Which Bunk? Railway Square YHA, Sydney, Australia

Hello again travellers! I am back with my second hostel review! Don’t worry, they won’t all be on Sydney hostels – but this one is too unique to not review, so another Sydney hostel it is!

Since I stay in Sydney a lot, I often look online for different hostels to try when I am booking my accommodation. I have always glanced over at Railway Square and what it offers, and thought it looked cool but never really felt enthused enough to deter from my usual well tested haunts of the Sydney Harbour YHA (see my last Which Bunk? review) or Sydney Central YHA (review of this one coming soon!). However, in February I decided to not only give Railway Square YHA a shot, but also to go the whole hog and book a bed in one of its special ‘railway carriage dorms’.

That’s right. A bed in a converted old train carriage. You don’t see that every day!

 

 

So there I was, having booked my bed in a four bed carriage dorm, and really looking forward to something different. When I landed in Sydney from Perth I hopped on the train and went straight to Central Station, where I had been assured from YHA’s website that there would be plenty of signs to easily direct me to the hostel, which was within walking distance of the station.

But it wasn’t that easy. Central Station in Sydney is a confusing enough station on any day of the week because of its ginormous size and absolutely bonkers busy atmosphere all the time, and even when I lived in Sydney and went through there regularly I still got lost. This day was no exception. I saw just one sign on some random wall by a lift that said ‘Railway Square YHA’ on it, and only saw it after I’d pulled my heavy luggage around for 15 minutes trying to find the right exit of the station for the hostel and had asked two separate CityRail employees for help.

Eventually I made it to the right level of the station and exited, only to be confronted with a weary backpacker’s worst nightmare. Yep, you guessed it. Stairs. Three whole flights. I sighed. I looked left and right, hoping for an alternative (aka easier) route. But there appeared to be none. So I hauled my bags onto my shoulders and gripped my suitcase tightly and trudged up the stairs, hoping this place was worth it (sorry but I just really hate stairs. I am scarred for life from hauling my 7 weeks full of stuff suitcase up and down literally hundreds of Paris metro station stairs in 2012. Ever since then I have hated them).

Luckily, it was. One small set of stairs before the entrance and a kind young bloke offered to help me lift my suitcase up this final hurdle. Sometimes, the kindness of strangers can turn your day around, no matter how small their act of kindness is. I smiled and thanked him and we hauled my suitcase up together.

Railway Square YHA’s lobby is an impressive expanse of space that immediately makes you glad you’ve picked this hostel. It’s a feast for the senses – something new to see with every degree you turn your head. A hostel is doing it right if in the lobby there is everything you could need for your adventure, from a dining room that sells cereal and two minute noodles in the corner, to a wall full of pamphlets just waiting to be grabbed and devoured by an eager traveller keen for ideas on what to do in this city, to the wifi password helpfully written on a little blackboard and hanging on the wall by the kitchen, to the obligatory notice board with job and used car ads on it, to a foosball table, to a public telephone and a water fountain. Suddenly I had forgotten about all those stairs.

 

Best wifi password ever!

 

Railway Square offers of course regular dorms, just like at every other hostel, and private and family rooms, but like I said, I was keen to try something different, so I got my key card for a train carriage room and after a quick and easy check in process headed out of the lobby and onto which I’m pretty sure had once been a train platform itself and towards my carriage where I would spend the night.

This carriage had two bunk beds – so four beds all together – and it was tight, but not uncomfortably so. There were still four lockers, plenty of power points, three windows and a chair or two. It was just cosy.

 

 

 

 

Once I had settled myself and gratefully taken my bags off my shoulders, I went exploring, eager to see what was in and around the hostel, and keen to take the pictures you see in this entry.

I was kind of shocked – even though I shouldn’t have been considering the location and the name – that my carriage was within spitting distance of a working platform of Central Station itself. Which meant that sleeping in my carriage wasn’t the quietest experience ever. However, again, just like with the size of the carriage, it wasn’t a deal breaker. I think the platform that was so close to my bed was actually a platform used for interstate trains, which don’t go very often, so there wasn’t that much noise coming from it, and I survived the night.

