Hobart is defiantly breaking away from it’s sleepy capital moniker to become one of the coolest cities in this country. With the most crazy-curated gallery (MONA) in the Southern Hemisphere, a farm-to-plate ethos in many of the restaurants and hipster cafes, and even the annual Falls Festival just a skip away (priorities people, priorities!), it’s a wonder you’re not on Jetstar booking your cheap flight this instant. Further reason to just book your Hobart break immediately (that is if local Instagrammer LoveThyWalrus can’t convince you – in which case you must be dead), is that there is now a super awesome and very cheap hotel in the heart of town that will add some mojo to your trip and have you extending your stay, because you spent so much time hanging out there you almost didn’t get down to Salamanca for a sunset beer!

The Alabama Hotel (72 Liverpool St) only re-opened in 2013 after being closed for almost a decade. A piece of history in itself, the building was constructed in the 1830s and became a hotel in 1867. Co-owners Kelly Cloake and Aeden Howlett have done a wondrous job of bringing this old hotel up to a colourful, retro, friendly place to stay. These “boutique budget” lodgings have twin, standard queen and deluxe queen rooms for just $80 per night. Sure, there are shared bathrooms on each level, but they are super clean (and during my visit I never saw anyone else in them!), and the other hotel features more than make up for it. For example, the spacious lounge room equipped with a record player and vinyl stack, coffee table books on art, food and Tasmania you actually want to peruse, coffee to have when reading said books, comfy retro couches with bright cushions, plastic flamingos, art on the walls, and a balcony stocked with succulents overlooking the street. Want more? The rooms are also decorated favourably, and you may even be resting your head next to a Bill Murray cushion or tucked under an ambulance blanket. Want more? For $80 you want more? Really?

Photographs by Katie Mayors and Sarah-Jane Edis

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