As a YHA member and a big fan of many of their hostels, I'm sad to say that Railway was not my favorite. Don't get me wrong though - this is a fabulous hostel. Especially if you're young. Which... well, I'm not. If you're between 18-25 this is a great hostel for meeting new people and making friends. I did see some older folks (even people in their 60's) staying here, but they were just passing through for a day or two. The younger kids seemed to be here for days on end.
When I first arrived in Sydney it was pretty dark. And while I thought I knew where I was going, I got lost finding my way to this hostel. It's just a few blocks from another YHA which is also close to the rail station. It must happen a lot, but I got the two confused. When I ended up at the other hostel I was given a YHA map and some confusing directions. It was pretty much a miracle that I found my way to Railway Square in the dark because the YHA map doesn't actually have street names or real addresses on it. It just has the YHA logo stamped in a rough area on a map. So without Internet access, a phone, or daylight - I asked a bunch of strangers and found my way here. NOTE: If you leave the rail station and exit onto the street, you're going the wrong way! This hostel can be easily found at the end of a long tunnel once you exit Central Station. You'll veer to the right down this tunnel just below street level. If you exit up any stairs you're going to get lost. I did eventually see YHA signs as I was walking. I'd guess it's about a 3 min walk through a tunnel.
I know to a local this might sound stupid but I'd been in Sydney a whole of 5 mins. Give me a break ;)
Anyway - once finally getting here I had some little ups and downs. Let me first point out that one of the young guys working here was amongst the nicest people I'd met. Ever! Upon arriving I tried to buy myself some water and snacks for a late night meal and my credit cards were declining. Even though I'd informed the bank of my trip weeks prior, they put a hold on my cards. Without access to money I couldn't even use a pay phone to call the bank! I told my story to a man at the front desk and he handed me two 50 cent pieces. Later when the issue was resolved I tried to pay him back and he politely refused. Thanks to his charity my vacation was saved and my first night in Australia didn't end in tears. This however, was the best it got. The rest of the staff seemed bored and unwilling to be very helpful with directions or questions.
I did love that the building was a renovated (and now very modern) old train station. It seemed so cool to have the option of sleeping in an actual rail car! That was until I saw the cockroaches. A roommate was sound asleep when she woke up screaming. I flipped on the lights only to see a cockroach the size of a potato chip crawling on her bed. It had WALKED. ON. HER. FACE! Grabbing one of her hiking boots I smashed the daylights out of it but never did sleep well for the rest of my stay here. It's not the fault of the YHA though. I get it - the hostel is literally meters away from the new rail station and when you have litter, train tracks, tunnels, etc - you're bound to have creepy crawlies. But I don't want a part of it! Just to be safe, I'd recommend getting a top bunk. It just seems less likely you'll run across the cockroach issue from 5 feet above the ground. Nothing else about the place seemed dirty or gross at all. It was very clean and this could have been an isolated incident.
After leaving this hostel and staying elsewhere, I did find that I enjoyed other spots a bit more. But this is still one of the better hostels I've stayed in. Very big, very clean, and centrally located. Just remember that luxuries found at other hostels like free breakfast or free WIFI are not included in the price. read more