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Board Games & Game Room✻Zurich✻2 hostels✻Handpicked✻Real reviews✻Board Games & Game Room✻Zurich✻2 hostels✻Handpicked✻Real reviews✻Board Games & Game Room✻Zurich✻2 hostels✻Handpicked✻Real reviews✻
Zurich Board Games & Game RoomRanked guide

Best Hostels with Board Games in Zurich

Board games at a Zurich hostel are the rainy-evening solution that the city desperately needs — Zurich gets 130 days of rain a year, the cafés close at 7pm, and a CHF 4 hostel happy hour with a Catan board beats a CHF 12 cinema ticket. Two hostels in our shortlist keep proper game shelves: Jugendherberge Zürich with the institutional setup (board games, pool table, ping-pong, all in the lounge) and Oldtown Hostel Otter with the Niederdorf cosy version (board games and a coffee shop on the ground floor, atmosphere over scale).

◉ Ranking · 2 picks
  1. 01Zurich Youth Hostel (Jugendherberge)€50
  2. 02Oldtown Hostel Otter€55
§ 01 — Traveler's take
“The Zurich hostel-board-games math: a CHF 4 happy-hour beer plus a 2-hour Catan game plus a Migros chocolate plate (CHF 6) is a CHF 10 evening. The cinema-and-dinner equivalent is CHF 35-40. Over a 4-night Zurich trip, picking the board-game evening twice instead of cinema saves you CHF 50-60 — funds a Lake Zurich day-pass plus a Sternen Grill bratwurst plus a Sprüngli macaron. The board game is also the easiest social entry-point in a hostel — easier than the bar (where conversations are 1-on-1) and easier than organized events (which not all hostels have). Sit at a table, ask to join, you're playing in 30 seconds.”
§ 02 — The ranked list

Our Top 2 Picks

Zurich Youth Hostel (Jugendherberge)
01
★ 8.53,540 reviews€50/night

Zurich Youth Hostel (Jugendherberge)

Zurich Youth Hostel (the Jugendherberge) is the city's largest, longest-running, and most institutional hostel — 8.5 from 3,540 reviews, run by Swiss Youth Hostels (HI), and the only Zurich property that bundles a real Swiss breakfast, a bar with happy hour, organized walking tours, and bar crawls under one roof. The trade-off: it sits in residential Wollishofen, 12 minutes by tram 7 from Hauptbahnhof.

  • Swiss breakfast included in the room rate
  • Hostel bar with daily 6pm to 8pm happy hour
  • Walking tours and bar crawls organized in-house
  • 24-hour front desk, family rooms, full disabled access
Oldtown Hostel Otter
02
★ 8.31,838 reviews€55/night

Oldtown Hostel Otter

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, EUR 55 bunks, and the convenience of being inside walking distance of literally everything in central Zurich.

  • Wüste Bar on the ground floor (street-level Zurich pub, not a tourist trap)
  • Shared kitchen with stovetop and fridge
  • Niederdorf Old Town address, Stadelhofen station 3 min
  • Coffee house on site, board games in the lounge
§ 03 — Tips

Tips for Choosing a Hostel with Board Games & Game Room in Zurich

Tip Nº 01

Both hostels keep their board-game shelves at reception or in the lounge — ask if you don't see them. Jugendherberge keeps Swiss editions of Catan and Carcassonne (German rules but the boards are the same), Otter keeps mostly English editions.

Tip Nº 02

The pool table at Jugendherberge is free but the cues live behind the front desk. Ask for them, sign nothing, return them when done.

Tip Nº 03

For Jass (the Swiss national card game), buy a deck at any Migros or Coop checkout for CHF 8. The Wüste Bar at Otter has staff who'll teach you the rules over a beer — Tuesday quiz nights are a good time to ask, fewer people at the bar.

Tip Nº 04

Both hostels supply coffee and tea throughout the day. A long Catan game (3 hours) plus a constant stream of free coffee is the cheapest evening entertainment in a city where a single coffee at a bar costs CHF 6.

§ 04 — Other vibes

More Vibes in Zurich

Shared KitchenBar
§ 05 — In other cities

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§ 06 — FAQ

Quick answers.