Name: The Espy Hostel
Address: 83 Esplanade, Cairns, AU

6/10

Pleasant

10 May 2026

Jennifer Ann

Great location

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

23 Apr 2026

Luis A

Quiet place for rest.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

13 Aug 2025

Timothy

Food flair and flavors

Peaceful and easy with the added bonus of international aromas

Self

4/10

Poor

20 May 2025

Fiona

Stayed 4 nights – central location, budget accommodation. Check-in via email code worked well. You get what you pay for – affordable stay, but basic standards. Some bathrooms out of order, and the rest could use maintenance. Kitchen okay but messy inconsiderate guests (my food was left outside fridge overnight). Very noisy overall – AC had to run constantly in the room and was extremely loud. Staff were friendly and helpful. 40+ solo traveler on a budget, two nights would’ve been enough.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

25 Mar 2025

Jurdy

Location excellent

Greatest location. Right on the esplanade. Small private room. Simple, clean, safe, affordable.

10/10

Exceptional

03 Mar 2025

THECKLA

I loved the spacious kitchen and clean bathrooms facilities. The location was perfect! Just next to the lagoon, shopping malls, bus stop and the beach front.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

17 Jan 2025

Valerie

Very easy to find hostel. Convenient in and out. Room and facilities were clean. Bed was comfortable. Shower was hot. Good value for money.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

21 Dec 2024

Charity

Bang for the buck 👍

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

23 Oct 2024

Jennifer

Great property in a great location. Clean and no bugs. Great shower pressure!!
Staff was friendly and helpful. Had a tour company on site to help with bookings, which was amazing.

Kitchen was helpful to have for making our own morning coffee or tea before heading out for the day.

Didn’t use the pool as had been out each day all day on boats to the reef, and this location is directly across the street from the lagoon.

At first we were worried as I hadn’t realized I’d booked a hostel and not a hotel room. This hostel was quiet at night. I would recommend this location for anyone travelling to the area. It was absolutely what we needed and right near everything we wanted to see or do. All the restaurant choices you could imagine and at least 10 ice cream shops in a one block radius. The bonus of the night market next door was great for nik nacks and things we’d left at home.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

02 Oct 2024

Hans

Right in the middle of town
Enough hostel eating area

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

06 Sep 2024

Lauren

The property atmosphere was awesome! Everyone was really nice and it was calm and quiet. The reason it is ranking low there were ants in my room. The shower was broken. out of the two showers near me one was dangling off the wall and I had to hold it up. The other shower didn't drain and so I was standing in a foot of water during my shower. The staff was responsive but unprofessional. He came to solve one of my problems quickly but arrived in only underwear. the building is half inside and half outside do you can see roots of above trees in the bathroom and not all shared areas kitchen and hang out spaces had a full roof. However, induvial rooms are enclosed and have wall air conditioning units but you cannot adjust the temperature and I was really cold. Location was perfect and in walking distance to everything we wanted to do and or walking distance to a pick up location to the day tours we booked.

Leisure Friends

6/10

Pleasant

19 Aug 2024

Panagiotis

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Leisure Partner

2/10

Poor

27 Jun 2024

Sergey

Terrible experience, do not waste your money!

Extremely appalling experience staying at the Espy hostel. Staff unwelcoming and discriminatory towards people over 35 years of age. I was forcefully made to leave this place even though it has been prepaid in full and I did not do anything wrong or cause any disturbance. Just my age over 35 was not good enough for me to stay at this property and staff threatened me by calling security and demanding that I leave immediately without providing their names or offering any compensation or even a refund. DO NOT STAY HERE.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

26 Jun 2024

HIKARU

Nice wall painting, kind staff. Long term travelers are also kind.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

03 Jun 2024

Maria

Great hostal

10/10

Exceptional

28 May 2024

Jackson

Awesome staff and great location! Thanks Monica!

8/10

Excellent

16 May 2024

Wayne

I shouldn't expect too much from any hostel, including the Espy. I found what appeared to be a cockroach in the room the first night
In the hallway, I dispatched of a very large one. I didn't receive an email with instructions for self check-in. Fortunately, there was someone who contacted a staff person who provided us with the necessary information to get in the room. Shower was good, but the handles fell off. Hot water in the sink never really got hot. Nonetheless, we got by and enjoyed the staff and tenants

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

19 Jan 2024

Laura

Top position in the city center

The room was really big with a lot of space, the problem was humidity, there was mold in the walls and got worse during the days we stayed. The kitchen is well equipped and has also an airfryer.
The best was location really near everything supermarket , port and lagoon pool.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

19 Dec 2023

Drew

It was great, in the centre of town, cheap, good kitchen with everything you need and a pool!

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

05 Nov 2023

Verified traveler

Super convenient, right on the Esplanade close to food, wharf, and you can book tours right at the \"reception\" desk. Reception folks were very helpful.

There were lots of cockroaches in my room -- scampering thru day and night. I was told \"it's the tropics,\" \"it's that time of year,\" and \"we have exterminators in every month.\" The manager left with my a spray bottle of Raid.

Secondly, the kitchen facilities were packed. It was nearly impossible to find room in any of the fridges, and waiting in line to cook or clean at any mealtime was routine.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

23 Oct 2023

Evan

Great location on the boardwalk

Excellent location right on the waterfront. Self check-in did not work for me either time staying here but they have a number you can call 24 hours to check in. Rooms are pretty sparse but decently comfortable. No comforter on the bed (only a bed sheet) but it's warm enough that you don't really need it. A/C units are also pretty strong. Not loud at night.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

11 Sep 2023

steven

Location, location, location!

