Location: You can’t beat the spot—just a 2-minute walk to Newcastle Beach. You won’t find a better location in Newcastle. Internet & Work Spaces: If you use the YHA app, you can upgrade to premium internet, which is truly fast. This is great for digital nomads, as there are dedicated work areas as well. Communal Areas: There’s a spacious common area on the ground floor with table tennis, a pool table, a TV corner, plenty of comfortable seating, and a garden. In addition, weekly BBQ and wine & cheese events make it easy to meet and socialize with other travelers.

Cleanliness: While it’s a large hostel with volunteer staff taking care of the cleaning, the high volume of guests who don’t always respect the space makes it less clean than it could be. Unfortunately, I also encountered a cockroach problem during my stay, though they did organize pest control. You won’t find a better-located hostel in Newcastle, and the internet speed plus the work areas are fantastic for anyone working remotely. However, keep in mind it’s not the most hygienic place. Still, if you’re staying in any hostel, remember this motto: “Clean up after yourself and leave it better than how you found it.”

Lovely place. Feels welcoming, safe and well managed. Easy checkin and put process. Secure storage room for storing extra luggage. Rooms are secure. Bunk beds are good. Two bins in room. Fan up on wall for air flow. Plug in heater available in cooler months. Beautiful old building, looks lovely on the outside and inside. Main gathering lounge area is a big open space with lovely wooden floors and ceiling, big comfortable chairs, air hockey table, movie area, big table, good spot to sit with friends. Bathrooms are easily accessible, simplistic and neat. Long open hallways. Large old stair case to upper level. Staff do good job of regular simple clean ups. Feels very satisfying staying there on your own and with others. You know they have good management. Great signage on downstairs notice boards of things to do and places to see. I will definitely stay here again and bring others.

Kitchen fridges and freezers need a longer clean out once every month. Not too bad overall, just have to make sure you store all your food tightly sealed, wrapped, and inside containers and bags for hygiene reasons. I suggest bringing your own tea towel. Green waste bin is very small and could be larger to see and encourage people.

I give this YHA a 10 as it was so lovely to stay at I’ve stayed at a few yhas . The staff were so friendly happy easy going nothing was a problem for them super chill vibes . They had a fir place when you walk in with couch and bean bags gave such a warm feeling to it . The common room was huge with a big tv , pool table heaps of spaces with a few couch s . Free bikes and surfboards to use I didn’t get the chance to use . Bathrooms were always clean which was really good as not all backpackers bathrooms are. You could see a peak of the beach from the rooms . Super cosy clean and fun place to stay .

It had a nice big room with fun things to do and it was very spacious. The property also offered free bikes and scooters which I thought was really nice.

I felt like even though I had a bathroom and a shower in my room because the room was meant for 10 people, it felt like there was only one shower and one bathroom for 10 people. I did not know of any other showers available on the property outside of the one that was in my room. I also felt like the hostel could’ve used more activities.

Facilities are one of the cleanest that I've been to for a backpacker hostel. I was quite impressed. Free surfboards, body boards, a skateboard, citibikes and scooters to use. Free wildlife park access. Staff are lovely. Great price. Close to beach. Luggage storage during the day. Bean bags, lounges and comfy places to hang out with board games, events each night and laundry. Kitchen set up and dining is great with everything you need plus heaps of space. It wasnt too hot, the fans and open windows were used effectively that no AC was needed. Close to light rail for easy travel to Newcastle interchange.

Great atmosphere. Great staff. Gorgeous building. Great location. Comfortable and clean. Paper towels in the bathrooms.

Bathroom maintenance required. 1) Need more drains, a lot of water on the floors and one area the carpet outside the door was wet. 2)Toilet paper holders wouldn't stay shut, they were taped up but that didn't hold. 3) Only one soap disposal unit in the bathroom. 4) Many taps need replacing as they could not be turned off properly, one was dribbling hot water. Very thin toilet paper which ripped very easily while trying to get it off the roll, causing wastage. False economy.

Location = perfect! Beach is down the road, right in the centre of the city and only a 5 minute walk to the ferry to Stockton. The hostel was clean and had events on at night to connect travellers :) The kitchen had all the facilities you'd need if wanting to cook, there were plenty of recommendations on what to do in Newcastle, free bike and surfboard hire, huge lockers in the rooms and great showers. There was also a locked baggage room to keep your stuff if you arrived earlier than check-in.

The beds weren't the comfiest and there weren't any power points near the beds themselves - they were on the floor or in the lockers. The fan in our room was covered in dust, but we just kept the windows open and that was enough.

Everything was great to be honest! Excellent localtion and the staff is fantastic! I{m really glad to have met the new addition to the team, Catalina. She was very professional and kind. I also loved the chill atmosphere in general.

Even though everything was great, maybe the fact that it was really cold everywhere was a downer. However, it IS an old building which is also interesting in itself since you feel you are a part of history.

Depends who checks you in as to how much info you get. The manager is great. Really nice guy. The hostel is spacious. Plenty of places to hang out

Bunk beds are old and move too much, the slightest movement when someone’s inside makes them shake so it’s not nice and makes it quite difficult to sleep in. Some rooms doors to the next rooms (not accessible) but makes the rooms noisier than they need to be. Wifi didn’t reach my room.

Overall I had a really nice stay. The hostel was more low-key than some and had a couple of events on during the week to meet other travellers. The staff were really friendly and helpful. My dorm was spotless. The kitchen was really big, had multiple burners and lots of utensils/plates/mugs etc. It was also cleaned twice daily so there was never too much mess. Can easily get a tram straight from Newcastle Interchange to Newcastle Beach and there is a super nice restaurant called Scottie's nearby that does awesome seafood. Would definitely stay again. Thanks Newcastle YHA team! :)

The showers were clean and pleasant but they could do with an upgrade. The luggage room is very small and gets extremely crowded after checkout.