The bathrooms were nearby to the carriage, meaning even in the dead of winter a midnight sprint to the loo wouldn’t be too cold that you wouldn’t want to do it, and you would never get wet thanks to plenty of cover overhead. The bathrooms were clean and the stalls inside plentiful, which as a backpacker I love to see. Nothing worse than a shower ‘block’ that only has two showers!

 

 

 

 

 

Just a few metres away I discovered a little alcove hidden under the stairs leading up to the dorms that displayed one of many brilliant ideas hostels around the world have dreamt up and developed that make hostels such friendly and awesome places, and that are sorely missing from some sterile hotels. It was a ‘give and take’ shelf. Not heard of a give and take shelf before? It’s exactly what it sounds like – somewhere travellers can leave unwanted stuff for other travellers to take. It’s the perfect place to offload that novel you finished reading on the plane and you want to get rid of so as to free up some room in your bulging backpack. Maybe you bought a better rain jacket whilst you were travelling and no longer need the one you bought from home? This is where you leave it. Bought a huge bottle of shampoo while you were here, used only half of it and don’t want to lug it back to your home country or throw it out? Put it on the give and take shelf. It’s truly the greatest backpacker invention since lockers with power points inside them! Railway Square YHA’s give and take shelf was overflowing with pre loved stuff, just waiting for the next traveller to make the most of the contents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last point of exploring was the kitchen and dining areas, as it was time for dinner. I was pleased to find a large dining room with plenty of tables and chairs, plus couches, and if I remember correctly even a TV in the corner. In the back left hand corner were vending machines and the entrance to the kitchen – a huge area with an abundance of microwaves, fridges, sinks, stove tops and ovens, plus enough crockery and cutlery for hundreds of hungry backpackers. It had it all, which made me smile, because when I stay in hotels I often frown as some of them, whilst five star with comfy beds and your own ensuite, often don’t even have a kettle for me to make a cup-a-soup! One of the greatest things about hostels, I think, is that they have kitchens, and more often than not are stocked with everything you need – so much so if you really wanted to you could probably whip up a roast in there! You’d probably have to fight off a lot of starving backpackers who’ve smelt the roast lamb cooking, but you could do it!

 

I’d bought a simple to assemble dinner with me from home so after exploring the kitchen I sat myself back down in the dining room to eat. As I ate I read the nearby blackboards hanging from the walls, each displaying what was on offer in the dining room for each day of the week. Another brilliant thing about hostels is how much they offer for free, or at a very cheap price, for guests. The fact that these things are free is so great, but they also have an added bonus of bringing backpackers together and encouraging solo travellers to talk to other solo travellers, make friends and swap travel stories and tips. I have had many interesting conversations and gotten many fabulous tour and attraction recommendations over bowls of pasta at free pasta night Tuesdays. You sure don’t get that level of friendly in a hotel. Railway Square did its bit by offering free pancakes as well as discounted BBQs and Mexican fare. What better way to meet new people and save a few dollars?

Because I was just at this hostel for one night before a work trip I didn’t get to take full advantage of some of its other offerings, nor even explore every floor of the huge building the hostel calls home, but the website informs travellers that there is also a pool and a spa for guests to enjoy. Ideal for when it’s just too hot to bear the thought of getting on the train and the bus and getting all the way down to Bondi. You want a swim right this second? No worries, just head to the rooftop. Well done Railway Square, well done.

Location wise Railway Square ticks all the boxes too – a hop, skip and a jump from Central Station (and you can tackle those stairs, I know you can!), a pleasant 30 minute walk to the glistening water of Circular Quay (or you can take the train there and get there in no time, as it is only a handful of stops away!) or Darling Harbour, 10 minutes walk to Chinatown and so ridiculously close to an array of pubs, cafes, take way joints and restaurants that you can smell the parmi’s cooking from your bunk. What more could you ask for?

Jorgs rates Railway Square YHA 4.5 stars out of 5!

Check out their website at http://www.yha.com.au/Hostels/NSW/Sydney-Surrounds/Railway-Square/#

Until next time, happy hostelling!

Jorgs