Great place to stay on the heart of Cairns, everything is on your doorstep. Rooms are very basic but the Espy is all about location. Other guests and staff were friendly and engaging, the shared kitchen was clean and had everything you could want for food preparation. Given the price, you can't go past this place. The code system to access the building and rooms needs attention and can be frustrating but support from management was immediate and always forthcoming as required.

Partner

4/10

Poor

24 Aug 2023

Wade

No clear directions for the door codes to enter the accomodation, when I did get codes they were incorrect and the 24 hour number was generally unreachable when needed

Business Self

8/10

Excellent

19 Aug 2023

Panagiotis

.

8/10

Excellent

18 Aug 2023

Ruveen

Covenient location. Close to everything. Nice and quiet.

Leisure Self

6/10

Pleasant

06 Jul 2023

Sara

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Leisure Friends

8/10

Excellent

05 Jul 2023

Hugh

Great location and comfortably room and bed
Bit dingy with no windows to outside and very noisy until at least midnight

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

14 Apr 2023

Katielynn

Perfect Hidden Gem

As much as i want to keep this hostel a hidden gem, they deserve all the business possible. A simple yet welcoming environment, this place completely changed my prospective on hostels. It's not a party place and everyone respects one another, a very relaxed place. Location is centeral to everything in town on the waterfront, but the sounds of outside arent heard.
I cannot recommend this place enough and cannot wait to return.

Self

4/10

Poor

13 Feb 2023

Vaia

We paid for a room to be on the Esplanade. It was a Hostel, not a Hotel so the expectation wasn’t high. The room and amenities were clean and tidy. The cleanliness m

4/10

Poor

29 Jan 2023

Felix

Most people would probably call it a ‚cheap spot in the city center‘, but tbh it‘s really just a cheap spot because of the very cheap beds and matresses they provide. Yep, the matresses are dogs***. The whole place is more or less a hole. If you don‘t keep the AC, which is probably 50 years old, on for the whole night, you‘d probably sufficate. The AC is extremely loud (I had better sleeps in airplanes). Apart from that the rooms are tiny and the facilities are in really really bad condition, especially the toilets and showers. The permanent or longer-staying tenants are all a little bit sketchy and strange and one of them leaves tons of hairs in the bathroom everyday.
The only (!!!) good thing this place provides is being close to the city.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

27 Jan 2023

Clifmond

I was so impressed at the quality for a low budget place. The guests were very respectful, friendly. The kitchen facilities were good. I would stay again. I did notice someone was sleeping kitchen when I woke up at 5am. Not sure if he was guest in the hotel.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

31 Dec 2022

tomoko

You can enjoy a free life. The staff cleans it every day, and you can make friends with other users.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

12 Dec 2022

Verified traveler

The room and facilities were nice. Check in was the only issue because coming from out of the country I don’t receive SMS messaging in order to receive the code to access my room. Therefore I was standing outside for a while trying to call but no one answered a couple of times. Other people visiting helped me to call the emergency number in which the employee then came to give me my code. There should be a better system knowing that there are many international travelers who don’t have a SIM card to work in Australia as other visitors said they had issues as well.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

01 Nov 2022

Jason

A hostel with everything I needed, a great location and a friendly staff.

Leisure Self

6/10

Pleasant

20 Sep 2022

Jordan

This is hostel and not a hotel. It was a nicer hostel, but I wish I had known that it was a hostel before booking. The bedrooms are nice with minimal furniture - no TV. The bathroom was not nice and bare bones. When thinking this is a motel/hotel - it is not good. For a hostel, it would be one of the nicer hostels.

Leisure Self

4/10

Poor

01 Sep 2022

david

The pictures on Expedia made us believe that we were staying at an apartment
Turn out it was a hostile we were extremely disappointed but the management was excellent and promised a full refund after we found and moved to an apartment

Leisure Partner

6/10

Pleasant

20 Aug 2022

Lauren

THE GOOD: Room was clean, comfortable and located on the Esplanade. Great location!

The BAD: I did not receive a pin code to access premises and room. When I arrived at the premises there was no staff. I had to find a blanket. Kitchen area very untidy, rubbish bins needed to be disposed of. Kitchen rules needs to be made clear and apparent to all guests.

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

25 Jul 2022

amanda

Central location, easy walk to absolutely everything,clean facilities and lovely staff.

Leisure Self

4/10

Poor

14 Jul 2022

Anne

Good location. Friendly, polite manager. Room very basic-no coffee/tea making, fridge or tv. Insufficient sealing off of door into adjacent room meant noisy and light pollution and felt intrusive. Very overpriced for so called deluxe king room

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

12 Jul 2022

Carolina

Todo perfecto.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

06 Jun 2022

Marie

Haven lives up to its name, very quiet but in the centre of all the action. It had everything I needed for a quick stay, including air con, a pool & a huge kitchen! Other visitors were friendly and it’s a little quirky too - very good value 👍

Leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

24 May 2022

Griffin

Exactly as advertised. Great location at a great price.

Business_and_leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

10 Apr 2022

Harinath

Great location, good vibes.