Nelson - New Zealand's Beautiful Little City

Situated in an excellent location just off the main street of the little city of Nelson, is Lambretta's cafe. Just a few minutes walk from several hostels and hotels, the park main strip of Nelson - this is another great cafe to stop in and relax or have a bite to eat while you decide where next to go in the area.

The best thing about Nelson is probably the selection of restaurants and cafes - for a place of it's size the selection is excellent. And even with the great selection on offer in the city - in the months I stayed in the area, Lambrettas quickly became one of my two favourite places to stop in.

One of the best things about Lambrettas is the size. A very spacious cafe with lots of seating at tables, at the bar and outside. And because so many of the locals in Nelson spend a lot of their time in cafes, finding one with plenty of space is always a bonus.

Though I mostly went to enjoy their coffee, which was pretty good value and very tasty, they also do a variety of salads, sandwiches, pies, pizza and pasta.
The restaurants tend to be a bit pricey in Nelson, so the value of food at Lambrettas is pretty good (average price for a meal is around $10) and the quality is very good.
During the summer months they are open for dinner as well, but the rest of the year they are open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch.

In a little city filled to the brim with wonderful restaurants and nice little cafes, Cafe L'Affair was easily my favorite, and one that I returned to time and time again in the two months I stayed in the Nelson area.

Located right at the corner of Trafalgar street and right in view of the Nelson Park, this is a fantastic place to go and relax, have a laugh, sit in the sun, dine in, or just have a coffee while you plan the next stage of your journey.

Both a restaurant and a cafe, this is a very friendly place with excellent service that you can come in for an afternoon coffee and cake, a wonderful little lunch, or a spectacular and not too pricey dinner.
I really can not recommend it highly enough for any of these things. They do really wonderful coffees, and I highly recommend their Cappuccino – as it was the best one I had in New Zealand. But if fancy coffees aren't your thing, they also do a beautiful flat white.

The prices are pretty good. You will soon see that eating out is not cheap anywhere in New Zealand, and this is also very true of Nelson. However, for the setting and quality that you get in Cafe L'Affair – both in food and service, the pricing is very reasonable.

The setting itself is beautiful. With outdoor seating comfortably on the main road, indoor seating in a really well arranged dining area and bar (also with a great selection.)

If you are going in for lunch or a coffee I recommend the upstairs, which is quiet and private with tables and big loungy chairs and an excellent place to stop and relax and take stock of your journey.

Their meals are also spectacular. I highly recommend that you try one of their stone-grilled meals, where you can cook your shrimp or steak exactly to your liking on the hot stone they bring with them to the table. This is a very cool experience, and the result is stunningly perfect.

However, if you're not in the mood to cook the food yourself, then try anyone of their main dishes. With ample portion sizes and fantastic ingredients, I don't think you can really put a foot wrong with their menu. Their pizzas are absolutely wonderful, as are their pastas and sides.

My mouth waters even now thinking about it, and my only regret about my visits to Cafe L'Affair is that I wasn't able to try everything on their menu.

The first of four hostels I stayed at in what became my favourite little city in New Zealand, Shortbread Cottage is a nice little option for the price.

Nelson is an excellent and accessible little city, with lots of activities and things to do in the area and in the city itself – and Shortbread Cottage is in easy walking distance of the town centre.

The most notable thing about Shortbread is it's patrons. An excellent couple and an extremely friendly atmosphere. This hostel left me feeling much more like I was visiting a friend's parents than it did that I was staying in a hostel. There were predominantly backpackers staying there, most of them coming and going from the activities at Tasman National Park, but you did feel more like visitors in someone's house (and very welcomed visitors) than it felt like a frat house, as so many hostels seem to do.

We were welcomed our first day into Nelson by the two managers of the hostel – an English couple who had moved to New Zealand a few years previous. And the hostel itself is a beautiful little cottage, well set up with an intimate eating area in the kitchen as well as a patio out the back.

The 'lounge' was basically a small living room with a television and a fireplace. Again, very welcoming but only enough space for a few people, and you should be prepared to share it with whomever else might be staying there that night – but then that is the case with most common areas in a hostel.

The kitchen is also pretty small – it is a standard house sized kitchen with one stove and some counter space, but the refrigerator is an ample size, and though you will have to wait your turn to use the kitchen, it is more than adequate when you get your turn. There are plenty of free spices and cooking utensils to use, and free tea, coffee and hot chocolate for the evening.

And there is the added benefit here that there are only a few beds at Shortbread, so you are only sharing this space with a few other travellers at most, as well as the hosts.

