Reviews of Mad Monkey Waterfront This rating is a reflection of how the property compares to the industry standard when it comes to price, facilities and services available. It's based on a self-evaluation by the property. Use this rating to help choose your stay!
93A Esplanade, 4870 Cairns, Australia
#34 of 75 hotels in Cairns
Guests' ChoiceReview Score
Based on 380 hostel reviews
7.9Score breakdown
-
Cleanliness
8.0
-
Comfort
8.0
-
Location
9.5
-
Facilities
7.9
-
Staff
9.1
-
Value for money
8.2
-
Free Wifi
8.7
Verified guest reviews from real Bookers
Real Bookers. Real stays. Real opinions.
Read more– opens a dialog boxHow guest reviews work
Each review score is between 1 and 10. To get the overall score you see, we add up all the review scores we’ve received and divide that total by the number of them. We use a weighted review system, which means the more recent the review, the bigger the impact on the total review score calculation. Guests can also give separate “subscores” in crucial areas like location, cleanliness, staff, comfort, facilities, value, and free Wifi. Note that guests submit their subscores and overall scores independently, so there’s no direct link between them.
You can review an accommodation that you booked through our platform if you stayed there, or if you got to the property but didn’t actually stay there. To edit a review you’ve already submitted, contact our Customer Service team.
We have people and automated systems that specialize in detecting fake reviews submitted to our platform. If we find any, we delete them and, if necessary, take action against whoever is responsible.
Anyone who spots something suspicious can always report it to our Customer Service team so that our fraud team can investigate.
Ideally, we'd publish every review we get, positive and negative. However, we won’t display any reviews that include or refer to (among other things):
- Politically sensitive comments
- Promotional content
- Illegal activities
- Personal or sensitive info (e.g. emails, phone numbers, credit card info)
- Swear words, sexual references, hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, or references to violence
- Spam and fake content
- Animal cruelty
- Impersonation (i.e. if the writer is claiming to be someone else)
- Any violation of our review guidelines.
To make sure reviews are relevant, we may only accept reviews that are submitted within 3 months of checking out. We may stop showing reviews once they’re 36 months old, or if the accommodation has a change of ownership.
An accommodation can reply to a review.
When you see multiple reviews, the most recent ones will be at the top, subject to a few other factors (e.g. language, whether it’s just a rating or contains comments as well, etc.). You can sort and/or filter them by time of year, review score, and more.
Sometimes we show external review scores from other well-known travel websites, but make it clear when we do this.
Guidelines and Standards for Reviews
These guidelines and standards aim to keep the content on Booking.com relevant and family-friendly, without limiting expression or strong opinions. They're also applicable regardless of the comment's tone.
Contributions should be travel related. The most helpful contributions are detailed and help others make better decisions. Please don’t include personal, political, ethical, or religious commentary. Promotional content will be removed and issues concerning Booking.com’s services should be routed to our Customer Service or Accommodation Service teams.
Contributions should be appropriate for a global audience. Please avoid using profanity or attempts to approximate profanity with creative spelling, in any language. Comments and media that include hate speech, discriminatory remarks, threats, sexually explicit remarks, violence, or the promotion of illegal activity are not permitted.
All content should be genuine and unique to the guest. Reviews are most valuable when they are original and unbiased. Your contribution should be yours. Booking.com property partners should not post on behalf of guests or offer incentives in exchange for reviews. Attempts to bring down the rating of a competitor by submitting a negative review will not be tolerated.
Respect the privacy of others. Booking.com will make an effort to obscure email addresses, telephone numbers, website addresses, social media accounts, and other similar details.
The opinions expressed in contributions are those of Booking.com customers and properties, and not of Booking.com. Booking.com does not accept responsibility or liability for any reviews or responses. Booking.com is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments and responses.
By default, reviews are sorted based on the date of the review and on additional criteria to display the most relevant reviews, including but not limited to: your language, reviews with text, and non-anonymous reviews. Additional sorting options might be available (by type of traveler, by score, etc...).
