This is a large hotel which also has accommodation (due to the fact that a women went upstairs after having a smoke, which is not surprising since this is Katoomba). There is a beer garden out the front that looks out onto the, well, railway station, so you can sit there and watch the goods trains go by, as well as the intercity to and from Lithgow. Unfortunately the wet weather put a real dampener on experience of this pub (because I like sitting outside watching trains go by). However the owner was really friendly, which is always a good thing, though this is what one should really expect from the owner of a pub. read more

Gearins Hotel - Katoomba, NSW

This is a copy of my review from Trip Advisor Hotel Gearin is supposedly undergoing renovations so to be fair, I will only rate the parts of the Hotel that are relevant to me. Before arriving, I had requested a single room and been quite clear about this over the phone, however I was booked into a room with two beds instead (thankfully, nobody booked into that second bed). But after a two long train trips, the sight of a bed was all I cared out. It was significantly cheaper anyway so I let that go. The room contained the two beds, a broken coffee table and some grotty walls. Haven't decided what kind of bodily fluid or otherwise that had run down the wall in the past but made sure I stayed away from it. Someone had also jammed the window shut on purpose so on a hot day/night, I suffered badly. The bed was terrible and saggy in the middle and by the end of the week I had lots of back pain. On the upside, the room had a sink in it. The first night I was there, there was a big fight upstairs which resulted in the police being called (I think anyway) and blood all other the bathroom which nobody seemed interested in cleaning up. There is no kitchen to speak of upstairs so I could not cook my own meals. The whole week I was there nobody cleaned out the kitchen bin so it stank. There is a fridge, a kettle and a microwave and for some reason a toaster in the corridor. But you can only use one at a time since there is only one power point. Has anyone ever thought of getting a power board ? The fridge hardly works so I couldn't drink the milk that I just bought except for one cup of tea. The kitchen was a HUGE MINUS for me. The toilets often run out of toilet paper and the shower is old and disgusting. There is also very little hot water so I could not have a comfortable shower. The lack of lounge room and wi fi was something that I could live with but still annoying. On the plus side, Hotel Gearin has a roof and doors and keeps the bugs away. Also it is open at 7am which is great and is next to the train station. It was nasty but really really cheap (for me anyway) but I would not recommend staying here. The old lady will be lovely once she has been fixed up but not at the moment. read more