Vulcan Hotel Darling Harbour

It’s hard when you live in a city and visiting friends ask you for recommendations on places to stay — I mean, I live in my house, you know? But finally I can suggest somewhere with impunity: the Vulcan! Long story short, but I needed a place to stay overnight in June when I flew back from New York City unexpectedly early. Vulcan had great rates, were local to my own neighbourhood (very important to me café-​wise), and easy enough to get to from Central train station (I walked over with my suitcase). The staff were super nice straight off the bat — one of the girls on reception even used her earring to open my iPhone so I could switch over my sim cards. Ingenuity! My room was comfortable (just the single bed, but it was plenty big enough with all the usual things you want, like a kettle and tea and little things of milk, and air con — it was cold out!). There’s no view to speak of but that wasn’t important to me. Ultimo is a very quiet area at night but is very close to lots of things. The hotel is right across from UTS and the TAFE, and you can walk to the University of Sydney and Chinatown very easily. Up on Broadway (one block) is Central Park with its food court and supermarket, plus plenty of buses into the city and out to the suburbs. They have a storage room and very kindly allowed me to leave my luggage there after I checked out and had to run some errands. Maybe the most important thing: free Wi-​Fi! It’s crazy how many places will charge you for that.
Hot tip: if you’re coming or going to the airport these days a cab fare will run you about $ 26 (unless you hit a lot of traffic) and take you door-​to-​door. To get the train is around $ 17 or $ 18 dollars for each person, and you’ll have to walk maybe three blocks from the station. Unless you have a really tight budget you may as well take a cab just for comfort’s sake, and especially if there’s more than one person in the party.

Years ago, when it was our local punk rock venue, we spent lots of time at the Vulcan Hotel so we were keen to see it transformed. Not surprisingly, it was unrecognisable except for the lovely timber staircase. I enjoyed my stay here. The staff at reception were pleasant and helpful, and the room (I think it was the ‘queen deluxe’) was clean, comfortable and well maintained. We had mixed feelings about the location — it’s a 10 minute walk away from everything, but if you don’t mind walking, it’s a convenient but isolated «hub». It’s easy to get to Glebe Point Road, Broadway, Central railway station and Darling harbour on foot, but there’s nothing right outside the door. It’s reasonably priced and I’d stay here again, but it was a bit sad that my old mate Deano no longer lives in his room upstairs.