Bev & Mick's Backpackers

A home away from home -- depending on how clean is your house!
I stayed at Bev & Micks in Melbourne around February 2007. I'd arrived at the bus station after a hellish fourteen-hour coach ride from Sydney to be greeted by a incredibly hungover, vomit-splattered friend who told me I could sleep in his bed at another place. Thanks but no thanks. So I was directed down the road, to the mythical Bev & Micks. I turned up, practically melting from the heat and the weight of my backpack, and found a dark, chilled out bar with friendly bar staff who wrote my name into the ancient book they have (no computerised booking systems here!), invited me to the poker tournament that night, and got another guest to carry my bags up to my room. I ended up staying two months and I had one of the most memorable times from all my travels. Sure, this place isn't perfect, especially concerning hygiene. but the community you find there seems to make up for that. The bar staff try to learn everyone's name as soon as they move in, something i've rarely found in hostels, and it's little things like that which really seem to make a difference. Great location. Few minutes easy walk into the city. No need to get public transport. Right opposite an amazing market. A few of us used to buy fresh fruit, bread, and dips between us and sit eating breakfast, listening to this clarinet player outside on market days. Lots of stuff to do, if you can't think of anything to do, ask the bar staff to recommend something and being a bar, there's always someone to talk to. Bev (I never met Mick) treats all the guests like her own children. It's a really cosy atmosphere. No rush to get up in the morning to check out as normal getting up time is about 1 in the afternoon. Chilled out in the day time, lively at night. Cockroaches and random drunken bodies litter the lounge/kitchen area (the back part of the bar) constantly. You get used to just climbing/walking over them. The kitchen was disgusting. Everything was dirty, the fridges were overflowing and going furry with forgotten food, the ceiling has a serious leak. The main problem with the place is that when people stay, they stay for a long time, accumulate lots of stuff, and then when they move on, they leave it all behind. No-one knows what belongs to who, so no one throws anything away so you have to make a path through all the abandoned clothes, odd shoes, smelly socks in the dorms and try to find a fridge with enough space so you don't have to even touch the bags of rotting whatever that has probably been there since forever. If you don't drink and you don't socialise, you can't expect to stay for long. The cheap bed price isn't really that cheap when you look at all the cash you spend in the bar. That's how it works. I had a cool time when I stayed here. It was nice to come back to a bar full of people who all know your name, and actually seem happy to see you. There was a lot of really decent people there at the time and we had a lot of fun. But you do have to make an effort to hang around the bar and make friends. There are downsides to this place, but overall, I've never found an atmosphere like it in any other hostel.

I pulled up outside the vic hotel in '99 and stayed for five months! what a riot, loved the place! i'll be back at the drop of a hat, Bev and mick are a couple of diamonds. Cant wait to get back!

What a hole. Was so impressed by the reviews here I made a booking. I realise it was at Melbourne Cup time, but I had booked several weeks in advance, and then was impressed when someone rang me a few days before I was due to get into Melbourne to reconfirm my reservation. That was where my good impression ended. Upon arrival, I was told I had no bed, despite my booking, and was offered a mattress on the floor of a room already full to the brim with people's stuff. I was then told I might not be able to get a bed the next day either. Wouldn't have minded so much if I hadn't had a reconfirmed booking. Took a year for all this information to be processed as the guy checking me in was pulling pints in the dingy bar at the same time. This place is a rip-off, better places are available even if they cost a couple of dollars more. Never seen a hostel that gives prioity to people who suddenly decide to stay on at the last minute over people who make actual reservations.

I stayed at this hostel in late '99 when it was the Victoria Hotel. I had the best time of my life, it was the first time I had traveled so far from home (I'm from the States). I had never felt so at home and welcome, Mick and Bev treated all of us like one of their own, whom by the way were always around. I made great friends and whenever I look at a picture I wish I were back. To look at what it has changed into is fantastic -- way to go! I'm so glad they carried on supporting other kids traveling far from home!

I'm Australian and currently living in Brighton. I think Bev and Mick's is one of the coziest places to spend your time. They are lovely people, and they have good beer and a guitar if you want to play it. In traveling around and seeing the standard of other backpackers, I think this place is definitely five stars. Why aren't there more like it around the world! I love it!!

The bar downstairs guarantees an atmosphere that's among the best of hostels in Oz. The staff are great, very friendly. There is always something happening. There can be noise from the bar but this stops at midnight. The city is walkable. This place would have gotten five stars but I was robbed in the pool comp after a lucky snooker.

I stayed here for four months, from March 2004 onwards. I found the people running the place to be really helpful and nice. I could also get a good night's sleep, which was a bonus, as I was working!!! But don't get me wrong, there were still plenty of mangled weekends, and a lot of drinking!!! Sh*t, I'm coming back!!!

I stayed here for about three months (from Christmas 2002 onwards). I had a good laugh here, with lots of late nights and many hangovers! I may be back soon.

This hostel is easily the best budget accommodation in Melbourne for the atmosphere. I'd happily recommend it to anyone.

I lived in this hostel for quite a while, and even worked a few wee hours behind the bar when needed. Maybe it's not the fanciest hostel I've ever been to, but good atmosphere and great people were always to be found there. I am home now in Ireland and miss Melbourne so much. It's a wicked city and Bev and Mick's is a wicked hostel.