Empire Hotel Backpackers in Oamaru

Excellent clean budget accommodation. Very accommodating staff and management. Glad I stumbled upon it. In the best part of town. Highly recommend

We stayed for 3 nights - 2 adults and 3 children.Per the kids: it was great staff, a million staff, best staff. Big rooms. Nice kitchen. Beautiful building. Clean bathrooms. Homey feel. Everyone is nice times a million.Per the adults: easy parking, lockable rooms. Very high ceilings which kept the rooms nice and airy. Lovely staff who went above and beyond - specifically Vivian and Marshall. They and the owner, Bruce, fostered a homey atmosphere which made everyone feel really comfortable. The bathrooms were good and clean but if they redo them as some point, Id suggest installing showers with temperature knobs lower down so the kids can more easily reach them on their own. All in all, a great place to stay. 10/10

So technically I haven’t stayed yet, but we are here for tonight… VERY impressed. Bruce is a cool guy, very cheap accommodation for my daughter and I. Free wifi access… great shower/ bathroom facilities…. Great place to chill out while you are in Oamaru! THANK YOU!

Very friendly staff. Nice place to stay.

Warm n comfy backpackers that made me felt at home. Clean and quiet too.

Interesting night on covid lockdown4

Great location in oamaru older style historic building with nice features, close to all the boutique shops & some awesome cafés. Well priced with parking available.

Absolutely loved the hospitality here. Thank you Bruce, vivian, and Marshall.. you guys rock. Clean, tidy, and handy to all amenities. Definitely recommend

Its perfect! Clean and tidy. Close to attractions, good price, cozy livingroom with hot fire. I love it! Definately will book it when i come back

A very good location near the Victorian precinctThe facilities are all clean and tidy. I will certainly stay here again.

I am enjoyingLovely Manager. Korean or Japanese I think1000%

Great old historic building in the center of town. Friendly staff good location

Centrally located historical buildingReasonable priced and friendly services

Great value accommodation. Hosts very helpful and friendly.

Friendly staff. But it was really old and worn down.

Quiet,clean, good showers and facilities, little overpriced , accommodating though,

Very clean, excellent, helpful staff, good kitchen facilities, nice homely atmosphere. Youll meet good amt of visitors, close to shops.

Its a clean backpacker hotel with reasonable price.

Really old style hotel turned into a backpackers with tiny bedrooms, long hallways. Noisy etc, but nice owners, managers etc. Great place to meet travelers. Very central and close to historic quarters of Oamaru.

I liked the fact it was basic , clean , tidy and every thing that one needs at a back packer was there . Heating , cooking , nice comfortable beds . I t reminded me of a Grahame Green novel . Certainly use again .

Super cold in winter. They dont have enough heater in a room. But cheap and good location.

Great old house with very nice people

Backpackers since 1867... Yeah rooms are from this time. Really old backpackers, pretty expensive for what it is really. Ive paid way less for an excellent double room in the fox Glacier national park. And here in the middle of nowhere its very expensive. Definitely not a good value. Better to sleep in your car then. The bathroom arent that clean. However the kitchen is okay.Weird smell in it (probably from 1867 too).

Good cheap clean accomodation. Need more blankets on the bed. Heater cuts out after 15mins, so room can get cold.

Great environment, its very comfortable and nice to stay~~

Good stay but should have better payment method. (Efpos machine)

not that great for customers they dont have any food vending machines

Nice hospitality, very impressive service and nice manager. We stayed here last year and still love to visit this place.

A really nice central spot on the main road and close to the steampunk and beautiful old looking street where you can go to the cute little bakery, be amazed by some artwork/sculptures, taste some Whisky or walk to the harbour. Nice old building, would agree with the mattress is a bit thin (noticed it when sitting on it, sleeping was fine). Really nice and hot showers and quite a big kitchen. Also nice to have a charge point right next to the bed! On the note for wifi it says 5 dollars (witch still is cheap for 10 gigabytes), but you get it for free! So they hand it to you and you can use the codes... not sure why people thought it wasnt free, probably did not try the codes. There is no elevator so bare in mind you have to carry your luggage up the stairs.For the rest you can do some nice walks around. Past the church a nice monument or the public gardens, it was raining but that brought out some amazing colors. Oamaru is often skipped by tourists but it is worth a visit and the Empire hotel is nice and central.

Great atmosphere and fun manager

So central to everything. Cant be beaten

Nice beds and flair. One shower not working, the other one was just 3 Minutes hot.Horrible kitchen equipment. Didnt liked the manager

Really nice hostel with a perfect location. The place us tidy and clean and has a really nice manager. The kitchen and living rooms are nice and big. Due to its perfect location right in the city centre it is only a few minutes walk to the park, steampunk HQ, supermarket and waterfront. It has a public free parking area right behind the building with no problems at all to find a spot (May). Would stay there again.

Highly recommend, quirky old place but has everything you need. Reasonably priced and excellent kitchen and dining room facilities with plenty of room for all. Free wifi and relaxed rules about bringing your own alcohol into the common areas. Make sure you check out the basement games room!

Its cheap good basic accommodation

quiet, has piano you can play, small kitchen.

A neat little old-school hostel, with tight corridors but friendly staff. Great wifi service, 10GB for no additional charge. They got a piano and a pool table in the basement, along with an arrangement of ukuleles. So if youre traveling with high school musicians like I was, its a fun time!

Great lounge and good beds.

A friendly little place with lots of charm. The staff here went out of their way to take care of their guests and make sure they were all having a great stay in Oamaru. Would definitely come back!

Good location & friendly staff!! Free car park and fast Wi-Fi!!

Great Backpackers. Really helpful and friendly! Nice rooms

The best wifi I have ever had in New Zealand and Australia. Amazing value and fabulous, kind staff with lovely purple high tops

About what you expect from a back Packers hotel, nice and clean

Historic and Victorian-British style place. Lovely living room.

Great location and a very reasonable price.

Very cold in the winter, and not much heating. However i could imagine its nice in the summer. Friendly staff

Has everything you need, good sized rooms, kitchen, nice fire and TV. Would definitely stay again.

Best place I stayed in recent trip around NZ. Great location. Nice lounge with fireplace. Good wifi. The lady gave me an extra blanket and some good advice about seeing the penguins.

It is a good hotel and has a great price.. Centrally located in oamaru new Zealand

Proper backpackers, situated in the old town where the most interesting stuff is.