• You benefit from inexpensive accommodation in our approximantely 50 Swiss youth hostels and in more than 4,000 international youth hostels
• You enjoy numerous discounts at our partners
• With your membership, you help us to support family-friendly social tourism in Switzerland

Become a member now

Yes, membership of Swiss Youth Hostels is also accepted worldwide at all youth hostels belonging to the federation.

Hostelling International

No, in all Swiss youth hostels bedding is provided as part of your stay.

Rooms with their own bathrooms include one bath towel per person. For rooms with shared bathrooms, please bring your own towels. You can also rent towels at the hostel.

Only the group hostels include a kitchen where you can cater for yourself. On request, guest kitchens are available in the following youth hostels: Beinwil am See, Mariastein and Seelisberg.

Yes. Swiss Youth Hostels is an association of which you must be a member in order to stay overnight.

We offer a Hostel Card Premium (annual membership) and Hostel Card Standard (daily membership) at CHF 7.00.

Become a member now

Yes, we offer annual membership at a reduced rate of CHF 22.00 for students, instead of CHF 33.00.

No. Everyone can stay the night with us.

The Hostel Card Standard is included in the price of your overnight stay. You can purchase a Hostel Card Premium at the hostel or online to benefit from reduced overnight rates (CHF 7.00 discount per adult per night). Info and benefits of the Hostel Card Premium.
You can also take advantage of the reduced overnight rates if you have a hostel card of another national association.

Hostelling International

Annual membership is valid for one year from the day in which the membership card was issued.

No, grandparents need an individual membership. However, with Senior membership, grandparents can include their grandchildren at the reduced member price.

Become a member now

No, Family membership is for couples/mothers/fathers with their own children under 18 years of age.

No, membership is issued to one person and can only be used by this individual. Only the non-personal group membership is transferable.

You will receive a reminder shortly before the end of the membership year. The membership will be renewed when the fee has been paid.

No, in all Swiss Youth Hostels bedding is provided as part of your stay. An exception can be found in Mariastein. There, guests in the shared room get linen sleeping bags. The beds are covered with fitted sheets and there are pillows, pillowcases and blankets.

Rooms with their own bathrooms include one bath towel per person. For rooms with shared bathrooms, please bring your own towels. You can also rent towels at the hostel.

Most of the rooms have a sink or their own shower/WC. If not specified, the bathroom will be on the same floor.

Yes, breakfast is included in the accommodation rate. Except the group houses, these are equipped with self-cooking kitchens.

Only the group hostels include a kitchen where you can cater for yourself. On request, guest kitchens are available in the following youth hostels: Beinwil am See, Bellinzona, Lugano, Mariastein, Seelisberg and Trin.

At Swiss Youth Hostels, we offer a 3-4 course menu/buffet from CHF 19.50 for adults, CHF 14.50 for kids aged 6-12, CHF 8.50 for kids aged 2-5 (except group hostels and Sta. Maria Youth Hostel).

Check-in is possible during reception opening times. In the case of early arrival, luggage can be left at the youth hostel.

In most youth hostels, parking is available at CHF 10 per night.

In Gstaad, Laax and Interlaken, garage parking spaces are available for CHF 15 per night.

Please contact the youth hostel directly if you want to stay as a family with children under the age of 6 in a dormitory rather than in a family room.

Yes, a laundry service is available on request.

Today, 33 of the approximatnely 50 Swiss Youth Hostels are barrier-free. 25 of these are suitable for disabled persons and 8 are partially suitable. Whereas the “suitable” hostels can meet the requirements for disabled access in all areas, including the arrival route, the entry and the wet cells, the partially suitable hostels present individual limitations, about which information is provided on a case-by-case basis (for example dimensions for ease of access not always achieved etc.).

The Swiss Youth Hostels offer barrier-free beds in a range of rooms from 2-bed rooms with their own shower/WC to multi-bed rooms. With the barrier-free beds, care has also been taken to ensure the widest possible room offering, and in turn a broad price mix. Not all rooms are necessarily barrier-free however. Obviously, the upper level of bunk beds is not barrier-free.

