Manly Harbour Backpackers

The place is clean, and the hostel staff are friendly. I stayed in the pop room. It could use an oven in the kitchen, though. The bar staff can be unfriendly when they’re handling the hostel side. It can also get loud because some long-stay guests act like they run the place, playing music at all hours and smoking on the fire escape. The smoke comes straight into the pop room and other rooms facing that way. There are also a lot of drugs around 😐. Without those people, it could be an excellent place.

The cleaners are lovely, but this place is going downhill fast and starting to feel unsafe for travellers. It’s between two pubs, so weekends can be noisy. The new manager seems incompetent, has poor people skills, and appears to charge whatever he wants, with the price changing day to day. There are too many permanent residents, and many seem to have drug or alcohol problems. People have a tendency to steal, going through other guests’ bags whether the owner is there or not. Management doesn’t seem to care and hires people who can’t be trusted. You’ve been warned.

The place is really run down, with holes in a lot of the walls and plenty of repairs needed. The Wi-Fi doesn’t work properly. The cleaning lady does a good job, though, and even put out free breakfast for us in the morning.

The photos don’t match reality. This was the worst hostel I’ve ever stayed in. It was filthy and hot, the air conditioning didn’t work, and there were holes in the walls. It looked as though it hadn’t been cleaned for a century. The city council should close it.