Editor Pick
Blue Mountains YHA
- May 3, 2006
- Rated 5 of 5 by
stomps from Houston, Texas
For many of the people in my orientation group, it was a bit of a shock going from the Swiss Grand in Bondi to the Blue Mountains YHA in Katoomba; I, however, felt right at home. I heard no end to the complaints from some of the girls in the group because they didn't have private bathrooms. I, on the other hand, thought this was an extremely nice hostel to stay in.Our group had our own little wing of the hostel, which included its own huge lounge room, with at least six or eight sofas in it, along with dinner tables and its own kitchen. I figure that this area is open to normal backpackers when there isn't a huge group staying that night. Our room was off of this large lounge room, in a hall with two or three other rooms and two bathrooms, one with a toilet and one with a toilet and a shower. The bathrooms were very clean (at least, before some of the idiots in our group got to them). The rooms were nice as well; our room had four bunk beds and plenty of extra room, since none of us had much luggage at all. There was also a pretty good view—mostly of fog, which started creeping in in the evening.The main hostel also had very good facilities—there was a huge kitchen area with lots of room to cook and plenty of nice tables with benches to sit at. There was a large Internet area as well. To use this, we had to pay for a certain amount of time at the front desk and then put the code on the computer. People that weren't staying in the YHA even came in to use the Internet, although I'm not sure if they were allowed to or not. There were also a few pay phones, although it was difficult to use phone cards here since the call to Sydney was long distance, and the toll-free numbers on the card ate up money very quickly.The hostel was nicely situated towards the end of one of the main streets in Katoomba, aptly named Katoomba Street. To get to anything in Katoomba itself, you really just had to walk out the front door, turn left, and walk up the hill. It is very close to bus routes and the train station, and since it is the main hostel in Katoomba, most of the major bus tours use this hostel as accommodation.The price of the hostel was included in our study abroad package, but I saw the rates and they were a reasonable $26 a night, including the YHA fee. This hostel was definitely a great value for money and I don't see why anyone would pay more to stay anywhere else (unless you want to stay somewhere historical, in which case The Carrington is your best bet).
From journal Katoomba: Heart of the Blue Mountains