HI - Fribourg Hostel

The Auberge de Jeunesse (HI Hostel) is Fribourg's only youth hostel. The Auberge offers good quality lodging in a standardized and almost sterile environment, which was seemingly not altered since this ex-17th century hospital changed its vocation to lodge its visitors instead of hospitalizing them.

Albeit this aura of strict functionalism which contributes to irradiate a sentiment of rigidness, but after all doesn't strongly contrasts with that you find in most HI Hostels, the hostel provides its visitors standard services rather satisfactorily. First, the dorms are highly impersonal but most decent. Five or six comfortable wooden bunker beds fill each room, and the hostel provides you with a bed sheet and a cozy blanket free of charge. Don't look for inspiration to meditate great thoughts and scribble them into your travel diary while you stay in these though; dull homogeneity is rather the prevalent theme here. In addition, you may find useful to know that you will have the possibility to store your belongings in large lockers situated in the corridors in exchange of depositing a 5 CHF coin. Common spaces are situated on both floors of the hostel--one of them being the dining room. But again the design, which revolves around matching tables and chairs in an undecorated room, is frighteningly reminiscent of the most fanciful images you may have of Switzerland's most unsophisticated retirement homes.

On a more unambiguous positive note, the hostel is attractive because it is certainly the cheapest lodging in Fribourg. The hearty breakfast, included in the price, also undoubtedly weights on the plus side of the balance. Finally its central location, a few steps away from the somewhat vibrant Place Python located at the center of the modern city and at a 10 minutes stroll from the Old Town, is also a positive element that will make your stay enjoyable.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
March 2007