Surfside Coogee Beach Backpackers

Awful
This is the worst hostel I stayed in in Australia. Unfortunately it was my first one so I thought all hostels were like this and it was ok that random people would walk into the rooms. Very, very, very poor security; moody staff; dirtiest kitchen and bathrooms; lack of facilities (the computers are always broken); four showers for girls in the whole place; extremely noisy; and more. Never stay there if you care about your possessions and your sleep. Drunks and druggies sit around all day, complete wasters. Not one positive thing to say about it.

Good for a piss up
Were there in 2003 and stayed in room four! Generally a really good hostel party atmosphere!

Quite nice, many english backpackers, friendly staff, a good place to stay.

Great location and if you like meeting people and partying go for it -- balconies are good to meet people/have a drink. Best thing about the place was the people i met -- absolutely awesome and great fun. Downside -- Tony is a loser, he pretends the hostel is full if guys call up and if a girl calls up and sounds hot he'll book them in. He'll sleaze on every girl that comes in, keep rooms free so he can take girls back there. If you're a new female traveler to Oz don't fall into the trap of friendly kiwi guy being helpful.

Lived in this Hostel for six months. (In 2002 and Part of 2003) Make sure you get into Room one or six to avoid noise and have the best view. Last time I was there Tony the walking Woody was in one of these rooms. Watch Out! He will shag anything that walks on two legs. Bathrooms were just awful at times but usually we were too hungover from the great night prior at 'The Palace' or 'Coogee Bay Hotel' to really care. Manager Rich is a bit of a prick as well. If you are looking for a good time in Sydney this place is great.

I stayed here in March 2006 for a week and had a right laugh. Okay so it's not overly clean, but if you want to party it's a great place to stay. It's within close reach of Coogee's two main pubs, C.B.H and The Pallace which are good fun and always packed. Great views over look the beach, I spent many an evening gettting drunk on the balcony with all the people I met which was cool. Good lounge with twenty-four-hour foxtel (Sky TV) for all the football, and they do your laundry for you if you give them seven dollars. A great place to stay if you're arriving in Oz, much better atmosphere that those city hostels, get down to Surfside!

Hmmm. The best thing I have to say about the place is the fellow backpackers I met, and that was pure luck. Everyone was charged defferent prices depending on how the person on the desk felt that day. There were no fans in our room so the heat was stiffling. Not that we could have slept over the door slamming, music and noise anyway. We woke up to find a bloke walking through our all-female dorm so not too sure about security. I can only speak for the female facilities but there are only four toilets and four showers for a huge number or guests. And no one seems to know what's going on here -- a lot of the "staff" are just randoms that are staying there, and the managers like Tony and Rich, (when you can find them) are nothing more than schizophenic -- sometimes friendly, sometimes rude. We were also unable to find anywhere else in Oz that charged you to clean the bed linen, or such an extortionate key deposit. Not recommended.

We stayed in Surfside for 7 weeks over the xmas and new yr period and have to say we had the most enjoyable time there. We stayed in room 6 and Tony was the man! I even cried when i left!! It is very clean and the free wine and cheese nights will never be the same anywhere else. We made loads of great mates and will go back there before heading off to N.Zealand. Loads to do in Coogee and the beach was just right...not too crowded like Bondi. I would rate this hostel very high and you should all go and stay there.

Its a great hostel if you dont mind the smell and the sand everywhere. I also recommend not getting too involved with the staff that work there Tony is way too over friendly so watch yourself with that one!

I stayed here for a week. The kitchen and living area (with huge TV) was very clean, the (all female) dorm room quiet and spacious and the views spectacular. I would prefer that there was some common indoor space with TV to chill out in, but still, this was one of the better hostels I stayed at.

The Northern bloke behind the main desk is the most miserable man you could dread for. Tony, the other guy, is a walking woody and even tried it on with my girlfriend! There was also a rat there in February 2005 when I was there. It is hugely overcrowded and has extremely limited kitchen facilities. Good views, though.

Hey, I didn't like that place too much. It was alright, but it didn't have a proper common area, which sucks. It's not too clean, but I've been to dirtier places as well. But one thing is for sure; you are travelling Australia, so Coogee is definitely NOT the place to be long term.

We had the best time ever here! Tony is so welcoming. There were four of girls travelling together and we were a little bewildered by our first time in Australia, and he was so friendly, some thought overly so but we do not know what they were on about. We just thought he was good in bed! Kiwi Tony, God bless him!

Great location. I definitely recommend it for a couple of days on the beach. I found it quite hard to meet people here, though. It was quite clean, apart from the sand everywhere!! It's not a bad place for the beach, basically.

Money and other things went missing here. It has mixed dorms, and not nice noises throughout the nights. The showers and laundry were just disgusting. It's a smelly, dumpy, noisy and clumsy hostel.