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HI - Canberra - Canberra City YHA Hostel

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

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Arrival Date:   Nights:  People: 
Address
7 Akuna Street, Canberra   Map
Price
Multi-share Standard Rate $25.00-$30.00, Single/Double/Twin Standard Rate $80.00, Family Standard Rate $120.00 Check Current Prices by Date Here
Location/Contact
Details
Their Description

Features

  • Kitchen
  • Lockers
  • Gameroom
  • Lounge / Common space
  • Pool Table
  • Swimming Pool
  • BBQ
  • Food/Restaurant
  • TV
  • Movie Library/Rental
  • Book Collection/Exchange
  • Washing Machine (laundry)
  • Clothes Dryer
  • Elevator/Lift
  • Travel information provided
  • Bike Rental
  • 24 Hour Free Hot Showers
  • Currency Exchange
  • Air Conditioning
  • Health Spa
 
The Hostelz.com Review
Step in Canberra City YHA and you will find yourself not in a hostel, but more in a hotel. Like Canberra itself, the hostel is very very clean (outside and inside). There are about three levels for two hundred sixty-four rooms, but just two are within reach by lift. Each of these levels has four very clean bathrooms -- two for women and two for men. The dorms are clean as well and you will find a TV and lockers in every dorm. There are four little kitchens on the ground floor that have equipment for your needs. If you don't like to cook, get breakfast or lunch at the cafe, just next to the kitchen. The hostel has a sauna, jacuzzi, and pool -- jump in and relax while the temps outside in summer are about 40C.

The hostel has a great location -- a ten-minute walk from the Greyhound Bus Coach Terminal (if you walk around the city hill). If you walk down Akuna Street and turn left, you will find yourself in the city centre with a great mall -- supermarkets, food court, fight center, and internet cafe). There is also a bus going to the airport that stops at the front of the building.

There are good but expensive offers to get to know the city plus its attractions. The shuttle bus is the best way to see everything in Canberra. The trip starts at 11 a.m. and stops at the Australian War Memorial, The Parliament House, and the Science Museum. On the way, you see everything in Canberra worth seeing (High Court, Old Parliament House, National Library).

It's a good hostel for a short stay (two nights are enough). It's clean, but it's expensive and lacks any real hostel atmosphere.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review


Your Comments
This is an open forum, and unlike other hostel guide websites, we don't censor out the negative comments.
We do not validate the legitimacy of comments posted on this site—so take what you read here with a grain of salt.
Comment by desertmolly
February 2008
Busy but super clean
This is a huge operation and feels more like a major city hotel, or a well kept dormitory of a mega university. Not very personal or cushy, but very well organized and cleanest city hostel I have ever experienced, despite the fact that we were there in peak season. It was quiet during the night and the staff was friendly and helpful. Great location, city within walking minutes. Would recommend this hostel to anyone, if Canberra is on your list of places to visit.
Comment by Christina, UK
November 2007
Nice Hostel
The hostel is clean and a very nice hostel to be in. The staff are extremely friendly and very helpful. The only downsides are that people tend to stay for quite some time and can get rowdy and people that aren't even staying in your room may decide to join you anyway. I wouldn't recommend staying in an eight- or ten-bed dorm as we did on the first night and find it to be quite rowdy and inhospitable. However, the four-bed dorm was clean, good sized, and quiet. The bathrooms are also quite cramped. On the whole, good hostel and definitely a good one to choose in Canberra as it is very central.
Comment by Ben, USA
June 2007
Nice clean hostel
I spent about a week here. Very clean, friendly hostel. However it is lacking in atmosphere, but then again so is Canberra. The TV in your room is kinda nice, especially since the only thing to do at night in Canberra is watch TV, but you lose the communal feeling of everyone hanging out in the together in the hostel watching the one TV. It's almost like a hotel with bunk beds.
Comment by Julien, France
May 2007
Good hostels, lot of space, balcony in the room (that was clean and not noisy), staff all right, hostel well located. Perhaps a bit expensive. You can rely on this one.
Comment by Rachel
November 2006
incredible. very comfortable beds with own TV. bathrooms were immaculate. my trick was to use the disabled loo as it turns into a wet room, fantastic if you want to get ready for a night out! Loved the sauna, swimming pool, jacuzzi, and gym. The only down side is it's too big to have any atmosphere, oh and it's in Canberra.
Comment by danielle
October 2006
really good hostel, people are friendly, there's televisions in the room which provides a more comfortable atmosphere. hostel's clean. some of the guests though have been there a while, which is a bit odd but they're friendly enough. hostel's in a great location -- next to all the touristy stuff but its really quiet at night.
Comment by monkey
July 2006
YHA took over this place. One-hundred percent different now. Canberra itself is still different.
Comment by Emma
May 2006
We arrived here the day of the official opening and were surprised with the free opening party. This was a really nice hostel with great staff, big rooms and clean communal areas. It wasn't just the free champagne and sushi that swung it for me! I would definitely recommend people staying here and I think that there have been renovations or even a new building since 2004!
Comment by Monkey
December 2004
This place was a massive disappointment. First of all, they screwed up my booking and I got dumped in a room with three guys who the receptionist said had been there "a really, really long time." Sometime after midnight the room was invaded by a group of guys who weren't even staying in the room, and they marched through and decided to use the balcony as their own personal drug den. I left early the next morning to find somewhere else to stay and I was glad to get out even though I'd already paid for the next two nights. Avoid this place like the plague.
Comment by Client - 29.8.04
September 2004
I had a really bad experience here. It was dirty, there was sh*t everywhere over the toilets, and the showers were not cleaned (hair everywhere). I don't recommend this hostel to anyone. There are a lot of other cheap hostels close by, so have a look somewhere else.
Comment by Anonymous
July 2004
Great hostel. I really enjoyed my stay here. The place was really clean. The staff werevvery efficient.
Comment by Anonymous
July 2004
Canberra is the best hostel in the area. It's clean and well maintained. All this making Canberra City the clear choice when one is traveling to Canberra.
Comment by Anonymous
July 2004
Nothing to write home about for atmosphere, but it was a welcome change from the usual backpackers hostel. It had a pool, Jacuzzi, and a sauna, which were all pretty awesome. It was more like a hotel than hostel.
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