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Port Campbell Hostel Reviews

18 Tregea St, Port Campbell, Port Campbell, Victoria, Australia

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The following reviews were submitted by customers who booked in the last 6 months.

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Reviews of Port Campbell Hostel

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86%

Port Campbell is not a huge town, in fact its quite tiny, with one or two streets defining the towns' borders. However, it is very close to 12 Apostles and this hostel is situated conveniently for those out of towners who want to crash for the evening. It was purpose built to be a hostel. We stayed in a double-bed private room with a shared bathroom. The room was sparsely decorated with a king-size bed which was actually two twins put together. The bathrooms were immaculately cleaned.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 08 Feb 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Canada
  • Male 25-30
  • (2 reviews)


66%

very clean and very friendly staff, but due to some strange rules there is not at all an atmosphere in the hostel and it feels a bit sterile:(.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 06 Feb 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Germany
  • Female 31-40
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
Hi Nancy - we always seem to get to receive a belting (figuratively speaking, of course!) in on-line reviews about the somewhat atmosphere in the hostel. Even after managing the hostel for two years, we are still working on finding the exact balance between delivering an environment that allows socialisation inside the hostel (which almost always involves alcohol, which can lead to dramas sometimes) and the rights of most of our guests to a bit of peace and quiet when they want to get some zzzzz's. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes not, and we always find that it is the guests who stay on any given night who either contribute to an 'atmosphere', or not. (Case in point: when the recent Australian Open mens tennis final was played a couple of Sunday nights ago, we had something like 40 people inside the common room watching the match, and you could have heard a pin drop! Every one of those guests was engrossed in the match, and were enjoying their experience. But as for atmosphere? It was like a public library in here... strange, but there you go).

100%

Great place to crash for the night, could have had two nights here to really see more of this beautiful area. Staff were real characters, thanks for taking the time to stop and chat about the area. Loved the little shop, kitchen's great, huge dining and lounge area - so nice and cool with the air con's working beautifully - a must have at this time of the year down here in in this Aussie summer. Great hostel to remember when travelling the GOR again.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 31 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Australia
  • Female 31-40
  • (1 review)


100%

My brother and me stayed ofr one night - loved the place! Decent buzz and brill' craic with other guests. HUGE open plan common area, allows you to socialize or just find your own space and chill - you decide. Brilliant and very well equipped Kitchen: well suited to the crowds using it on the night we stayed. Hostel has a cute little in-house conveniance shop/kiosk selling really, really well valued goods. Nice surprise: cheap coke and chocolate!

  • Novice Nomad
  • 29 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Australia
  • Female 31-40
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
Hi! Finally, someone has commented on our little in-house kiosk. A comment we always hear from our guests is: "Everything in Australia is ssoooo expensive". Well, we are trying to do something about that, and our little kiosk is one small step towards addressing that perception. Where else can you expect to find cans of cold Coke, Pepsi, Fanta (etc) for $1.00 along the Great Ocean Road? (And keep an eye out for our specials - e.g. right now we have bars of Toblerone for sale at 50 cents each! And large bags of Cheesels (mmmm... cheesie, tasty snacks!) for $1.00. In both cases, those products are cheaper than what you can buy them for from an Aussie supermarket! Bargain with a big, big capital 'B'.

93%

Excellent hostel. Excellent location. Bloody great value. The place is as clean as any hostel i have ever stayed in, and it offered every amenity I needed (tho' I apologise (again) for burning out your iron. Silly of me to try to iron my jeans). Port Campbell is located right in the middle of some classic coastal natural attractions, like the 12 Apostles and London Bridge, and the hostel is located smack bang in the middle of the town. Beautiful little bay, as well.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 29 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Australia
  • Male 31-40
  • (1 review)


