Hostel 77 Bern

Hostel 77 occupies a 1970s low-rise building at Morillonstrasse 77, in a residential pocket south-west of the Old Town that locals call the Marzili side. From the front door you can be at the Marzilibad public swimming baths in 7 minutes, in the Aare river in 8, and at the Dählhölzli zoo gate in 12; the Bundeshaus and Zytglogge are 20 minutes on foot through Monbijoubrücke or 8 minutes on tram 9 (stop: Marzili / Hirschengraben).

The hostel sleeps roughly 130 across 4-, 6- and 8-bed mixed dorms, female-only dorms, and family rooms with carpeted floors, work desks, hairdryers and shared bathrooms on the corridor. Each room includes wardrobes and individual lockers; bunks are sturdy with reading lights. The ground-floor common areas are the reason guests rate this 8.9: a bar, a sun terrace facing the inner garden, an indoor games room with table football and board games, an outdoor play area with covered seating, a lounge with sofas and a TV, and bicycle parking with a few free loaners. There's an elevator (rare for Bern hostels) and a continental-vegetarian-buffet breakfast (CHF 12, optional) that reviewers consistently call out as one of the best in the city.

Reception runs 24-hour and hands every guest the free Bern Ticket on check-in — valid all city buses, trams, the Gurten funicular and the local S-Bahn for the entire stay (single fare CHF 4.60, so this saves a budget traveler 30+ CHF over a 3-night stay). Couples rate the location 8.7 because of the river-and-pool walking distance, even though it isn't strictly Old Town.

Reviewer consensus across 2,191 Booking reviews: the cleanliness wins on every count ('cleaness' is the top-mentioned word), the staff are flagged as friendly and helpful, and the price-quality ratio is the recurring theme — for a Swiss hostel rated 8.9, the under-50-EUR dorm bed is genuinely uncommon. Common note: the building isn't pretty from the outside (postwar functional architecture); the interior is the part that delivers. Couples and families slightly preferred over the Old Town hostels because of the residential calm.