We would love to stay in these unusual hostels – part 1

The umbrel­la organ­i­sa­tion Hostelling Inter­na­tion­al was found­ed in 1932. Its aim was to pro­vide young trav­ellers around the world with a net­work for afford­able and sus­tain­able trav­el. Today, the asso­ci­a­tion has 60 mem­bers – includ­ing the Swiss Youth Hos­tels – and over 2,500 hos­tels. Some of them real­ly stand out due to their loca­tion, archi­tec­ture or ambi­ence.

Spend the night in a French monastery

Have you always want­ed to get a breath of monastery air? Then now’s the per­fect time. Caduin Hos­tel in the French city of Caduin was built as a monastery in the 11th and 12th cen­turies. The impos­ing build­ing, which is embed­ded in the roman­tic land­scape, has been declared a World Her­itage Site by UNESCO.

Above the railway tracks

Lille­ham­mer Hos­tel is locat­ed in a sta­tion build­ing right in the cen­tre of the Nor­we­gian city. The his­toric build­ing has been com­plete­ly ren­o­vat­ed and con­vert­ed into a styl­ish hos­tel. Thanks to its cen­tral loca­tion, attrac­tions are all just a stone’s throw away. The per­fect accom­mo­da­tion for sight­see­ing, shop­ping and indul­gent restau­rant vis­its.

Brighten up your stay

Why not spend the night in a light­house? Even that’s pos­si­ble! For exam­ple, at HI – Pescadero – Pigeon Point Light­house Hos­tel in the USA. The 35-metre-tall light­house sits right next to a spec­tac­u­lar cliff, giv­ing you a con­stant view of the sea. With a bit of luck, you might spot some seals and the beach is near­by. This is also a great place to admire the stars thanks to the low lev­els of air pol­lu­tion.

Ship ahoy! 

Get ready for a nos­tal­gia over­load when you stay at Laiva­hos­tel S/S Bore: Name­ly because this is a Swedish cruise ship from the 1960s! Today the ship is docked in the Aura­jo­ki Riv­er in Fin­land. 120 cab­ins are avail­able for you to stay overnight. An added bonus: Your morn­ing sauna ses­sion is includ­ed in the price. Cast off and head to Fin­land!

Fishing village vibes on the Lofoten Islands

Youth Hos­tel Å is a spec­tac­u­lar place to stay: The hos­tel con­sists of ten 100-year-old cot­tages that have been care­ful­ly restored in tra­di­tion­al Ror­bu style. They’re locat­ed in the charm­ing fish­ing vil­lage of Å in a muse­um dis­trict with a small gro­cery store. Sev­er­al rooms offer per­fect sea views! And when you’re not lis­ten­ing to the sound of the waves, there are plen­ty of hik­ing trails with fan­tas­tic views of the Lofoten Islands.

Would you prefer Switzerland?

From the tow­er room to the bee­hive: We have plen­ty of unique accom­mo­da­tion options here in Switzer­land as well.

I have to go there