The room itself was the most disappointing part of our stay there. We booked the double room with shared bathroom, a room just off the kitchen. There as nothing particularly bad about the room – and it even came with the added benefit of a television (albeit a TV with only three very fuzzy channels) which very, very few hostel rooms offer. And it was also one of the cheapest private rooms we stayed at anywhere in New Zealand at $57 a night. If you are looking for budget accommodation then this is a very pleasant option. Indeed.

The room was very simple and accommodated a double bed and our bags, but only just. The room was a little old and shabby, and the bed wasn't the most comfortable we stayed in by a long shot – and I woke up the next morning feeling as if I had been bitten in my sleep by some kind of bed bugs. But I would like to give Shortbread the benefit of the doubt on this score – as it could have occurred somewhere else in the day's travels.

The less than resplendent room was, however, made up by the price and very friendly and welcoming atmosphere of the hostel. The shower/bathroom was a good size, and though did feel a little bit lacking in privacy, was very clean and the shower worked perfectly well.

The manager's son came in while we were eating our dinner and having bought some beer happily shared it with us while we all spent the evening sitting and chatting about where we'd been and what we'd been doing. All in all one of the nicest sociable evenings I spent in a hostel in New Zealand.

My only real word of warning about the Shortbread is to avoid using it's washer. It's not cheap to use (I think it was about $4 per wash) and it was dreadful. Not only did it not wash our clothes, but actively ruined several things. It's obviously been used by a lot of backpackers returning from the Tasman National Park and has been clogged with filth. I had to throw away several white garments after they went through the machine.

Other than that – it was cheap and cheerful, and within five minutes walk of town.

All in all, the hostel options in Nelson were very, very good. The prices were very good for anywhere in New Zealand, and they generally offered more and were more pleasant than many others that we visited on our year in the country.

And the Green Monkey was one that we revisited time and again. In fact, in the two months we were in and around Nelson, we stayed there three times.

There were a few very unfortunate aspects to the stay there which did keep it from being my favourite hostel in the country – but there were also many very good benefits, which were certainly reason enough to return.

First of all, the price was very good. We got a good sized private double room with a TV (that worked) a very comfortable bed – and all it of it very nicely put together and cozy. It was a very, very pleasant room to stay in and we paid $58 per night, an excellent price for this in New Zealand.

We did have to share a bathroom but it was a very nice bathroom with a spacious shower that worked very well (very warm with lots of water pressure) and it was also very clean.

It was run by a very friendly couple, and it was a very welcoming atmosphere. The common areas were spacious enough to accommodate the number of people staying (two small dorm rooms and two doubles) and were pleasant and well used.

The hostel itself was nicely situated just outside of town (two minute drive, fifteen minute walk) in a very quiet area just below the Nelson hills with plenty of free parking. It's a nice little building, and easy to find – with lemon trees growing in the back. (there are usually plenty of free lemons to use in cooking)

The kitchen is also very nice and with lots of extras like free tea, coffee and hot chocolate, as well as loads of spices to use. A lot of cooking goes on in this kitchen, and the hostel was often filled with smell of good food.

But there was one perk that The Green Monkey offered which put it above many of the rest for us and was the reason we returned again and again. Both my husband and I are freelancers – and even while travelling, internet access is very important. And in New Zealand, it is very, very expensive, and is run by the same provider in almost every hostel or hotel in the country.

However, the Green Monkey offers free internet, which for us was a huge selling point. And the best of it was, that it wasn't really bad internet on an old computer always being used by other people. There was a moderately fast computer in the lounge which could be used by anyone, but it also offered free wireless for those of us who had laptops – and that ran fairly quickly.
For us this was a very important asset to where we chose to stay and why we returned several times.

The only real drawbacks to the Green Monkey were very unfortunate, and may not be a problem for future travellers here. When we arrived the hostel was nearly filled with people who were basically living there. At least four of the people staying in what is basically a small hostel were working in the area and had been there for months. And though you certainly didn't get this from the owner – there was a very strong territorial vibe from those who lived there – who obviously thought of it as their own personal hostel. Some of them were working at the hostel in exchange for accommodation – and one in particular had a terrible attitude and really ruined the atmosphere in the entire place.

It was regrettable, but as I'm sure they must have moved on that may not be a problem you will run into while visiting this hostel.
The only other complaint I had is that they didn't turn on the heat until 5 pm (another aspect due to the live-in guests, I assume) so being there in the winter, and using it as a stopping place to catch up on work it was annoying having to bundle up in covers to do so.

Other than that, it was a very nice place to stay. The owners were great, and even brought us all chocolate cake one evening.

Of the four hostels I stayed at in Nelson, this one is probably the hardest to review. It was a rather strange place, and though seemed very good in many aspects, was also just a rather odd experience.

