Zurich · Switzerland✻5 hostels✻3 vibes✻5 districts✻from €42✻Zurich · Switzerland✻5 hostels✻3 vibes✻5 districts✻from €42✻Zurich · Switzerland✻5 hostels✻3 vibes✻5 districts✻from €42✻

★ Destination · SwitzerlandVerified 20265 hostels

Zurich
Switzerland.

Switzerland · 5 districts · 3 vibes

5 handpicked hostels in Zurich, sorted by traveler rating.

§ 01 — About Zurich

Zurich is Switzerland made into a city: punctual trams, lakeside finance towers, prices that wince every backpacker. The hostel scene is small (six properties worth talking about) but they all sit either in Niederdorf Old Town or one short tram ride from it. The lake is free, the drinking water is free, the Migros six pack is the budget traveler's friend, and the Old Town is medieval-streets beautiful in a way few capitals can match.

§ 02 — Filter the city

What to do in Zurich.

Pick a vibe. Get a focused guide with ranked picks.

Bar· 1 Board Games & Game Room· 1 Shared Kitchen· 2

§ 03 — Best Hostels in Zurich

Best Hostels in Zurich

5 handpicked hostels in Zurich, sorted by traveler rating.

★ 8.31,838 reviews

Oldtown Hostel Otter

Oberdorfstrasse 7, Niederdorf Old Town (8001) — Zürich-Stadelhofen train station 300m, the lake 5 min walk, dead-centre of the medieval Old Town. Ground-floor Wüste Bar, four-storey building, shared kitchen upstairs.

Oldtown Hostel Otter is the dead-centre Niederdorf hostel with a built-in pub — the Wüste Bar at street level — and an actual shared kitchen upstairs (a rarity at this address). 8.3 from 1,838 reviews, reasonably priced bunks for Zurich, and the convenience of being inside walking distance of literally everything in central Zurich.

Bar Shared Kitchen board-games

Sigma Self Check-in Hostel

Bergstrasse 53, Hottingen (8032) — leafy uphill residential 12 min by tram 8 to Hauptbahnhof, the budget hostel with no front desk that nails the self check-in autonomy formula.

Sigma Self Check-in Hostel is the autonomy hostel — adults-only, no front desk (key by code), basic but spotless setup on Bergstrasse uphill from Hottingen, budget beds with garden access and ping-pong. 8.2 from 34 reviews (small sample but high rating), the cheapest Old Town-adjacent bunk in Zurich and the answer for travelers who don't want to deal with a receptionist.

Viktoria Budget Hostel

Ackersteinstrasse 175, Höngg (8049) — leafy residential northwest of the centre, tram 13 to Hauptbahnhof in 18 min, near the river bend at Limmat-knee. Adults-only, kitchen-equipped, garden terrace.

Viktoria Budget Hostel is the cheapest serious bunk in Zurich (8.2 from 1,335 reviews) and it earns the savings the hard way — adults-only, residential Höngg address 18 minutes from Hauptbahnhof by tram 13, no breakfast, no bar, but a real shared kitchen with stovetop, dishwasher, microwave, fridge and a garden terrace where you can cook your Migros pasta and offset two restaurant meals a day.

Shared Kitchen Female-Only Dorms

Friendly Hostel Zurich

Strehlgasse 3, Zurich Old Town - City Center (8001) — Bahnhofstrasse 3 min walk, Paradeplatz 4 min, the lake 6 min, the most central budget address in Zurich.

Friendly Hostel Zurich is the most centrally-located budget bunk in the city — Strehlgasse 3, three minutes from Bahnhofstrasse, four from Paradeplatz, six from the lake. 8.0 from 2,506 reviews, budget beds by Zurich standards, and a small terrace with city view that makes the rooftop-style sunset a built-in feature of the stay.

Green Marmot Capsule Hotel Zurich

Schifflände 26 / Rössligasse, Zurich Old Town - City Center (8001) — right on the Limmat at Bürkliplatz lake dock, next to Rathaus and the Bürkliplatz boat terminal, the most lake-adjacent hostel address in Zurich.

Green Marmot Capsule Hotel Zurich is the city's only proper Japanese-style capsule setup — small, AC-equipped, sealable pods instead of bunks, on a Schifflände address that puts you right on the Limmat at Bürkliplatz with the lake at your door. 7.7 from 5,725 reviews, private capsules, with a city-view terrace and a coffee shop on site.

§ 04 — Related guides