sydney hostels, Y on the Park or Criterion
 

Hi. I'll be visiting Sydney for a week in January and looking for an inexpensive place to stay that is safe, clean and in a good location. Prior discussions have mentioned hostels like central yha and the criterion - but some of the postings are from quite a while ago. i haven't seen anything about y on the park or the new railway hostel. i'm looking for a double room ensuite for me and my 24 year old son.
Could someone make a recommendation as to which of these to book - or perhaps some other suggestion? It's our first time in australia and we'll also be going to the blue mountains for a couple of days.
Thanks very much for any help.
Sharon

Hi, sharon815!

While I always think the Criterion, with its wonderful location right in the heart of the CBD, is a great budget choice, you may really find that it's stepping a bit far down for you -- it's not a tourist hotel, it's a traditional old Sydney pub with two floors of rooms which share a couple of bathrooms per floor. It's really the perfect choice for someone like myself, who wants to spend all his money on seeing the sights, doesn't want to be placed too far from where the sights are, and is prepared to "rough it" by doing without room service, money changing facilities, fantastic views, and even a proper check-in counter! You might find, therefore, that the Y on the Park is more in line with what you expected from a hotel, although it's not as well-situated, and it certainluy isn't, to my mind, all that cheap (but, then again, I come from the era when the YMCA meant rooms for next-to-nothing for budget travellers).

A compromise which might suit you better than either is the Grand on Hunter St. It's a nice old building, only about seven storeys tall and now surrounded by buildings twice its size, so there's not much outlook. However, it is cheap -- you could probably get a twin room for about $AUD90 -- and it's only seven minutes' walk from the harbour. Also, it's right opposite the entrance to Wynyard Subway station, and close to supermarkets which allow you to eat quite well in your room, thus saving on restaurant costs. There are several postings on this forum about the Grand, so check them out. It has its own website, so you can see before you commit.
Good luck!

And Sharon, please take note of Alan's term "twin room". If you ask for a "double room" in Australia you'll end up with a double bed, not twin beds. I doubt that this is what either you or your son have in mind!

Thanks for the suggestions, Alan. I've e-mailed the Grand and am awaiting their reply. Would you believe the Y on the Park wants 172 for 1 jan and 132 for all other nights! That's steeper than we'd pay for most any Y in the States! Just as a back-up, have you heard anything about the new Railway hostel or the older Central yha?
And to Neil, thanks very much for pointing out the difference between a twin and double - definitely would not have noticed that without you - and my son and i haven't slept together since he was about 2:-)!

Hi, sharon815!

I weould like to say that I was shocked at those prices you were quoted for the humble Y, but, actually, I was forewarned by another post some months ago. To be fair to the Y, it isn't really so humble -- it looks more like a proper swank hotel than the Ys we are used to, so comparisons might not be valid. Their mark-up for New Year is pretty disgraceful -- and certainly you will be pleased with the Grand on this score, as they mark-up the rooms for New Year's Eve all of $AUD10 -- but it pales by comparison with some of our more money-grubbing US chains who sniff a quick profit for this special evening: the Park Hyatt, which has views of the Opera House (but not much of the Harbour Bridge, which is the centre of all the New Year's Eve fireworks) wanted $AUD960 for a room for the night from one Fodor's poster (who, thankfully, knew better).

When I wrote before I was in a great hurry to get my daughter to her dance class, so I didn't look up the Grand's website for you. Here it is, in case you didn't already see it:
http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/...2/99/15/1.html.

Have a nice holiday in your TWIN room! (Actually, in some hotels, the double room contains a double bed AND an extra single, so possibly you wouldn't have had too much trouble on that score -- still, it was wise of Neil to make sure you didn't get any nasty surprises!)

Central yha has a good reputation.

Walked past the new railway hostel the other day. Excellent location next to central railway..brand new building.

John, what's the address of this new building? I know nothing about it, but it sounds like I ought to drop by next time I'm in town.... I just can't work out in my mind where a "brand new building" next to Central would be! Over near the old dental hospital? Where the brewery used to be? On the same side as Sydney Central YHA?

Alan
Its part of central...west side..almost other side of platform 1.

south side of country staion car park.
they have built a glem murcutt style place onto the central railway building.
might be a bit of train noise.

John, you have sparked my interest. It sounds like a horrible thing to do to a grand old building like Sydney Terminal, but I will reserve judgment until I have a look (on Thursday).

I don't think the train noise would be a problem -- you're assuming that one will actually come in while Sharon is there! More likely the noise that will bother her will be the angry cries of hundreds of commuters looking at their watches and cursing that, once again, their train didn't arrive!

Thanks for the info, John. Alan, could you let me know what you think when you check out the place too? Also, I e-mailed the Grand but no one responded. Would you happen to have a phone number I could try? Greatly appreciate all the help.

Sharon,

On the link that Alan gave (http://sydney.citysearch.com.au/E/V/...2/99/15/1.html) the LOCAL phone number that appears is: Tel: (02) 9232-3755, Fax: (02) 9232-1073.

Calling from OUTSIDE Australia you would drop the leading "0" (zero) and replace it with Country Code "61". So, for example, calling from the US (which I believe you would be!), the FULL number would be:
011 (Your Access Code)
61 (Australia's Country Code)
2 (for New South Wales)
92323755 (the Grand Hotel's number) !

C'mon Alan...the north shore service is good and I had a pleasant journey to Bathurst on the Dubbo XPT a few weeks ago.Lots roos sighted from the train between Lithgow and Bathurst.

I guess I've been a bit sensitive to this bed thing ever since my boss and I made a business trip to Sydney and I booked a services apartment in Oxford Street. I was first to arrive, and discovered to my horror that not only had they given us a 1-bedroom suite but that it was equipped with a double bed. I wasn't that close to my boss - in fact I hated the sick paranoid's guts, and he returned the sentiment in spades - so I demanded a change.

Eventually we met up, had a polite (ahem) dinner together and decided to call it a night, only to discover that the hotel had changed us to another room with twin beds, but had thoughtfully pushed them together for our convenience. OK, I knew that Oxford Street was Sydney's gay Mecca (a fact emphasised by a hot car full of drunken rednecks from the outer suburbs who screamed "Poofter bastard!" at me as I innocently walked up the street) but this was ridiculous, so I raised hell until they found us a 2BR suite.

You can't be too careful.

That's a great story, Neil -- but it's interesting that when you saw the first room, it was you, and not the boss, who demanded a change. So do you think that it might have been your boss, and not the hotel staff, who pushed the beds together in the second room? If at first you don't succeed....