The Hostelz.com Review
The Nunnery hostel is an excellent place to stay, whether for a couple of nights or for long term. It's a great place to meet people, as it has a very friendly atmosphere. The building is an old Convent that has been converted into both a hostel and a hotel, located in the heart of Fitzroy.
The Location
The Nunnery is located in a convenient area, next to the Carlton Gardens and the Museum. The famous Queen Victoria Market and the city center is only fifteen minutes' walk away. Or you can catch Tram 96, which runs to the beach in St. Kilda through the city center.
Rooms and Bathrooms
The dorms are old style. You can find wardrobes, cupboards, and mirrors. The mattresses are thick and firm. The only thing is that most dorms are located next to Nicholson Street, which is a very noisy street due to the traffic. It is very annoying at night, especially with the Melbourne old trams.
Common Spaces
The common areas are good and really help people to meet and get chatting. The kitchen is quite small but clean, and you can find everything you need. At the time of our stay, a fridge was out of order, but we're sure by the time you'll go there it will be replaced. Also there is not much space on the shelves to store food, but there's a big common table where people can sit round and get to know others. This is great at breakfast time, when an incredibly generous supply of bread, jam, and butter is supplied. And it is really good bread! On Sunday morning there are free pancakes, but it rather looks like crepes.
There are also some tables and chairs in the corridor, and a big room with couches and TV. On Tuesday evening there is free popcorn and movies. Outside there is an excellent courtyard with BBQ facilities and a seesaw, which is great to chill out. And on Friday evening there is a free BBQ! But sure to be there on time, as it is usually very crowded!
Summary
The Nunnery is a favourite hostel. It is a bit expensive, but worth for what you get, as they organize lots of social events, and the location is excellent. A stay in Melbourne must include a stay at the Nuns!
The Location
The Nunnery is located in a convenient area, next to the Carlton Gardens and the Museum. The famous Queen Victoria Market and the city center is only fifteen minutes' walk away. Or you can catch Tram 96, which runs to the beach in St. Kilda through the city center.
Rooms and Bathrooms
The dorms are old style. You can find wardrobes, cupboards, and mirrors. The mattresses are thick and firm. The only thing is that most dorms are located next to Nicholson Street, which is a very noisy street due to the traffic. It is very annoying at night, especially with the Melbourne old trams.
Common Spaces
The common areas are good and really help people to meet and get chatting. The kitchen is quite small but clean, and you can find everything you need. At the time of our stay, a fridge was out of order, but we're sure by the time you'll go there it will be replaced. Also there is not much space on the shelves to store food, but there's a big common table where people can sit round and get to know others. This is great at breakfast time, when an incredibly generous supply of bread, jam, and butter is supplied. And it is really good bread! On Sunday morning there are free pancakes, but it rather looks like crepes.
There are also some tables and chairs in the corridor, and a big room with couches and TV. On Tuesday evening there is free popcorn and movies. Outside there is an excellent courtyard with BBQ facilities and a seesaw, which is great to chill out. And on Friday evening there is a free BBQ! But sure to be there on time, as it is usually very crowded!
Summary
The Nunnery is a favourite hostel. It is a bit expensive, but worth for what you get, as they organize lots of social events, and the location is excellent. A stay in Melbourne must include a stay at the Nuns!
