Nomads St Kilda

Party hostel, if you’re looking to rest, go elsewhere I’ll start with the pros and what this hostel does great: 1. The staff are amazing! Super friendly, always happy to help, join in activities and just generally good vibe. Shoutout to Pepe and Luke! 2. It’s a party/social hostel which makes it very easy to make friends and socialise. But beware that 90% of people coming here are British so if you’re from the UK and want to stay away from Brits, tough luck 😂 otherwise the activities are super fun, there is something on every day and the alcohol is MUCH cheaper than going out (especially if you catch happy hour) 2.1. Free breakfast, fresh pancakes are dope! Maybe not every day, but when you really can’t be asked with cooking and just want something for the hangover, pancakes are a lifesaver! 3. The app!!! They use an app (called Goki) and if you stay here, you can basically get through all the doors without having to carry an annoying wristband or card that is easy to leave behind. I’d recommend memorising the codes anyways, but saves you time with punching in the codes if you just use the app Now the cons: 1. As I said, it’s a party hostel. I wouldn’t recommend staying for longer than a week unless you’re into that much partying (to each their own). But after 7 days you’ve seen all the socials, and you can always come back and join in even if you stay in a different hostel. Be prepared for people to come in at all hours of the night, usually drunk, or with someone else, so an eye mask and very good ear plugs/noise cancelling headphones are recommended 2. Which is not really a big issue but found it quite strange - during the events there is sometimes a queue outside and even if you live here you have to queue or ‘prove’ that you live in the hostel and argue with the bouncers (who are not the friendliest I found, especially late at night) 3. And this is the biggest issue - the facilities!!! The rooms are just terrible, and I’m not talking about the cleanliness, it’s how they’re set up. I stayed in a 6 bed room and these were double beds that have no curtains (therefore 0 privacy), no shelves or plugs on the top bunks (so if and when your alarm goes off you have to jump off the bed before it wakes everyone else up) and the whole bed is extremely flimsy, basically ready to fall apart. The structural integrity of the beds is very questionable, I stayed in the top bunk and every time I climbed on the stairs I felt this is the moment the bed falls over. The showers are not much better either, very outdated, water going everywhere and if anyone wants to use it after you they basically have to swim in. There is also only one shower/toilet per room so if you’re in a bigger room and don’t get in first, tough luck. And the lockers are tiny and look like they are from WW2. These are hostels for backpackers but you will really be able to put only your valueables and few other things in there. And be prepared the the metallic clinging will wake everyone up whenever you open/close them. Finally the kitchen is just run down. Very outdated, you can see everything has been used for years and hasn’t been replaced and can fit max 8 people at once in there. Don’t get me wrong, the rooms were cleaned every day as well as the common rooms, they just feel very outdated compared to other hostels that charge similar prices. At the end with Nomads you pay for the social events and the premium location at St Kilda, and you get amazing staff who will accommodate you, and if that’s what you’re looking for, this is the place for you! 😊

Travelled with my friend on a 2-day weekend escape. The location is perfect!! 5 minute walk to the beach, Luna Park, food and shopping, etc. If I was a backpacker, I would love to stay here for the first week to make friends and socialise in the lobby since there are plenty of events going on everyday. They provide complimentary breakfast everyday and room service if you’d like one. Perfect choice for someone who wants a stay in St Kilda! 😀

Would highly recommend this hostel, if you’re looking for a fun, social experience. The rooms aren’t anything special, alongside the kitchen, but the bar and social area is next to none. The pool, table tennis and darts is all free, with excellent and helpful HappyTravels workers available at all times throughout the day.

By far the best hostel in Melbourne! A fantastic atmosphere and wonderful staff. A massive shout-out to Ronnie from Hull on reception was gave us a 5* experience from the second we walked in until the second we left. Fully recommend.

Very friendly staff , the vibes are great. Fairly priced and very social. Also a great location in st kilda and most importantly moises is an absolute gem. This guy makes the entire hostel. Give the man a raise immediately.

The bingo/social events offered at this hostel are great, you can’t argue with that. However I think the vibe in this hostel for travellers (rather than those just moving to Aus) is entirely different. 80% of the people staying here are either staying here long term (while trying to find somewhere to live permanently) or have just been here for months altogether. For me I found this ruined a couple of things. The rooms were disgusting- as people treated them as if they were their own spaces (as there’s so many who are just living here). As compared to other hostels (especially in Asia) people respect your space, privacy and overall don’t treat the room like their own bedroom. I don’t even mean about the partying side (that’s completely expected as it is a party hostel, people are obviously going to be making noise). I mean just generally the rooms are gross lol. In hostels where people are genuinely travelling (even in party hostels) people respect the room and respect your space from my experience. This also made it much harder to make friends as opposed to other hostels (ones that are full of actual people travelling). As for my case, whilst staying in an 8 bed dorm, 7 of the people in there were living here and in work most of the time/unsociable in the evenings. You can’t fully blame them, as if you are living here you’re not going to be up for the hostel life style all the time- but this leads back to my point of ruining the whole vibe entirely. I don’t choose a hostel to live with people who are working, I choose a hostel to meet travellers and be social/explore together. Whilst I recommend the bingo, I would recommend people who are just travelling to potentially stay elsewhere. It is probably a great base for if you are looking to move to Melbs, but to me this is not the point of a hostel and I’ve felt quite let down by the whole thing. It is a shame, as this place has great reviews so potentially my case is a one off. But I feel as though other people need to be aware of my experience here I imagine management is either unaware, or fine with having people stay here for prolonged periods of time (as it is obviously easy and quick income), but I really think this loses touch with/ruins the travelling vibe :(

Great location in St Kilda. We booked a private room ensuite, good value but basic. Lots of rules as a “hostel”, no food allowed in rooms etc. no housekeeping or fresh towels in the 3 night stay. Wifi was good. Not noisy.

Great hostel. The team are super helpful and go above and beyond. Location-wise it’s well-connected whilst still being in a peaceful corner of the city. The private room was great. There are events in the evenings (e.g bingo) and the common area is very social, with pool tables, arcade games, a bar and PCs for guests to use.