Menu prices for hostel guests:

We accept Lunch-Checks!

• The tourist tax for guests aged 17 and above is CHF 3 per person and per night. Children aged 6 to 16 pay CHF 1.50 per night. Children under the age of 6 are exempt from tourist tax. 
• Entry to the Burgdorf Castle museum is included in the price of your stay
• The Hostel Card Standard is included in the price of your stay and is valid from your arrival date to your departure date
• All prices include VAT
• You have the option of purchasing a Hostel Card Premium which entitles you to the lowest accommodation prices. More information about the Hostel Card Premium
• Groups (minimum of 10 people) are advised to buy a Hostel Card Premium (personal: CHF 55.–/transferable CHF 99.–)
• Find our children's prices on the family page. 
• Group rates for children: a flat rate of CHF 15.– applies for children aged 2–5, while bed prices/group prices apply for children aged 6–12
• Parking facilities: The castle is not accessible by car. Please use the nearest parking garage «Oberstadt». You can buy parking tickets at the check-in at the reception for CHF 11.– per night
• Voluntary CO2 compensation offset CHF 0.30
• Special offers available for schools and groups
• Prices are subject to change
• All prices are in CHF

The youth hostel has a wheelchair accessible lift which connects the different floors.

The width of the doors to the rooms is 80 cm.

Barrier-free wash rooms

There is a barrier-free toilet on the ground floor. One of our two-bed rooms has a fully barrier-free wash room.

The dimensions of the wash rooms are:

• Width of door to wash room: 80 cm
• Toilet seat height: min. 46 cm
• Shower seat
• Grab rails

Barrier-free transport

The road up to the castle is cobbled and has a 16% gradient. We therefore recommend that you arrive by car. Access by car requires permission. Contact the youth hostel in advance to arrange this.

By car

The youth hostel has a wheelchair accessible parking space. Charges apply. Please ensure that you book in advance. We are happy to provide the accessible parking space free of charge to blue badge holders.

Useful information

Links for public transport

• Swiss Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired: Barrier-free public transport (in German and French)
• Swiss Federal Railways (SBB): passengers with reduced mobility
• Barrier-free travel with BLS

Taxi

• Taxi Burgdorf, www.taxi-burgdorf.ch, tel: 0800 002 700
• Ämme Taxi, tel: +41 34 422 41 00
• Local Taxi, www.taxi-local.ch, free phone: 0800 80 76 78 | mobile: +41 79 301 76 78

Nearest pharmacies

700 m

• Apotheke Ryser
  Lyssachstrasse 17
  +41 34 422 20 13

800 m

• TopPharm Apotheke Zbinden
  Bahnhofstrasse 13
  +41 34 426 22 72

850 m

• Amavita Apotheke Grosse
  Bahnhofstrasse 61
  +41 58 878 14 90

Suggestions

• Emme-Uferweg, Route No. 446 (riverside path)
• Tourism inclusive (in German & French)
• Procap Switzerland: cultural opportunities for everyone (in German & French)

Supporting the OK:GO initiative

Swiss Youth Hostels is part of the OK:GO initiative. This initiative aims to ensure that every tourism provider in Switzerland offers information about the accessibility of its services to the public. Learn more about the initiative here.

History of Burgdorf Castle

The origins of Burgdorf Castle are shrouded in legend. According to the old founding myth, recounted and embellished by Jeremias Gotthelf, a fearsome dragon is supposed to have lived in the rock where the castle was later built. In the year 712, the brothers Sintram and Bertram managed to hunt the beast down and defeat it in a dramatic struggle. With the land now free of the dragon, the two Counts of Lenzburg were able to build a castle on the rock and found a town in the valley below. In thanks for their victory, they built a chapel to Saint Margaret in the castle.

It goes without saying that this is not how things actually happened. Few facts have survived from the castle’s early days. All that we know is that the Counts of Rheinfelden in Burgdorf owned a castle that passed into the possession of the Dukes of Zähringen in 1090. As Rectors (viceroys) of Burgundy, the Zähringens used the castle on the Emme as one of the bases for their expansion westwards.

In around 1200, Duke Berchtold V, the last of the Zähringens, built a series of towns to consolidate his power. These included Burgdorf. In the course of this work, the castle was also rebuilt and acquired its current look. Its three main buildings are the residential tower, the keep and the hall. The castle was constructed in brick – a material that was totally unknown in the region at the time – and its lavish proportions are reminiscent of royal palaces. This and the large church that the duke built for the new town hints that he intended Burgdorf to be the centre of Zähringen Burgundy rather than Bern, as the chronicler Conrad Justinger claimed in the fifteenth century.

After the death of Berchtold V in 1218, the castle passed to the noble Kyburg dynasty. Count Hartmann V made major renovations in the early Gothic style in 1250, and Count Eberhard von Kyburg-Burgdorf had the Zähringen hall modernised in 1273. The castle served as the counts’ residence until 1384.

When Burgdorf was ceded to Bern, the castle became the seat of the Bernese administrator, turning it from a residence of the nobility to a place of magisterial office. Under Bern’s rule, it underwent several more modifications but the character of the thirteenth century building remains unchanged to this day. Burgdorf Castle is considered the best preserved of the Zähringen castles and is classified as a heritage site of national significance.

• Free entrance to the Museum Burgdorf Castle, the entrance tickets are available at the reception.
• 10% discount in the Localnet Arena (ice rink). The voucher is available at the reception.
• 10% discount for schools on guided tours and admission to the Gotthelf centre. Individual travellers receive 50% off a non-alcoholic drink. Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• 20% discount on badminton, squash and tennis at Tennishalle Burgdorf. The voucher is available at the reception.
• 20% discount on admission to the Museum Landshut Castle. Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• 33% discount on admission to the Franz Gertsch Museum. Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• CHF 2.– reduction on the adventure tour «Play yourself through Burgdorf» (in german) with over 25 posts. A promo code for the discount is available at the reception. 
• CHF 5.– reduction on the painting workshop in the Aebi pottery Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• CHF 2.– reduction when visiting the outdoor mini-golf  Burgdorf with 18 holes. Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• CHF 4.– reduction on admission to the Bernhard Luginbühl Museum, young people up to 16 years free of charge, reduction for school classes. Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• CHF 5.– reduction on admission to the «Königsweg» visitor's tour of the Emmental show dairy, young people up to 11 years of age free of charge. Show your booking confirmation at the location.
• CHF 5.– reduction on admission to the Kulturhalle Sägegasse. The voucher is available at the reception.
• 2 for 1 brochure of the "Chüechlitiger children's trail" (incl. craft materials) at the Regional Museum "Chüechlihus Langnau". Show your booking confirmation on site.  

Further member benefits