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
December 2009
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The Nunnery Reviews on Other WebsitesHostelz.com Guest Reviews
Overpriced I stayed here for a weekend of gallery visiting, and basically just wanted a clean, reasonably-priced place to stay. Unfortunately, the nunnery's pricing structure isn't very transparent, as they put up the price by $4 a night simply because the Australian Open was on that weekend, yet didn't post it on the website. I decided to stay anyway and was dismayed when I saw the tiny room crammed tetris-style with 3 bunk beds, no floor space (there was no room for 6 people to store their luggage anywhere else), and grime simply because how do you clean the floor when that's the luggage storage space? The sheets provided were stained, and the towel was grey with age. There was only one (very bright) light in the room, which was left on til everyone went to bed by 2am both nights. There were also self-righteous signs all over the bathrooms asking people to save Melbourne's water by having short showers, yet it was a shallow request as the shower heads were not the water-saving variety. It was easy to get to public transport-wise, and it's close enough to walk to the city and/or the fantastic Fitzroy cafes. Oh and the hostel has a really friendly cat that roams the corridors. — Lucy , Australia (2010-02-27) Amazing For a hostel, it is amazing. it's the cleanest hostel Ive been in and i'm quite picky! But if you want five-star standard then just go to a hotel. The nunnery is great for travelers who want to stay in melbourne longer term (three or four months). I stayed there for a month and met loads of cool people. People go there, stay there for a few months, and meet other people. It's great and sociable. free goon with the BBQ on Friday too. — Emma , Scottish (2009-04-20) Staff friendly, close to city, very noisy, and really filthy We stayed during Cup week and it was really full. On the positive side the staff were friendly and it was close to the CBD. On the negative side, we were moved four times to different rooms out of the seven nights; it was very, very noisy; and the bathrooms and kitchen areas were so disgustingly dirty we canceled our second week there. A good clean twice a day in these areas would be a vast improvement. We could not wait to get out of the place. We have stayed in backpackers before, so are not new to the backpacker experience. We would not recommend it to anyone. — Stevo , NZ (2008-11-07) Not too bad, but not great. I quite liked the feel of this place, I've stayed in hostels through Asia, Europe, and the U.K. and this was the first time for me in a hostel in Australia and on first impression it was quite nice. The building certainly has character. The area is also really good, its about a five-minute walk to Brunswick Street, which is packed with awesome bars and restaurants. The one thing that really disappointed and turned me off coming back to this hostel was that one night after coming home from a night out, I was blamed for breaking a window! We were in town from Adelaide for a gig and a couple nights out on the town in Melbourne and I really did not need this, it brought down the whole mood. We arrived back at the hostel in the morning hours, obviously a bit drunk, and I was woken up by one of the workers in the morning blaming me for breaking the front door window! I tried to explain to this guy that the window was already broken and had a black bin back taped over it when we got back but it didn't seem like he believed me. I have no idea why I was singled out for this, I was told by one of the long stayers in my room they had CCTV at the front doors, so check them! I cannot stand being blamed for something that has nothing to do with me and this really made me feel uncomfortable in the hostel on the last day/night. My friends and I are coming back to Melbourne for another gig in December and we certainly wont stay there again. If that incident had never happened i'd have no hesitation staying there again though. — Dave , Australia (2008-08-23) God left this place a long time ago! Where to start? On check-in you get a welcome sheet. It goes on about the ten commandments of the hostel, like don't steal, clean up after yourself (because cleanliness is next to godliness). Well i think the staff should read the book! The kitchen is a joke it has two small cooking hobs! fridges that look like there going to turn your food into poison, just by putting your food in them! The rooms are small noisy and like prison cells! The bathrooms have a mind of their own hot, cold, hot -- and if all of them are working then the last shower runs out of water!
The best bit of this joke of a Hostel is the Price! $32 a night and for what? when you look at what else is in Melbourne then i really don't know how they get people in the doors! Maybe they should just change the number on the door to 666 and call in the House of Sin! Please don't stay there! — Craig , UK (2008-06-23) Worst Hostel I've Stayed In This Hostel rates itself as the "Best in Australia" I don't think so. I have been traveling around New Zealand for the last ten months and this is the worst Hostel i've stayed in! It's expensive, the dorms are unclean, and the the place needs to be redecorated! The staff aren't very helpful and the linen, although is free, is in a terrible state. — Jane , UK (2008-06-10) One of the best hostels you could stay in! Well, how many people can say they spent seven months in one hostel? The staff were friendly and the atmosphere is good! The rooms can be untidy but seeing as the largest can sleep twelve, well what do you expect? The twelve-bed dorms also mean sometimes being woken by drunken roommates at ungodly hours but then this is backpacking. Go. Stay. Make up your own mind. — Frosty , uk (2008-04-01) Awesome vibe if you can afford the