Hostel Review: Main Beach Backpackers

By Bobbi-Jo // 24 March 2010 // Comments: 0 // Related Categories: Best Backpacker Job, Review

Main Beach Backpackers, located right off, well, Main Beach in Byron Bay is a great place to stay if you want a near perfect combination of location, staff and activities.

Hostel’s now are smart to make sure backpackers are meeting each other, which means that any worth their salt are organizing in or near-hostel activities for free or cheap for the benefit of their occupants. Main Beach is no different, offering two BBQ nights for $6 (and if you’ve ever been to Australia and know how expensive food can be, you know what a great deal that is).

As I said, the hostel is just near the beach. Since the timeline of a night out in Byron goes: dinner, drinks at one of the many local bars, continuing drinks at Cocomanga’s if you’re brave enough, and then headed to hang out on the beach after everything is closed (and after you’ve devoured late-night kebabs and/or pizza), saying near the beach with a safe well lit walk home is a major plus.

You can either stay in a dorm room or a double, with doubles having access to a more conventionally styled bathroom - no stalls, like a bathroom you’d find at home. Either way, the rooms are roomy, and have built-in lockers to store your valuables.

Major plus for backpackers? Free wi-fi. Coming across this in the land of Oz is no easy task, so it’s a major perk and benefit provided by Main Beach. And, it’s actually fast. So if you want to Skype home, you can do so without worrying about your signal dropping.

Other than that, big common areas, a huge movie collection (for the rainy days), spacious kitchen, a pool area and knowledgeable front desk staff put you in pretty good hands.

The only draw backs about Main Beach is that the rooms can get a little bit stuffy during the day. They provide fans in the room so it helps a little, but you might have to master the art of opening your window just enough and having the fan on the right setting to get it just right. But either way? You’re in Byron Bay, during the day you should be out taking in the beautiful coast and the great activities in the area (that the front desk will help you book)!

Final rating? 4 out of 5...um...backpacks?

Can't get enough?

And also keep an eye on YouTube and Flickr!