Railway Square YHA

I stayed in this hostel whilst staying in sydney one weekend and i cant find anything at fault at all.
We had initially booked 2 beds in a 4 bed dorm however my friend had a meltdown and decided she couldnt stay in a dorm and asked reception if we could move to a private room. Personally i didnt have any issues but what could i do.
The reception staff were great and accomodated us and her needs and we were moved rooms with her paying the additiona cost of course :)
The location is fantastic … right next to the main train station and around the corner from the bus station. Loads of shops around about for anything you might need.
There was a large kitchen area however we didnt use it and plenty places to sit and eat and comfy couches.
There is wifi available but you need to pay which i didn’t mind.
Guys on reception so helpful and booked us our return bus journey to the airport. We get picked up right outside.
If im ever lucky enough to return to sydney then i would definetly stay here.

Stayed here several times whilst in Sydney. This backpackers is centrally located, and adjacent to Central railway station — in fact, they even share a platform!
The main building is a converted former parcel shed (for the mail trains) and houses dorm accommodation and private rooms with shared facilities. You can also stay in converted train carriages right on the platform!
Our first stay here was a night in one of the train carriage dorms and it was clean, comfortable and the temperature was kept cool (you have no idea how important this is until you stay somewhere with no air con and can’t sleep because it’s so hot!). There are lockers for storing your belongings in the dorm. The back windows look out directly onto the station platforms so there is a fair bit of activity from the station but it’s not too noisy — I’m a fairly light sleeper and my sleep was only briefly disturbed by an XPT train arriving early in the morning! On subsequent visits we stayed in private double rooms in the main building, basic but clean and comfortable.
The main building contains the reception area, shower facilities, laundry room, large kitchen, shop/​café counter, and common dining and lounging areas. There are lockers on the platform to store luggage. Outside at the front there is a small pool and sun lounging area, and there is a BBQ area outside the front door.
The staff were all helpful and welcoming. They advised us of the free CBD area bus service (number 555) which runs between Central and Circular Quay — the bus stop is just on the main street outside the hostel. Keep an eye out on the blackboards for things happening in the hostel (BBQ nights, etc.) and organised trips.

It’s my first YHA experience ever for my year long backpacking life in Australia, and it was pretty decent experience.
Staying at the Central Station is nothing but convenient, especially for those who backpacks, obviously. Staying at the train station platform was a bit gimmicky, but I didn’t meet anyone who didn’t like it. Staff were friendly and helpful as seen in every single one of YHA hostels.
And as it was probably one of the most popular YHAs in Sydney and even Australia (on par with the one at The Rocks maybe?), it was almost always fully packed. With a good mix of people too. You could always expect the German, and I met a few really nice Korean and Japanese too (I found it uncommon to find them outside of Sydney, as they tended to work in suburb). You could chitchat till late night at the lobby if you wanted to, and the hostel kept a pretty good policy to keep guests’ voice down.
The only flew was maybe its size — it could be a bit overwhelming, rather when everyone’s cooking at dinner time, or when everyone’s having a shower waking up in the morning. But all in all, if you are looking for your first stop to start your backpacking life, here is certainly a good start.

Stayed here for two nights after coming from Sydney Central YHA and it ended up being a great decision. The people at the reception were very friendly and willing to help! As far as bathrooms went they were quite nice compared to other hostels that I’ve been to.
Also I would have to agree with Ronald about the location, there is simply no better location! It’s so easy to catch the bus or train here which is useful if you need to get somewhere in the city or simply go out of town.

I am sure I am much older than Katy but I had a fine time at YHA Railway Square. First there is no better location! 15min by train max from the airport to central station and then just follow the signs for Railway Square. As soon as I left the train station I saw 2 signs for the hostel.
Staff was great and helpful. Rooms were clean and bathrooms in good order with plenty of hot showers. The only thing I didn’t like is how all Australian hostels charge for WiFi until I discovered Optus offers unlimited cell voice/​text/​data for $ 2/​day and is as fast as wifi in the big cities.

As a YHA member and a big fan of many of their hostels, I’m sad to say that Railway was not my favorite. Don’t get me wrong though — this is a fabulous hostel. Especially if you’re young. Which… well, I’m not. If you’re between 18 – 25 this is a great hostel for meeting new people and making friends. I did see some older folks (even people in their 60’s) staying here, but they were just passing through for a day or two. The younger kids seemed to be here for days on end.
When I first arrived in Sydney it was pretty dark. And while I thought I knew where I was going, I got lost finding my way to this hostel. It’s just a few blocks from another YHA which is also close to the rail station. It must happen a lot, but I got the two confused. When I ended up at the other hostel I was given a YHA map and some confusing directions. It was pretty much a miracle that I found my way to Railway Square in the dark because the YHA map doesn’t actually have street names or real addresses on it. It just has the YHA logo stamped in a rough area on a map. So without Internet access, a phone, or daylight — I asked a bunch of strangers and found my way here. NOTE: If you leave the rail station and exit onto the street, you’re going the wrong way! This hostel can be easily found at the end of a long tunnel once you exit Central Station. You’ll veer to the right down this tunnel just below street level. If you exit up any stairs you’re going to get lost. I did eventually see YHA signs as I was walking. I’d guess it’s about a 3 min walk through a tunnel.
I know to a local this might sound stupid but I’d been in Sydney a whole of 5 mins. Give me a break ;)
Anyway — once finally getting here I had some little ups and downs. Let me first point out that one of the young guys working here was amongst the nicest people I’d met. Ever! Upon arriving I tried to buy myself some water and snacks for a late night meal and my credit cards were declining. Even though I’d informed the bank of my trip weeks prior, they put a hold on my cards. Without access to money I couldn’t even use a pay phone to call the bank! I told my story to a man at the front desk and he handed me two 50 cent pieces. Later when the issue was resolved I tried to pay him back and he politely refused. Thanks to his charity my vacation was saved and my first night in Australia didn’t end in tears. This however, was the best it got. The rest of the staff seemed bored and unwilling to be very helpful with directions or questions.
I did love that the building was a renovated (and now very modern) old train station. It seemed so cool to have the option of sleeping in an actual rail car! That was until I saw the cockroaches. A roommate was sound asleep when she woke up screaming. I flipped on the lights only to see a cockroach the size of a potato chip crawling on her bed. It had WALKED. ON. HER. FACE! Grabbing one of her hiking boots I smashed the daylights out of it but never did sleep well for the rest of my stay here. It’s not the fault of the YHA though. I get it — the hostel is literally meters away from the new rail station and when you have litter, train tracks, tunnels, etc — you’re bound to have creepy crawlies. But I don’t want a part of it! Just to be safe, I’d recommend getting a top bunk. It just seems less likely you’ll run across the cockroach issue from 5 feet above the ground. Nothing else about the place seemed dirty or gross at all. It was very clean and this could have been an isolated incident.
After leaving this hostel and staying elsewhere, I did find that I enjoyed other spots a bit more. But this is still one of the better hostels I’ve stayed in. Very big, very clean, and centrally located. Just remember that luxuries found at other hostels like free breakfast or free WIFI are not included in the price.