The Hostelz.com Review
Situated right beside the lake and only a short walk from the hub of the town centre, Queenstown YHA offers a relaxing and friendly place to stay with exceptional facilities. Everything you could possibly need is here - laundry with an outside clothes line and drying room, TV room with comfy sofas and bean bags, lounge area, dining room, internet, free storage room, secure lockers, kitchen and a lot more. There is no opportunity to be bored - latest-release videos are available to hire for a small charge (most of which goes to charity), there is a book exchange, jigsaw puzzles, board games, magazines and several notice boards offering suggestions of things to do in the area from walking and shopping to the usual adrenaline-activities that Queenstown is famous for. The very friendly staff at reception can book activities for you and each weekday evening a different tour operator gives a short presentation in the commmon area about their activity.
Getting to and from the hostel is very easy. Most bus companies, including the Intercity bus service, will pick-up / drop-off at the door if requested. There are several car-parking spaces if you are driving and heaps more free parking out on the road. Otherwise, it's just a 10 minute lakeside stroll (no hills!!) from the centre of town.
The dorms are nice enough with all bedding provided. The bathrooms are clean and spacious - no big queues as there seemed to be enough showers to meet demand. The common areas are all fantastic and the kitchen is huge, clean and very well equipped. They really have thought of everything here from the usual hobs, fridges, freezer, ovens, microwaves etc., to rice-cookers, blenders, food processors and more. There is plenty of storage space for food and the reception also serves as a small shop for forgotten essentials such as cereal, milk, coffee, soup and pasta - as well as non-food items including toiletries, postcards and stamps. You can even borrow a hairdryer, hot-water bottle or travel adaptor here too.
This is a busy hostel - and for good reason. Everything has been thought of and is a fantastic place to stay while enjoying the wonderful area of Queenstown.
Getting to and from the hostel is very easy. Most bus companies, including the Intercity bus service, will pick-up / drop-off at the door if requested. There are several car-parking spaces if you are driving and heaps more free parking out on the road. Otherwise, it's just a 10 minute lakeside stroll (no hills!!) from the centre of town.
The dorms are nice enough with all bedding provided. The bathrooms are clean and spacious - no big queues as there seemed to be enough showers to meet demand. The common areas are all fantastic and the kitchen is huge, clean and very well equipped. They really have thought of everything here from the usual hobs, fridges, freezer, ovens, microwaves etc., to rice-cookers, blenders, food processors and more. There is plenty of storage space for food and the reception also serves as a small shop for forgotten essentials such as cereal, milk, coffee, soup and pasta - as well as non-food items including toiletries, postcards and stamps. You can even borrow a hairdryer, hot-water bottle or travel adaptor here too.
This is a busy hostel - and for good reason. Everything has been thought of and is a fantastic place to stay while enjoying the wonderful area of Queenstown.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
May 2004
Their Description
HI - YHA Queenstown Lakefront Hostel Details
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HI - YHA Queenstown Lakefront Hostel Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Geriatric much? The hostel was seriously lacking in atmosphere. It appears there is a group of oldies living there! Don't expect a fun night in with grandma in the lounge snapping at you. Beds were sunken and uncomfortable and the bathrooms needed work. Honestly, go somewhere else. Hostel Fail! — Annonymous , USA (2011-06-26) Too Noisy and Cell Like Rooms Poor layout, the traffic along the hallways to the bathrooms is deafening. Nothing in basic single but a bed (comfortable enough) and a chair. Tomorrow night I'm going to a cheap hotel where I can hopefully get some sleep, and they'll let me put my luggage into my room even if it's before 2:30 p.m. — Merryl (2010-01-15) Awesome Place! Stay here if you're not too party inclined. This place is great! It's incredibly clean. It's a beautiful location. The staff are the greatest. It's quiet which is a huge plus compared to the Queenstown Central YHA. This place is for people who are in NZ to relax a bit, rather than just party. It has a dry room which is great for ski gear, great amenities. There is internet and a really great kitchen. It is a bit of a walk to town, but for the tranquility it's worth it. I highly recommend it. — Jonathan , Australia (2009-03-01) A little further from the town than expected Great quality hostel with bunks that were attached to the wall in the twin room (so no squeaking!). It was a little further than I had