My husband and I traveled to Cairns to do a Liveaboard diving trip in the Great Barrier Reef. The main reason why I picked this hostel was because they offer free luggage storage for those days you are away at the liveaboard. Since we were traveling for a month, our luggage would have exceeded the capacity of the boat. That was why we chose Njoy, and overall, we find it to be an average hostel with great inclusions.
We stayed in a double ensuite room. On the first night, our A/C did not work. Given how hot it gets in Cairns, that was unacceptable as we both couldn't sleep. When we returned from our liveaboard trip, we got moved to another ensuite room with functioning A/C and that made all the difference. The room is very basic: full size bed, small fridge, countertop, and A/C. The closet is a small nook inside the bathrooms and they did not supply hangers. Bathroom looks very aluminum and seemed clean for the most part. This was one of the best priced hostel at $60AUD so I am not going to complain.
The overall atmosphere of Njoy seemed quite pleasant. Its layout invited travelers to mingle and get to know each other. The large courtyard allowed for groups to eat, mingle, watch movies, and use the barbie (BBQ grill). Every night, they show a fairly new movie in the courtyard and they list it in advance for you to plan ahead. Inside the lobby area, there is a ping pong table, the kitchen, and many couches. There is also a computer terminal with 4 computers for you to use, as long as you purchase the internet cards. We didn't take advantage of the lagoon style pool but we did walk above it on our way to our room everyday. It is a nice pool and had we had more time to spend at the hostel, we would love to take a swim in it.
In terms of location, this hostel is about a 15 minute walk into the heart of Cairns. In some ways, I'm glad it's far from the craziness of the hostel crowds in downtown. That way I could count on a good night sleep! If you don't want to walk, NJoy offers drop off and pick up from town center almost once every hour during the day. We actually walked into town and then tried to look for the bus stop. Since they stop at a 4 way parking lot, it's hard to predict where they will be, and so we missed the bus on our first night. Another time there were so many people from NJoy that they had to make 2 runs, and we were the ones on the 2nd run. If you do plan on riding back with the van, you need to make sure you wait there at the actual pick up point at least 5 minutes prior. There is a gas station next door with basic foods so you can always stock up on essentials if needed.
Some other neat amenities that we took advantage of:
- free airport pick up and drop off for most part of the day (our flight left Cairns at 5am in the morning so they arranged for a shuttle)
- free luggage storage
- 1 free dinner at the Woolshed (but please keep in mind this is a bowl of spaghetti with either white or red sauce)
Please note that Zanzibar, the restaurant they feature on the Njoy website, is now closed.
