Cairns City Backpackers Hostel

The staff was lovely.

The website said they would have free dinner, which apparently hasn’t been offered for years. Also, we weren’t given towels the first night, and when we were the second night, they were quite dirty.

The amazing Brazilian receptionist

It could have been a little bit more clean in general. Even though the check in hours are from 14h, we arrived at 16h00 and the reception was closed. Our key was on the mailbox, but we had no idea.. Lack of communication I would say.

The location

Check in isn’t until 4:30pm. This is hard when travelling with a lot of luggage. After hanging around the city we got their at 4:30pm to find the gates were locked. A few other people waiting also to check in. Eventually at 5:05 a manager turned up walked past the small group of us waiting with no apology. It was raining also so you can imagine we all wanted to get inside. Cleanliness is low, people not abiding by the putting the dishes away I understood why as their was no tea towels. Flys are unavoidable in cairns however their was more than expected mulched into the used and wet hand towels that were available to dry your hands on. When we got inside our 4 bed mix room I was surprised to see that my top bunk had no ladders to get up and no guard. I found out later from another hostel manager that those beds are illegal for safety reasons. So to get into my bed I had to stand on the bottom bed whilst he was sleeping- not ideal. No kettle in my kitchen however the downstairs kitchen has more amenities.

Didn’t like the shower/toilets