Outside The YHA
I loved this hostel. It was modern, spacious and clean with a personal feel instead of that chain feel we had become oh so used to. They had top notch facilities and the communal spaces were so relaxed and big. It was nice to be back in a YHA hostel, I had forgotten how good they are.
Loved The Fire.
Communal Areas
The kitchen, dinning area and tv room were all next to each other and just had such a relaxed feel. With sofas and a fire to chill on as well as tables and chairs around the kitchen. With three parts to the kitchen it has huge and plenty of space to prepare food as well as cooking. It was well stocked with pans, utensils along with extras like a sandwich toaster. The tv room was like walking in to a family living room it was so comforting and was stocked full with DVDs. They also had a pool table and selection of board games – we were entertained by New Zealand monopoly for hours during the rainy days we had.
Spacious Dorm Rooms
Atmosphere and Staff
The staff seemed helpful and friendly even if they did forget to explain about the door code to us! Every night reception shut at 8pm and the door gets locked with a code, luckily if had the paper in my pocket… When we stayed it was rather quiet due to being mid winter and terrible weather however it was so cosy and warm I loved spending a few quiet nights here. There was no on site bar nor much of a party atmosphere but we weren’t there for that. The rooms were well laid out with personal plugs & lights, when we strayed the rooms were only half full too. The relaxed, cosy atmosphere here made it one of my faves. The fire and under floor heating certainly gave us that extra warmth needed. I would highly recommend grabbing a bed at the YHA in Franz Josef in which case the fellow Kiwi Experience people stayed at Rain Forest Backpackers and had a blast.
All photos from the YHA website
