Backpackers Luzern
The lakefront backpacker hostel where Lucerne's sociable solo travelers actually sleep
An unfussy, sociable hostel parked directly on Lake Lucerne in the Tribschen neighborhood, fifteen minutes' walk from the Old Town along the lakeshore. Big shared kitchen, common lounge with a foosball table, balcony rooms that look straight at Mt. Pilatus across the water. The default backpacker pick in Lucerne and the highest-rated proper hostel.
Backpackers Luzern occupies an old apartment block on Alpenquai 42, three blocks back from the lake's south shore in Tribschen — the same quiet, residential pocket where Richard Wagner once lived. Step out the front door and you're on a tree-lined street with the lake fifty meters ahead and the Pilatus massif visible on a clear day.
The hostel itself is run-of-the-mill backpacker — bunkbeds in dorms of 4, 6, and 8, shared bathrooms on each floor, no air-con (Switzerland rarely needs it), no elevator. What it has instead is a properly large shared kitchen with two stoves, two fridges, and enough utensils that you don't queue at 7pm, and a common lounge with sofas, a tabletop football table, and the natural backpacker rotating cast that puts together impromptu dinner parties most nights.
The location is the killer feature. The lakeshore promenade runs from the front door 1.2 km north to the KKL and the Old Town — an easy fifteen-minute walk along the water with the Alps as backdrop. Bus 6, 7, or 8 from Werkhof stop (200 m away) covers the same distance in five minutes if it's raining.
The rating (8.9 on 2,520 reviews) is the highest of any conventional hostel in Lucerne. It's earned: lakefront, social scene, proper kitchen, central enough that you can ditch the public-transit pass most days.
- 01The communal kitchen actually fits eight cooks at once, with two ovens
- 02Foosball table in the lounge that gets weeknight tournaments going by 9pm
- 03Tribschen is silent at night — no Old Town drinking crowd to wake you
- 04Free Lucerne Visitor Card transit pass at check-in (every hostel here gives it, but worth flagging)
- 05Rooms on the lake side get a slim Mt. Pilatus view through the trees
- Highest-rated conventional hostel in Lucerne (8.9 on 2,520 reviews)
- Lake Lucerne fifty meters from the front door, Pilatus visible across the water
- Fifteen-minute lakeside walk to Chapel Bridge and the Old Town
- Properly large shared kitchen — two stoves, two fridges, no 7pm queue
“Almost everything. Location is accessible. Staff are great. Ample utensils to cook. Amazing lakeside space. Beautiful.”
“It is very close to city centre, easily accessible by bus too. You can have a morning coffee at the bridge facing Lake Lucerne — pure magic.”
“Really easy to find. Big room with comfy beds. Good communal areas and helpful staff. Toilets and showers modern and well kept.”
- Lake Lucerne shore (Alpenquai)50 m
- Werkhof bus stop (lines 6/7/8)200 m
- KKL Culture and Convention Centre1.2 km
- Chapel Bridge & Old Town1.4 km
- Lucerne train station1.5 km
- Wagner Museum600 m
