Hi

I am a backpacker who is looking to go traveling about in Sydney on a shoestring budget and is looking for a decent place where I can stay for cheap. I would very much appreciate if someone could please recommend me a place where you have stayed before.

While I was making a search on the net I found this place http://www.jollyswagman.com.au/ , can someone who have stayed there before please share me your opinion about the place? What I want to know actually is if the place is clean, I mean the linen and the toilets, is it safe to go there and whether it actually is situated close by to most of the happening places in Sydney

Your help is greatly appreciated

We stayed at the Chelsea Guest House in Sydney
49 Womerah Avenue
Darlinghurst
Sydney
New South Wales 2010
Tel: 61 02 93805994
Fax: 61 02 9332249

Several Fodorites from Oz referred me to this B&B so maybe they will weigh in and give you more information.

It is not in the downtown area but a little on the outskits (we commuted by bus or taxi). We loved it and would definately stay there again.

Definately do the Sydney Bridge Climb! It was great!

Thanks nanabee

Many youth hostels these days offer private rooms and clean, safe accommodation. I think that if you use the search facility on this forum (above) and search on "hostel" you'll find a number of past threads with comments and recommendations. Also check out www.hihostels.com and www.yha.com.au.

I would also suggest you post at www.lonelyplanet.com ("Thorntree" forum), which unlike Fodors tends to target the budget traveller/backpacker market.

Can't help with the Jolly Swagman as although I've stayed in five different backpackers in Sydney (not recently) I've never chosen one in the Potts Point/Kings Cross area. It's a perfectly safe part of town but is NOT central - say a 25-30 minute walk, or you can take a bus. There are plenty of hostels in that area, and lots of pubs and clubs - personally I find it all a little seedy but then I'm maybe just too old to get a buzz from the buzz!!

In my experience the cheaper the hostel and the more freebies it has, the scruffier it is likely to be. More sedate options like the YHA chain - which is national with several in Greater Sydney - are more expensive but can reach almost hotel standards of cleanliness. However, they can be a bit clinical with a much lower level of socialising than the cheap and cheerful "dorms only" sort of places. Sydney Central YHA and Railway Square YHA are both fine places to stay. They are at the top of the main street in the CBD that runs down to Circular Quay and the harbour - handy for intercity buses, and trains, and Chinatown. If you have a map or guidebook (recommended) it will help you to follow all this. Wake Up Hostel is close by and I've heard good things about that too.

The Jolly Swagman looks nice on the website but I can't get it to come up with any pricing so hard to say which segment of the backpacking fraternity it is pitching itself at - though with doubles and twins it probably has moved a little upmarket.

Hope this helps. If all else fails and you book it and don't like it, you can always find somewhere else - there are loads and loads of hostels to choose from.

I have not stayed there but I saw the rooms at the Railway Square YHA when my friends stayed there. I was quite surprised at the size of the room and my friends enjoyed the place and have stayed there again.

I have heard that the backpacker hostels at Bondi Beach are cheaper than in the city - the one at Railway Square is expensive by comparison but is premium hostel accommodation.