Translations disclaimer
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
End of dialog content-
Reviewed: August 23, 2025
Magic
Taiwan50 Reviews11 helpful votes9.0“good for the price”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
en suite room is convenient and room has large space. No physical keycard, near beach
Stayed in August 2025
-
Reviewed: August 22, 2025
S
United Kingdom10 Reviews1 helpful vote7.0“I would return”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 2 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
The noise by the night staff and AC wasn’t the best
The location was perfect
Stayed in August 2025
-
Reviewed: August 21, 2025
Leonardo
Australia14 Reviews8.0Very Good- • Business trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 6 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
In the outdoor patio there is a strong smell of garbage.
The rooms are clean and the best thing is the hostel staff
Stayed in July 2025
-
Reviewed: August 19, 2025
Mathew
United Kingdom10 Reviews8.0Very Good- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
People seem to wake up at 5:30 / 6 am to go to work and don’t care that others are sleeping or resting - behaving like they’re in the room alone ect. Don’t expect considerate backpackers here - but still good value for money.
Stayed in July 2025
-
Reviewed: August 6, 2025
Lily
United Kingdom16 Reviews2 helpful votes7.0Good- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 3 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
No lockers, outside area smelled slightly
The location, beds were comfy, very clean
Stayed in August 2025
-
Reviewed: July 23, 2025
Montagnini
Australia1 review9.0“Clean, friendly, and chill – exactly what I needed!”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 3 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
The rooms were a good size and the bathroom was very clean. They even changed the bed linen after two days, including for guests who were only staying one more night, which I really appreciated. I loved the evening activities – on Sunday they had a BBQ, which honestly saved me as I was way too tired to cook that night haha. It’s a great hostel for socialising, and the staff were super friendly and helpful, especially the woman working the afternoon/evening shift – I don’t remember her name, but she was incredibly kind and informative. I didn’t use the kitchen much, but it seemed decent. I did use the fridge to store some food and had no issues at all. I also used the storage room both on arrival and before leaving – it was very easy and convenient. The app to open the doors made everything even smoother! On top of everything, the location is super convenient – walking distance to restaurants, very close to where the boat tours depart, and only about 15 minutes from the airport.
Stayed in July 2025
-
Reviewed: July 21, 2025
Keelin
Ireland6 Reviews1 helpful vote9.0Wonderful- • Leisure trip
- • Travelers with friends
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 9 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Brilliant location, everything is right outside the door. Isn't loud like other hostels but less activities. If you want somewhere cheap in the heart of everything than this place is definitely the place to go to.
Stayed in July 2025
-
Reviewed: July 16, 2025
Isha
India11 Reviews9.0“Best location”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 3 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Would have appreciated lockers for precious items.
Loved everything. Everything was in order and safe. Best part was the location, right at the waterfront and almost in the middle of the town, so everything was close by.
Stayed in July 2025
-
Reviewed: July 14, 2025
Dan
Australia14 Reviews7.0Good- • Leisure trip
- • Couple
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Mixed male and female bathroom
Stayed in July 2025
-
Reviewed: June 8, 2025
Ylena
Spain9 Reviews1 helpful vote8.0Very Good- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 5 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
The toilet inside the room
Sofa with netflix, wii
Stayed in June 2025
-
Reviewed: May 2, 2025
N
New Zealand2 Reviews8.0“Kind staff. Good hostel”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
It pretty good for a hostel I would say and i hear it’s the quieter hostel out most in the city
Staff were super nice!