100%

This hostel is by the far the cleanest and best constructed I've seen on my trip. Everything looks brand new and works perfectly. Was great to see all the eco initiatives they have. The staff are eager to help and very friendly. The guests were cool and the atmosphere was fun. Port Campbell is a lovely little town, really lucked out choosing this as a pit stop on my Great Ocean Road drive.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 27 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Canada
  • Male 18-24
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
G'day Mr. Jacobs. Not only is yours is one of our best reviews yet, your words have helped cement our opinion of Canadians... you are the Irish of continental America! (A good thing). Canadians seem to travel very well, have a great sense of humour (tho' I reckon you spell it "humor") and always seem to make the most of their time in a location. In fact, and with reference to the Irish who we affentionately call Paddies, I'm going to start calling Canadians "Caddies". (Nothing to do with golf). Travel well. Cheers, Bec, Tony and Claire (tho' not sure you would've met Claire - she's our 2 y.o. who shows her smile around the hostel from around 9.00am onwards most days).

76%

No closet or wall hangers for personal effects. No aircondition.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 23 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Italy
  • Male 41+
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
Hi Roberto! You are correct: we do not have airconditioning in our sleeping quarters. To place AC units into our rooms goes completely against our attempts to be sensitive to the impact of operating the hostel on our environment, which I am sure you understand. In your case, your room had three (3) windows I'm hoping you opened up: two faced south and one faced east. (I hope you were able to enjoy a little bit of 'mother-natures' natural airconditioning!). Cheers, Tony

96%

Good hostel - modern building with good facilities, large kitchen and open living areas. There were a couple of groups staying when we were there but didnt bother us - they had their allocated slots for dinner so worked well. The 5pm check in is quite late (the hostel is locked up to then), especially if you are there 1 night, but that is how they run the hostel - does mean it is very clean when it does open! Enjoyed our time in the area, and at the hostel

  • Novice Nomad
  • 17 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Ireland
  • Couple 25-30
  • (9 reviews)

Owner Comment (Show)
G'day Jonny - great review. Our seemingly weird "late" opening (5.00pm) you mention reflects one of the unique quirks of Port Campbell's location. We're at the western end of the Great Ocean Road, which also happens to be at the tail-end of almost everybody's road-trip journey out of Melbourne. Hence, the vast, vast, vast, vast (you get my drift) majority of people rocking into town do so after 5.00pm. In fact, if I was to scribe a bell-shaped curve of the normal distribution arrival times of my 'typical' guest into Port Campbell (to channel my inner mathmatical geek), I guarentee an arrival time of 5.00pm would be lodged way, way down towards the tail-end of the left hand side of that slope... around 3sds away from the mean.

93%

Loved the place, staff were friendly, place was very clean and facilities excellent, only thing I would recommend would be that you put lockers beside the beds that you can store your valuables. I will definitely recommend this hostel to anyone I hear doing the great ocean road.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 13 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Ireland
  • Female 25-30
  • (1 review)


76%

Very clean and amenable but limited hours for hot showers should have worked but there was no hot water in the morning. Of course everyone was using them before 10am checkout, so there should have been enough to go around, but there wasn't.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 11 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Australia
  • Female 41+
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
Hi Des - the lack of hot water you experienced had zilch to do with the number of people taking showers. (Our system's capable of providing continuous hot water for 12 users simultaneously). In your case, a tempering-valve actuated to stop hot water flowing to the shower roses. And the result from that is a by-design safety mechanism which , in your instance, results in moderate hot water supply until the valve-resets, which normally takes around 5-minutes. (Sorry 'bout the technical explanation here - but this takes place from time-to-time and is, ironically, a consequence with one intent: to protect users from water that could be too hot. We've since installed tempering valves that are a little less sensitive, which has alleviated this issue. If you're interested, read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostatic_mixing_valve).

80%

really clean and nice backpacker ever I've been stayed in Australia!

