Boardrider Hostel/Backpacker & Budget Motel

Boardrider Backpacker is an hostel with a special chill vibe. The people are really welcoming. The staff was just so lovely and helpful. And the location is just awesome: in a pedestrian street right next to the beach and all the bar and restaurant of Manly! If you want to meet people, party and work as well, it is definitely the right place.

A friendly place which even leaves you a little gift on your pillow...earplugs. No joke. And they didn't help but it was a nice gesture. An OK place with very friendly staff who can't do enough to help, but it could go with a face lift. Still, for a budget place in the middle of anything, can't go wrong.

This is probably the worst hostel we’ve stayed at. Priced at 40 bucks a night you expect a bit more!! The hostel is full people on long term stay = their stuff is everywhere. When we entered our room there wasn’t even room to put our bags down. It was extremely messy!! (Maybe you should separate short and long term guests??) The kitchen and common area was messy and full of dirty dishes. There were even cockroaches in the cabinets. People were smoking weed all over the place and the smell cling to everything. One morning a guy ran past our room vomiting on the floor and left it there. Real nice!! Although, the lady in the reception was nice and the location is good but that’s it. Would not recommend to anyone.

I had a late check-in which I confirmed with the hostel via email. The night manager made it sound like an inconvenience that I'd called to ask to be let in so I could check-in with him. I had booked a six bed mixed dorm but got shown to a room with more beds. The room was messy with everyone's stuff everywhere. There was a cat roaming around the room. The night manager then started to move someone's belongings off a bed saying that was my bunk (even though someone was clearly already in that bunk). He then changed his mind and took me to a different room (six bed like I had booked). When he came back with the bed sheets, I asked him where my pillow was. He looked around the room and took a pillow off another guest's bed and gave it to me. All of the lockers in the room had people's belongings in (obviously taken by longer term guests) so I had no where to put anything. The rooms and corridors were dirty. People's belongings were all over the place. I decided not to stay and booked Manly Backpackers for the night instead. I rang the night manager to let him know and then went to pick up my passport from him in his room. When I walked in a random girl had it in her hand looking through it. All in all - unprofessional and unorganised staff, poor cleanliness and somewhere I didn't even want to stay one night let alone three!

The first nice thing to mention is that - as a couple - you have the option to get a double bed in a dorm. Unfortunately the downside about our dorm was that it was inhabited by very messy people, the smell was awful! A lot of the "guests" live in the motel (they rent a bed) so it's easy for them to forget that there are guests too, sometimes... On a positive note, the location of the motel is perfect, so we didn't spend much time in our room (only to sleep). It's located next to Manly Beach and very close to the shops and ferry. The motel is big; there are many rooms, a huge living room + kitchen and many guests, so my advice is: please purchase more plates / cups / etc. because there's nowhere near enough for all the people! As a result, people take whatever they can find and so my personal thermos cup was taken and never returned... Also, there are zero drying towels, very annoying. The breakfast is free (bread, spreads, cereal, milk, coffee, tea) which is great, only I felt like no one was keeping track of the food available. Cornflakes without milk just isn't very tasteful! To end positive: the staff is very friendly and helpful. The guests are nice too, mostly surfer types.

The hostel is right on the heart of Manly in a pedestrian street so you don't have any car noise. The beach and everything you need (shop, restaurant, bar, cafe, library...) are just next door. The people are very friendly and welcoming. I was really surprised but the kitchen, the bathroom and the common room are cleaned several time a day. You know when you will arrive in this place but you don't know when you will leave. I definitely recommend Boardrider Backpacker for a short or long term stay.

I could meet good people from every different countries and had good times here. The location is perfect, they have a job centre where you can find a job, or work here in the hostel if wanted. I will miss the place!

The hostel is simple and perhaps could do with a little modernising but for the duration of my stay has been clean and generally tidy - there are people cleaning/tidying every few hours it seems! It's a great place to stay if you're a backpacker on a budget, especially with the weekly price deals, and as they have their own dedicated job centre for guests it's awesome for finding work in the Manly area. It literally takes two minutes to walk to the beautiful Manly beach and you can even see the ocean from some of the rooms and from the common area balcony. This is an amazing place to make friends with a relaxed and sociable atmosphere throughout the place (and the rooftop bar is very cool). Overall, I would definitely recommend this hostel for laid-back, sociable backpackers looking for friends, work and a beachfront lifestyle.

My first ever review because this is the first hostel to feel like "home". If you're after a relaxed and community/family feel to your stay then you will love Boardrider. Everyone is so welcoming, from the staff to the backpackers. There's definitely a feeling of trust as the staff don't shoo you out of the communal areas (like in other hostels at 10pm) so night owls like meeee are free to chill and socialise as late as you wish. The TV area is massive with loads of sofas for movie nights (free popcorn yeahhh!), or you can chill on the rooftop or balcony. Like I said, the community vibe is a massive plus and everyone seems to trust each other, I even came back after a month I missed the place so much! Of course, the location is perfect too with the beach, shops, bars & beautiful coastal walks near by!