Located a block from Napier's picturesque Marine Parade and two blocks from Emerson Street (the main shopping street), Archie's Bunker
is Napier -- a quiet, peaceful, safe, and cheerful place that gives you a break from the relative hustle of other towns on the North Island. The owners, Doug and Susan Batt, live on the premises, run the hostel themselves, and know much more about Napier than the transitional staff found in hostels elsewhere.
Built in the International Style (in contrast to the purely Art Deco form of many other buildings in Napier), many of the doubles, singles, and triples are actually small, windowless interior rooms (with air vents) that are pretty much completely isolated from noise, whether within the hostel or from the street. For those who are claustrophobic, there are fewer private rooms with large windows that let in a lot of air, light, and street noise.
There are two classes of rooms -- budget rooms (with sheets) and backpacker rooms (without sheets). All guests receive a key to their room and a security key fob that lets you into the hostel proper. While entry to the reception area is open during the day, entry to the hostel itself is by key fob only at all times. There are no lockers in the shared dormitory, no security lockers for valuables, and no left luggage lockers, but Doug and Susan will hold luggage and valuables in the office, which is kept locked whenever either of them is not there.
There are two kitchens, two lounges (each with a TV), two sets of showers, four bathrooms, and a laundry room in the two-floor hostel. The upstairs lounge is exceptionally large, with a coin-operated pool table, dining area, and two sets of couches. The bathrooms and showers are unisex. The hostel is quite clean, if a bit in need of a remodel.
Archie's is the place for a traveler who is over his partying days (at least temporarily), who enjoys perhaps a movie or a rugger on TV, reading, or socializing over a shared dinner. Although the green bus does drop off at Archie's, the people staying in the hostel do not tend to party in the hostel itself, as most of the bars are just one or two blocks away. All the TVs are attached to DVD players, and you can select from about 200 DVDs from the office (no charge). Internet is available for a charge.
The nearest grocery stores and bus stop are about a fifteen-minute walk away. To get to Archie's from the bus stop, walk up Dalton Street, turn right on Emerson Street, and then turn left on Hershell Street. Archie's is on the second block, on your right. The iSite (on Marine Parade) is a two-minute walk, the Art Deco Store a ten-minute walk, and the Bluff Hill outlook perhaps twenty to thirty minutes.
-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
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