We have booked one family room. Once we reached there we got the bus on site for Whakapapa village. The room is ok. Having all the basic facilities. The location is very good. You can have gas station and foursquare near the Backpackers.
Staff were friendly and helpful; excellent facilities; met a number of friendly guests while staying there. Convenient for hiking the Tongariro Crossing (shuttle bus picks up there). Several nice restaurants in walking distance if you don't want to cook in the kitchen.
We stayed here for 3 nights before doing the Tongariro Crossing. Very pleasant stay and friendly and excellent staff. The bus pick up for the Crossing was arranged by the hostel which was really easy. Communal kitchen and fridge which was very handy. Excellent pub right near by to enjoy a drink and dinner
The lady behind reception was rude and very unhelpful. As someone that works in hospitality this really grinds on me, there is no excuse. The hostel itself was okay, facilities were decent and the beds were comfy. It was a decent enough place to stay the night before hiking the crossing.
You can stroll 800m from the bus stop / train station to the hostel. It's right next door to My Aussie Adventure; the mountain bike hire centre & Schnapps; the pub, bottl-o, 4 Square; the supermarket, the P.O.; a cafe & a service station. The dorms are quite big enough & the bathroom / loo is spacious. They have wall rock climbing on site for a bit of a challenge. There are comfortable common areas both inside & out. Ideal for a mug of coffee & a chat with your fellow hostellers. The pick up / drop off shuttles to the start / finish of the Cross Tongariro Hike stop at the front door. The reception staff know all about the hikes & other activities & are happy to advise you. The kitchen / dining area is spacious & there's plenty of room in the fridges & dry food storage cubbies for all you food. There're several stoves and all the crockery, pots, pans, etc you might need. There's no bar in the hostel - that's right next door at Schnapps (very quiet until 7PM), but you might call the common areas lounges. You're certainly welcome to lounge about! They have a (paid) self-service clothes washer / drier. I don't think you could say there's a picnic spot on site. Nothing like rolling green pastures or anything. But they have outdoor benches where you can sit & enjoy your picnic. Just a minor thing; the cleaners (backpackers on working holidays) don't take their job too seriously & aren't supervised enough to ensure that the carpets (hall, dorms, etc) get hoovered. The kitchen & bathrooms are quite clean, though…
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