Stayed in April 2025
-
Reviewed: April 20, 2025
Iman
Lebanon9 Reviews9.0“Good experience”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Female Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
If you can add hair and body shower gel inside rooms it would be great and disinfectant for toilets please
Early check in Location Lovely and supportive staff Bathroom inside the room
Stayed in April 2025
-
Reviewed: April 6, 2025
Katie
Australia11 Reviews8.0Very Good- • Leisure trip
- • Travelers with friends
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Overall, this was a clean hostel which was relatively quiet and very clean! Difficult with big luggage to get up the stairs to reception but this is the only issue that we had
Stayed in March 2025
-
Reviewed: March 25, 2025
Anna
Switzerland15 Reviews8.0Very Good- • Leisure trip
- • Couple
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 2 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Has a little funny smell in the hallways
The location is amazing
Stayed in March 2025
-
Reviewed: February 25, 2025
Louise
Ireland1 review8.0“I had a pleasant and comfortable stay here at mad monkey and I will definitely be back.”- • Leisure trip
- • Travelers with friends
- • Bed in 14-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
The hostel is in a great location right in the center of everything. It’s is a very clean and comfortable place. The kitchen and bathroom areas are kept clean. The hostel hosts some events throughout the week, so during my stay I really enjoyed the free bbq night. It was a great way to meet new people and free food is always a bonus!
Stayed in February 2025
-
Reviewed: January 2, 2025
Leah
United Kingdom8 Reviews2 helpful votes8.0“Good”- • Leisure trip
- • Couple
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 5 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Slight damp smell in room but covered by air freshener. It was made up by the quietness of the hostel nd chill vibe nd the location is just unreal
Amazing location stayed in double room very basic but livable and had a free bbq on our last night
Stayed in October 2024
-
Reviewed: December 17, 2024
Megumi
Australia7 Reviews7.0“To sum up, it was fair for the price.”- • Leisure trip
- • Couple
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 2 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
The shower was old, kitchen was dirty.
The location was excellent. The French staff member at front was lovely.
Stayed in December 2024
-
Reviewed: November 9, 2024
Daniel
Hungary30 Reviews8.0Very Good- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 14-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
the 1 bathroom per shared room could cause a bit of a jam in the mornings.
Super nice location with a lively atmosphere, good social rooms and very staff.
Stayed in November 2024
-
Reviewed: October 17, 2024
Mark
Ireland33 Reviews5 helpful votes8.0Very Good- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 3 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Location
Stayed in October 2024
-
Reviewed: September 7, 2024
Marc
Italy1 review9.0Wonderful- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 14-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 3 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Friendly staff and the free breakfast. Also the proximity to Happy Tours who helped me booked a lot of activities
Stayed in September 2024
-
Reviewed: August 17, 2024
Ioannis
United Kingdom44 Reviews7 helpful votes8.0“Overall nice stay in Cairns Esplanade”- • Leisure trip
- • Couple
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 7 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
The room was quite small, probably good enough for 1-2 nights but not for a week. Not enough bathrooms and toilets. The shower was not warm enough.
Friendly staff. Big communal kitchen, very well equipped and clean overall with plenty of fridge space too. Big communal areas to sit. Free breakfast with nice pancakes. Free hot dogs on Sundays. Very good location in Cairns Esplanade near bars, restaurants etc.
Stayed in August 2024
-
Reviewed: August 6, 2024
Lea6476
France94 Reviews5 helpful votes7.0“Weekend in Cairns”- • Leisure trip
- • Couple
- • Double Room with Shared Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
commun area feels bit doggy as it's back of a restaurant and rubbish area. Careless people that probably stay for long term using dryer at 2am or blowing their hairs after midnight. 1 toilet + 1 shower for 5 double rooms I assume is pretty short.
good location just on the esplanade. Really handy to go to the marina. Gift shop, little grocer shop and all restaurants near by. Staff is cool and we really appreciate the luggage storage pre check in and post check out if needed. Double bedroom is a box without much light, little window and average linens but good enough for couple or night when you do not want to share a dormitory.
Stayed in July 2024
-
Reviewed: August 6, 2024
Naomi
United Kingdom1 review8.0“Lovely time great place”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 8-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 4 nights
- • Submitted from a mobile device
No lockers in rooms as advertised on the pictures
Great location, clean, nice place.
Stayed in August 2024
-
Reviewed: July 29, 2024
Tristan
Australia16 Reviews7.0“Good hostel”- • Leisure trip
- • Solo traveler
- • Bed in 14-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room with Bathroom
- • Stayed 1 night
- • Submitted from a mobile device
Nothing
Nice beds
Stayed in June 2024
