Albatross Backpacker Inn

Homely, clean, friendly with really helpful staff and a great wood fire. There is plenty of free car parking and it's in a good central location.

This hostel is fantastic. It has the friendliest owner of any hostel I've been to, someone who was always on hand to give the best advice and offer his knowledge. This place has a good atmosphere and a very cozy lounge based around the fire, making it feel very homely.

The Albatross Lodge is a set a bit away from the center of town. Like many of the backpackers in Kaikoura, it is a converted house. The Lodge has fairly small dorm rooms and an odd system of having to walk through the ktichen in order to access the showers. However, these inconveniences pale in memory when one walks into the kitchen and common rooms. The kitchen is spacious and well equipped with pots, pans, knives, wine openers and all the other things you don't tend to pack in you backpack. The common room has couches that surround a coffee table and makes a homey atomsophere for chatting with your fellow travellers. Outdoors, there are also picnic tables for enjoying the fresh ocean breezes.