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Bunk Brisbane Backpackers Hostel

About.com Rating

By Kathleen Crislip, About.com Guide

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Bunk Brisbane Pools and Birdee Bar Patio

The Bottom Line

The Bunk Brisbane is an exceedingly great hostel -- a good-sized place with clean dorms, perfectly reasonable rates and unbelievable private rooms (sweeter than my first apartment). Views of Brisbane, awesome art including some great art graffiti and Barbie chandeliers, Brisbane's most happening bar and the friendliest staff in Australia make the Bunk Brisbane Backpackers hostel a perfect spot to hang your backpack while you check out the Australian state of Queensland. (By the way, they call hostels "backpackers" here, mate.)

Pros

Great, adventurous, happening neighborhood
El scorcho hot nightclub and cool pool on site
Good sized rooms and wowser private suites
24/7 desk clerks
Shuttle van

Cons

Wifi available (good) - no free wifi (rats)

Description

In the Fortitude valley neighborhood next to Brisbane's Chinatown
Easy to get to by train, bus, thumb, or hostel van: get Brisbane Bunk address and directions.
Wow-wow-holy-cow private rooms / suites with two floors (hardwood, at that), two bedrooms and baths, kitchen, and views.
Sunny community kitchen -- good place to plan a day of sightseeing (try Moreton Island or Brisbane River kayak lessons).
Very hot nightclub, the Birdee bar, adjoining a great patio and two dipping pools.
Laundry onsite.
Friendly 24/7 front desk folks will book tours or give advice, and a hostel shuttle van's available to buzz you about.
Lotta art going on -- art graffiti on the walls and themed floors are reasons for display art, like earth and water.
Computer room with lots o' stations and pay-to-play wifi -- this would be flashpacker heaven if the waves were free.
What they don't say in Australia: put another shrimp on the barbie. What they do: put another Barbie on the chandeliers.

Guide Review - Bunk Brisbane Backpackers Hostel

I'd stay at this Brisbane hostel anytime -- in fact, I kinda miss it and and wish I could take a few mates and go back tomorrow. The joint's not ginormous, but it's homey and the rooms are roomy. Rates are totally reasonable, and the el scorcho Birdee bar serves up excellent pizzas along with cocktails until the wee hours.

You're walking on the wild side of Brisbane, such as it is, in the Fortitude Valley neighborhood around the Bunk Brisbane hostel, but the most action you're likely to see is some blokes fresh from the country beating each other senseless. Unknown why this happens. A few doors down from the hostel is Brisbane's Chinatown -- good place to eat, shop, and bench-warm. Other bars are around in this neck of the woods -- do some cruising, but start and finish your night at the hostel's very own and very hot Birdee club.

All around, this hostel gets a big thumbs up -- in fact, it's About.com Student Travel's fave hostel of 2006. An exceedingly cool Brit backpacker-turned-business-sheila runs the joint, and a born-and-raised Brisbane bloke assistant manager is an unofficial social director. Together with a friendly staff (the night desk gal concocts crazy bar contests), they've turned the Bunk Brisbane into an award-winning hostel -- took "Best Backpacker Accommodations" in 2005 in the Queensland Tourism Awards. Stop in and stay a while, mates.