Ariki Backpackers

About this place

Ariki Backpackers is a budget hostel on Ariki Street in central New Plymouth, a short walk from the city's shops, cafés, bars and main transport links. InterCity buses to New Plymouth arrive at 19 Ariki Street, effectively next door.

### Rooms and capacity

The hostel offers a range of room types at backpacker rates, including a girls-only dorm, private rooms, family rooms and a room the operator calls the Queen Anne Room. The property states that it sleeps up to 40 people and describes itself as well suited to sports teams, young and old. Reception is open 9am to 1pm and again from 4pm to 8pm for check-in.

### Facilities

A large shared kitchen with multiple ovens and cooktops means several groups can cook at once. The lounge has a large wide-screen television and multiple couches. Other facilities listed by the hostel include free high-speed wi-fi throughout, a DVD library, a full guest laundry, internet access, plentiful bathroom and toilet facilities, and bikes for hire from the main desk.

Staff will book activities on guests' behalf. The hostel lists arrangements for mountain summit trips, surfing on Surf Highway 45, dam dropping, farm tours, seal watching, garden tours, local Māori culture tours and golf tours around Taranaki.

### Group and event capability

Ariki Backpackers does not advertise conference rooms, meeting spaces or event catering, and it should not be treated as a conference venue. Its genuine value to organisers is as low-cost bulk accommodation: a stated capacity of around 40 beds under one roof, a kitchen sized for group self-catering, a communal lounge, and a central location beside the bus terminal. The hostel itself nominates sports teams as a core market, and the same logic applies to student groups, volunteer crews, event staff and touring performers.

The hostel highlights New Plymouth's event calendar as a reason to stay, including WOMAD at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands and the New Zealand Tattoo & Art Festival held at the stadium in New Plymouth.

### Suitability

A practical, central and inexpensive base for groups whose budget matters more than privacy. Delegates expecting hotel-standard rooms or on-site meeting facilities should look at other New Plymouth venues; teams, crews and cost-conscious cohorts are exactly who this place is set up for.