The Swiss Youth Hostels see it as part of their mission in social tourism to permit accessibility to everyone without exception. Their facilities and services have to benefit all guests, in particular also people with a physical or mental disability or with hearing, vision or speech impairment, who are able to travel alone or with an accompanying persons.

Essentially, disabled people book just like any other guest. Up to now, the emphasis was on telephone booking, enabling the special needs to be clarified precisely in advance. It is also possible for disabled persons to book their special requirements such as a barrier-free room directly online.

Equal treatment of all guests is a fundamental principle for the Swiss Youth Hostels; no preference is given, not even to people with disabilities. However, it is all the more important for the Swiss Youth Hostels to satisfy the specific needs of people with disabilities for information, booking facilities etc. and to train the staff accordingly.

The Swiss Youth Hostels provide specific information on how to get to the hostel, on facilities and technical information such as door widths, lift sizes etc. as well as suggestions for excursions in the region. People with disabilities have individual limitations when travelling. It is therefore important for them to check before departure, if facilities are sufficiently barrier-free to meet their personal needs.

Travellers with guide and therapy dogs are welcome in all Swiss Youth Hostels. Our many building measures also help to make life easier for visually-impaired persons during their stay with us.

We cannot fulfil all of the requirements specified in the certification. For example, links to tourist partners and PDF documents provided by the hostels (daily menu) are not always readable in a barrier-free way. In general, however, we strive to adhere to AAA certification requirements, and deviate only in those cases that constitute a major challenge, either financially or in terms of the effort involved.

Yes, regularly. Courses to increase awareness for the needs of disabled people are offered repeatedly as part of the internal training programme.

The Swiss Youth Hostels employ a certain number of persons with disabilities in their organization. However, the focus of this specific project is not on creating jobs for the disabled, but on the providing a barrier-free tourist offer. In this respect, the experiences of directly affected persons are especially important. Mrs. Ursula Schwaller - architect and Board Member of the Denk an mich Foundation – is a wheelchair user and supports and supervises the project in the Denk an mich foundation steering committee. In addition, the Schweizerische Fachstelle für behindertengerechtes Bauen (a specialist organization for barrier-free construction), represented by Joe Manser and Beni Rüdisüli, is also a partner of the project together with the Federal Bureau for the Equality of People with Disabilities (FBED). Both gentlemen are wheelchair users and support the project both technically and by personal experience.

Guests of all ages are welcome at Swiss Youth Hostels.

In the Canton of Ticino, the law prohibits the accommodation of people under the age of 16 unless they are accompanied by an adult. In the other cantons, people aged between 14 and 16 years require written consent from their parents when travelling alone.

Some youth hostels let you bring dogs with you on request. Guide dogs, therapy dogs and assistance dogs for persons with disabilities are allowed. Please contact the youth hostel directly if you would like to bring your dog. Other pets are not allowed. Here our top tips for a perfect stay with your dog.

The Swiss Youth Hostels offer cancellation insurance (PDF) from AWP P&C S.A., Paris. The cost is 4% of the package price.

If you fall ill, have an accident or have to go into quarantine before or during your trip, Allianz Travel will pay the contractual cancellation costs owed.

You can send the documents (booking confirmation, invoice for cancellation costs, original invoices for additional travel costs, medical certificate, death certificate) to the following address:

• AWP P&C S.A., Saint-Ouen (Paris)
  Wallisellen Branch (Switzerland)
  Richtiplatz 1
  CH - 8304 Wallisellen

Children aged 2 to 5 years stay for just CHF 15 and children aged 6 to 12 years for just CHF 25 per night in the parents’ or grandparents’ room, breakfast included. Babies aged 0 to 1 year stay for free in a cot, if available. Children’s prices do not apply to double rooms. No reductions on children’s rates.

We offer also special group rates for children: Children aged 2–5 years, a flat rate of CHF 15.–; from 6–12 years, accommodation prices / group prices apply