Best Bern Hostels with a Garden

Hostel 77's south-facing courtyard catches the late-afternoon sun from May through September. Aim for a 4-5 pm beer at the on-site bar — that's when the terrace fills with guests and the conversation rolls into evening dinner plans.

Bern Youth Hostel's outdoor chess board is permanently set up — pull out a piece at 4 pm and someone usually joins within 15 minutes. The morris board next to it gets less play; if you teach a guest the rules, you're the afternoon's hero.

Both gardens host informal grocery picnics — Migros at the train station has a CHF 12 cheese-bread-fruit pack that works for two people, and both hostels have communal tables and benches. No need to spend CHF 30 at a sit-down restaurant.

Pack a Wickelfisch waterproof bag (10 CHF at Bundesplatz souvenir shops) and combine garden-time with a Marzili Aare swim — both hostels are 5-7 minutes' walk from the river. Garden warm-up at 3 pm, swim at 4 pm, garden wind-down at 5 pm, dinner at 7.