively, and fun! Especially on Wednesdays, which is karaoke and fancy dress night. They have nightly entertainment and competitions where you can win some cash.

Comment by Catherine

October 2006

I had an amazing time here. Dont believe what you read. I booked in for one night and stayed for two months. The staff were such good fun and the place was cleaned every day, yes they came into your room but it wasnt early and i'd rather they woke you up than left the place a mess. You pay for a hostel, dont expect the ritz. You are backpackers!

Comment by Gidon

August 2006

The worst hostel I ever stayed in, moved to the hostel next door after the first night. Horrible staff and people. The room was a disgrace, i doubt it complies with health and safety standards. unclean, too over crowded. Do not stay here.

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Hostels in Brisbane

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