  • Novice Nomad
  • 08 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Taiwan
  • Female 25-30
  • (3 reviews)


90%

It's very clean and nice.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 01 Jan 2012
  • Anonymous
  • Taiwan
  • Female 25-30
  • (1 review)


93%

Friendly & informative staff on arrival. Clean room with fresh linen, hot showers and good location in Port Campbell. Would stay again & recommend to others.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 31 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • England
  • Male 31-40
  • (1 review)


93%

This place was great for us. Facilities are wonderful, staff is kind and helpful. The little town is nice, and the hostel is right near the center of things. I highly recommend it as a good option for less money in the area - an easy base for exploring the ocean road and its many sights to see.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 28 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • Australia
  • Mixed Group 25-30
  • (1 review)


90%

A great place to base yourself for the 12 Apostles/Loch Ard Gorge and many of the other amazing views you get from the Great Ocean Road. Very friendly and helpful staff, nice clean, spacious hostel, definitely worth stopping here.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 21 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • England
  • All Female Group 31-40
  • (1 review)


96%

The best backpacker I ever stayed. Reasonable price, good atmosphere and wonderful location for visit 12 apostles.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 20 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • Taiwan
  • Male 25-30
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
Good comments... good review! You hit the nail right on the head related to our prox to the Apostles. Less than a 10 minute drive from them. (And, we are even close to other iconic sites such as Loch Ard Gorge, The Arch, London Bridge and The Grotto). Port Campbell is located in the heart of the Port Campbell National Park, so is a great base from which to see this stretch of the coastline (and I mean REALLY get to see the coastline... not simply 'do-a-quick-drive-by' that around 95% of our typical visitors do). Good to see more people taking the time to see, smell and feel the sites.

80%

Good place to stay. The only thing that I don't like is that the toilets are in the middle of the main corridor and not in a separate room.

  • Novice Nomad
  • 15 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • Italy
  • Couple 25-30
  • (4 reviews)

Owner Comment (Show)
Hi Claudio... yep, those b___dy toilets get a little more attention than I am sure the designer ever intended! But, we do have a set of very normal, boring, 'garden variety' seperate-gender toilets on our lower floor. They are open to everybody in the hostel and well signed just off our main-common area (you probably walked past the door leading to them a dozen times!). They never receive any attention from anybody, which is a shame - 'cause they're a groovy place to get away from it all to deal with your business, as far as toilets are concerned. (Tho' why I am spending this much time writing about our toilets is a little baffling...)

93%

we arrived late and were greeted with a warm welcome which afre a long drive was much appreciated!

  • Novice Nomad
  • 09 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • Scotland
  • Couple 25-30
  • (1 review)


76%

It's sad having the restrooms and the showers directly on the floor. This made a lot of noise. The powder room was for men and women.... Shouldn't this be separte?

  • Novice Nomad
  • 06 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • Germany
  • Female 25-30
  • (1 review)


100%

They was suppose to close early but me and my family counldn't get thr in time, yet the staff willing to sty overtime to wait for us, so i think this can be treated with 'A++'.. and also, she greeted us wth a nice smile and talk nicely to us.. it's really fantastic and i really appreciate it.. it's really a gud experience stying thr.. :)

  • Novice Nomad
  • 05 Dec 2011
  • Anonymous
  • Malaysia
  • Female 18-24
  • (1 review)

Owner Comment (Show)
Hi Sheik, and thank you for the review! I will pass your comments onto Marie, who was coordinating the reception on the night of your arrival. She will be stoked to read your words (and, in Australia, when someone says they are "stoked", that is a very, very good thing!). Cheers, Tony

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  • Novice Nomad: 1-10 Reviews Added
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View all Port Campbell Hostels
  • 89%

  • Overall Rating
  • From 75 ratings
  • 83%Character
  • 90%Security
  • 91%Location
  • 91%Staff
  • 81%Fun
  • 96%Cleanliness

Latest Review

  • 08 Feb 2012 (86%)
  • Port Campbell is not a huge town, in fact its quite tiny, with one or two streets defining the towns' borders. However, it is ...
  • Read more...
  • Anonymous

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