clean rooms As probably the most legendary hostel in Melbourne, the Nunnery is worth a lot of praise. It's an amazing building with very nice bedrooms, bathrooms, showers, and the super comfy lounge room. Both staff and guests there are great and the breakfast isn't too bad considering it is free and it is a hostel -- cornflakes, bread, jam, peanut butter, tea, coffee, and the biggest tub of vegemite you will see in your life! The only downside is the cleanliness of the gigantic, twelve-person rooms. They are dirty most of the time although they do slap a health hazard sign on the door when it gets to a horrible state and then clean it the next day. But if you can afford one of the smaller rooms you will not regret it. I also stayed a couple of nights in the guesthouse next door and it was pure luxury. They still served bread and cornflakes though except the vegemite was in a much smaller, much nicer bowl. — Andrew , Sydney (2008-02-08) So disappointed! After having visited the web site I was expecting so much better. the place is quite dirty. the breakfast consisted of cheap white bread, nescafe, margarine, and a couple of old spreads. the all place was very noisy until midnight. My friends got a little "surprise" at 4 a.m. when someone entered their room by mistake (using a key) looking for a friend, which means any key can open any door. It is not the kind of things you expect when you pay between $95 and $110 per night. It is a shame as the Nunnery is a beautiful building and is very well situated. — julie , australia (2008-01-06) Gamble on the Nuns and you might just win The Nunnery's a gamble. This is a hostel which can be among the best in Australia, but it's not always this way. The main building (there are three) is gorgeous -- bags of character and relatively clean. The other building I would describe as an overflow from the first, and the third is the guesthouse, which I've not visited but I've heard good things about -- this part of the complex costs more. The trick with this hostel is to get yourself a good room. Rooms vary enormously from the superb smaller rooms (closest to reception, main building, ground floor) to the grotty dorms in the second building, which I was put into last time (then requested to move) and are untidy, smelly, and frankly they'd have to pay me to stay there. The staff are hit and miss too -- some are wonderfully helpful, others give the impression they'd rather not be there at all. The Nunnery has a small kitchen, but a fairly large main TV room where it's easy to get to know people. The soulless Pumping House pub is next door, but it's not very good and most people tend to flock to Brunswick Street with its never-ending stream of bars and cafes. This is a double edged sword however and can turn into a bit of a cash-trap. The Nunnery is nowhere near regular grocery stores so the temptation is to eat out a lot, which of course is exceptionally easy to do. The Nunnery is also a ten-minute walk away from the start of the CBD so if you wanted to walk into the heart of the city, it's going to take you a little while and the Docklands are simply not within walking distance at all. I'm giving this hostel four stars because my experiences have been good, but it's easy to go wrong here. Luckily I had a good receptionist who was particularly helpful since The Nunnery managed to "lose" my reservation and I had to rebook on the spot when I arrived. It's a place where people who like to stay a bit longer or long-term stayers like to hang about because it is so nice. Sometimes such groups boarder on cliquey but they're not impenetrable in my experience (no, not like that). This is probably one of Melbourne's better hostels, but call up in advance and get a reference for your booking, and when you do, make sure they put you in a main-building ground room dorm. These are generally six to eight beds and are slightly more expensive but not overly so and in my experience, they're worth it. The main communal space has an open fire, comfortable couches, and a cat! — Matt , UK (2007-08-19) Stayed here last year for a couple of nights, had a good time. it's in a good spot, close to some cool bars, found it to be clean and tidy. staff were ok, people staying were better! but that's expected, no one likes working all the time! — Stevo , New Zealand (2007-04-23) What a shame! Beautiful building and just around the corner from Brunswick Street, which has loads of great restaurants, but it is riding on this! It is very, very dirty. If they cleaned it this place could be a palace. Shocking! — Rebecca , British (2007-04-11) Expensive in relation of what you get. It has nothing to do with the information you can see in the net. It's an old hostel, with old bathrooms, old beds, everything is too old. Need urgent refurbishment. Don't go there. Don't loose your money. It's also far from city centre. and they don't even comply with the reservation you make. Forget it. Look for something else. — Alex (2007-02-16) It all began Nov. '90, I was on a year long trip traveling the South Pacific. The road brought me to The Nunnery where I stayed for a week and it was during my stay I met a young lady named Adele who traveled from New Zealand to go see the Phantom of the Opera, she was also staying at the Nunnery. We met the very last night before she flew home and we hit it off. I got her address and met her again three months later in New Zealand. After a long and wonderful story, we were married in New Zealand in Nov. '93. — Kevin & Adele (2007-01-13) A small and friendly hostel in a good location for both Melbourne Centre (walk or tram) and Fitzroy. Supermarket is a bit of a trek but cheap food can be bought in local cafes in Fitzroy. The kitchen was a bit on the crowded side and the bathrooms could have done with modernising. Rooms are OK but a bit overcrowded. Friendly, helpful staff and good place to meet people! — Lyse (2007-01-04)