In a very nice area, in view of the surrounding Nelson hills in the middle of a nice and quiet little neighborhood – it is initially a good spot. Very easy to find with a large and colorful mural on the outside wall, and plenty of free parking, this is a hostel that is also in very easy reach of town. (a few minutes by car – ten or fifteen walking.)

It is also the cheapest hostel we stayed at in Nelson at $56 per night for a private double room with shared bathroom, and one of the cheapest we stayed at anywhere in New Zealand.

And its quite private, as well. At first glance it reminds you of an old 50's motel in the US, if a small one. Inside the walled area are a pool (which we unfortunately couldn't use because of the time of year) and a common area building and motel style rooms lining the edge of the property.

At first I was very pleased by this – as it was nice to stay somewhere where the room wasn't actually inside someone's 'house.' I do like that you had a little bit of space and some sense of privacy in the rooms.

I think overall the Almond House was pretty unremarkable. It wasn't a bad place to stay – and the owners were very friendly. And the price was very good. But I have to say that it would not be my first choice in Nelson which has a lot to offer in way the way of cheap accommodation.

The room was ordinary at best. With no TV or amenities at all – it was very basic, and though perfectly clean did have a very dated and less than cozy atmosphere. And the common area, though small was ok – but the kitchen was pretty bad, and had there been a lot of people staying would have been very crowded indeed.

But for me the biggest drawback of this hostel was that it's first appearance of privacy was misleading, and though the owners were very friendly – they also seemed to be everywhere and a little too eager to chat. If you would like a very sociable, home feeling stay – then I'm sure you would thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere at the Almond House. They had several small children which not only played loudly in the yard and area around the rooms, but also in the common area. There were toys and bikes lying around the walk ways, and it was also unfortunately like staying at a motel/daycare.

However, if you are travelling with kids or small children – this may be ideal for you. They will certainly have kids to talk to and play with. But if you are looking for a quiet bit of privacy, then another hostel might be a better choice.

Though the most expensive hostel I stayed at in Nelson – this is a really stunning and unique hostel. This really is a luxury hostel, as it claims in it's advertising.

Beautifully set in a stunning old town house adjoining the Nelson park, Accents on the Park is impeccably put together. Each room is really beautifully decorated, and extremely comfortable, many with a view of the park.

The common room is also very nice, with a good selection of books, but only one couch which does make for a slightly inconvenient setting given how many rooms there actually are in Accents.

This one, again – is a rather difficult one to review for it's paradoxes. It is beautiful, and probably the nicest hostel you will stay at anywhere for the price. Extremely well situated right next to the park and just a minute away from the town centre and loads of shops, cafes and restaurants – this hostel has a lot of things going for it.
And the price – though more than any other hostel we tried in Nelson, was still only $65 per night for a private room with a shared bathroom – not a bad price for a hostel in New Zealand. And there were several price options depending on the amount of beds, space and privacy you wanted.

And the kitchen downstairs was very spacious and with plenty of ammenities, and loads of seating, including outdoor seating that could be used if the weather allowed (which unfortunately it did not while we were there.)

However – there were some serious drawbacks to this hostel as well, which make it difficult for me to give the rating I would at first like to give it.

The biggest problem I had with Accents on the Park was that one of it's proudest claims was it's soundproof rooms, and how private that they were. This was one of the biggest draws for me, as after three months in hostels with thin walls – I was craving a little bit of quiet and privacy. However – this was just blatantly not true. It was easily the thinnest walls of any hostel we stayed in (with the possible exception of Fat Camel in Auckland) and we could hear everything down to the sniffles of the people in the room next to us. When they plugged things into the sockets or turned on the sinks it sounded like someone was baning on the wall. It was really, really bad.

Also – they were over bearing on the rules and regulations. This was obviously meant to keep a certain 'frat house' feel out of the hostel, which would have been a good thing, but it was far too restricting for adults who had just paid a fair bit to stay. We booked a whole week at Accents, and on entering our room found a big list of rules of what we could and couldn't do, and when. It really put me off the place immediately. Rules such as not being able to bring food or drink into your room, what time the kitchen closed (9 pm) and that you were not allowed to drink alcohol anywhere on the premises. This was a huge annoyance as we had just come from wine country and bought several bottles to enjoy with dinner at the week we were splurging on our upgraded hostel.

The huge carpark outside cost an extra $3 per night, and the internet was it's usual costly price. The bathrooms were nice and clean, but they had 15 minute timers on the lights – so if your shower went beyond that all the lights in the room shut off. Something I found very irritating for a more expensive hostel. The only other place I experienced this was at campsites. And the lack of a TV in the room was also unfortunate, for the price we paid.

As I said – a tricky one to review because of how nicely it was put together and located. But you can decide for yourself if these drawbacks are something you would find an issue or not.