expected from the city but a nice walk along the lake to get there. The hostel had parking across the road. Wish there hadn't been so many stairs to the room as I had a rather heavy suitcase — Angel , Australia (2009-01-25) Friendly staff, clean, and beautiful view We stayed in a five-bed dorm for three nights in September 2008 and absolutely loved the place. The kitchen is very big and fully equipped with clean all-white plates, bowls, saucers, mugs. Best of all, the receptionist (I did not ask for her name), but she's from Slovakia was very, very friendly and helpful with all our requests. Thank you! Oh, we were very encouraged and pleased at the great efforts to be green, as there were facilities everywhere to help guests to recycle. — Kim Ling , Malaysia (2008-09-21) A great hostel right opposite the lake and only an easy ten-minute walk to the city centre. We had a downstairs room -- it was big and clean and very comfortable. A big kitchen! The girls bathroom had a hairdryer -- this was luxury! Staff were fantastic -- extremely pleasant and helpful with booking tours and suggestions of River Rapid surfing was great! We stayed two nights and would have liked to stay more if we had had the time! — Sue (2007-01-30) I stayed here for Winterfest 2005. It was ok. The dorms were tidy and it was cool to have backdoor access. Not much of a party hostel, it's probably more suited to those wanting some rest. Discovery is better for having some fun. — Lydia - kiwi (2006-10-25) Well, I am now living and travelling in Europe, and it makes me miss this place and others in New Zealand. Firstly, yes it is huge, but we arrived and were skiing the first day, which they happily planned for us. The rooms are big, in our case, we had a eight-bed, all girls dorm. Not everyone was friendly, but then some people live in this hostel over the winter ski season. Price is normal and accpetable for New Zealand. Yes there was a bit of a walk there to and from town, but only a problem with lots of bags or ski gear! The kitchen was fantastic -- well suited to so many people, with everything you needed. Even a place to score free food from people who had donated it when they left. There were hundreds of stovetops as well as microwaves. No oven, but this is a hostel. But I loved it -- loved New Zealand. Would definitely stay here again. And yes the hairdryers are great! — Snosie (2006-04-22) The rooms in this hostel are tiny. We booked a twin room and all that was in the room were two beds and not much space for anything else. The staff were rude when we asked to change rooms and didn't offer any help or advice on day tours. Very disappointing for a YHA hostel. — AP (2006-03-11) Lovely hostel. A bit further out of the centre of town which was no bad thing, but still only a few minutes walk. Situated in a beautiful and tranquil area. Lovely staff and immaculately clean. Girls... the bathrooms even had hairdryers! — Sam (2005-05-05) You have to stay here. The staff are helpful and nice-looking (a bonus always). It's in a beautiful location and is all round great! — Dave (2005-04-08) It's a f***ing great resort!!! Greetings from Holland! — Anonymous (2005-03-07) Stalag Queenstown! as this place came to be known in our dorm. The rest of the place was good, large lounge areas and huge bathrooms but they'd obviously used up all the space by the time it came round to building the dorms. Wear a crash helmet if you're on the top bunk otherwise you'll smash your head on the roof every morning. The dorm kind of reminded you of pictures of the ships they used to transport people over to this part of the world a couple of hundred years ago. — monkey (2004-12-30) This was the best YHA that I ever been to while I was in South Island. It is just in front of the lake, it's a wooden building and it makes you warm inside. It has a good shower room and is a good facility with Internet. There is a big kitchen and multiple lounge and entertainment room. In this room, you can hire videos from just $2 to watch and enjoy your time there. They seem have a multiple lounge to cater different need: one area is a TV/video room, one is a quiet common area for people to read books and write postcards, and one is just a quiet area. One is with Internet. It was fun and cozy, and since the room is very concrete, you won't hear people running or walking outside the corridor, so it was good.
Dorm room: although I stayed in eight-bed dorm room, I really don't feel like it was for eight people. Maybe if it was very large room, with a shelf and hooks to allow you to put your own stuff. So the room was great and we have a lake view right in front of us. The only drawback of the place is that it was five to eight minutes from downtown, but it was ok. — Noelle (2004-12-10) This is an excellent hostel! It's really fantastic — it feels a bit like the places they take you to stay on school trips, you know — but I loved it. I met so many people, and it's a really comfy place to hang out in and watch videos after a hard day's bungee jumping or sky diving! — Lydia (2004-12-09)