Hostel Review: Coolangatta Sands Hotel

By Bobbi-Jo // 30 March 2010 // Comments: 0 // Related Categories: Best Backpacker Job, Hostels, Nightlife, Review

There are so many things that can make or break your stay at a particular hostel.

Staff.

Location.

Cleanliness. (Nothing makes me scream like a little girl and then sleep with one eye wide open like seeing a huge cockroach right as you’re about to turn out the lights to get to bed.)

Hostels aren’t hotels, so you only expect so much from them, but striking the right balance and getting these things marginally right are a big deal. When you’re traveling, the time spent actually inside your hostel should be pretty minimal (that’s the point right? Cheap accommodation so you can afford to get out and see the area?) but you still want to be comfortable and feel safe, especially if you’re going to be hanging around for a bit.

The Coolangatta Sands Hotel, one of only two backpackers in Coolangatta, comes so close to being perfect in all these areas, it’s a little ridiculous. To date it is one of my favorite stop-overs in Australia.

Friendly staff? Check.

Amazing location? Check. You’re literally across the street from the beach on one side, one of the best clubs in Coolie on the other, literally on top of one of the other best clubs, 5 minutes from the airport and the best surfing in Australia.

Clean? Maybe they’re just really trying to keep the sand off the floor, but I’ve never seen a hostel mopped and cleaned so frequently before. I woke up one morning to find them cleaning the doors that lead into the rooms. No cockroaches here.

There are a few things you won’t find in other hostels as well. Balcony access from nearly all of the rooms. Outdoor kitchen seating area, so you can soak in the delicious weather while you eat. Staff that will come upstairs, hang out with you, and make sure you’re having fun.

If you’re on the shy side, Sands is a great place to kick off a trip or stop in solo if you’ve had a bit of bad luck meeting people to hang out with. Managers Adam and Iain put travelers who are alone in rooms with social people (how many hostels have you heard of that even know the personalities of the people staying there enough to do that?) and organize fun days or nights out almost every day of the week. Sometimes this includes a free beer and game of pool downstairs at the in-house nightclub, sometimes it’s a sunset barbecue up on Kirra Hill, a great lookout popular with locals and tourists alike that makes for a stellar view of the sunset while you get to know your hostel-mates and grab a ton of food for $10 or under.

If it sounds too good to be true? It kind of feels like that. One drawback is the fact that you can definitely get stuck in a place like Coolie. I almost did (good thing it’s my job to keep moving). Staying there for a week makes Coolie the longest stretch I’ve done on this trip since Sydney. But there are a few long term residents in the hostel and people that keep coming back again and again. This can be good and bad, everyone is super friendly, but many of them already know each other before you arrive. That being said, you’d have to go out of your way to not meet everyone and bond over a scooner at some point (Adam and Iain make sure of it).

The price of the beds in the dorms puts the Sands a bit higher on the cost sale than some other hostels, but a few dollars difference (I’m talking under $5 per night more than you would pay somewhere else) is absolutely worth it for what you get. It’s backpacker meets resort, so you can backpack or flashpack comfortably and economically and with a little bit of style.

More to come on the wonderful world of Coolie soon, so stay tuned!

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