Schaan's youth hostel and Triesen's campsite, the country's two budget beds

If Liechtenstein’s prices put you off, these are the two beds that change the sums. The country has one youth hostel and one campsite with an up-to-date website, and between them they logged more than 33,000 nights in 2025, nearly as many as all the hotels in Vaduz. This isn’t a fringe option. It’s how plenty of young travellers, families and Rhine cyclists sleep in the principality.

The Schaan hostel, the only one in the country

The Jugendherberge Schaan-Vaduz is at Under Rüttigass 6 in Schaan, in a quiet spot with views of the Alps, and bills itself as the only youth hostel in the principality. It dates from 1977 and is run by Swiss Youth Hostels. Its 116 beds are spread across 12 doubles with shower and WC, four en-suite quads and the rest in four- and six-bed rooms with a washbasin. So a couple who’d rather not share can have a private room with its own bathroom.

What wins me over is what’s included. The breakfast buffet, 7:00 to 9:30, comes with the bed, and the hostel issues the WELCOME Adventure Pass, the free card covering every LIEmobil bus plus museum discounts. Dinner is extra, CHF 19.50 per adult from 18:00 to 20:00, but you have to book it by 16:00. I would, because plenty of restaurants in the valley close one day a week or by late afternoon; more on that in where to eat in Liechtenstein.

Getting there and opening dates

The nearest stop is Vaduz, Schulzentrum, three minutes on foot, with buses into central Vaduz or Schaan. If you’re cycling, the hostel sits right on routes 35 and 555, the Rhine route, and markets itself to cyclists and walkers; the routes are in cycling in Liechtenstein. Check-in runs from 15:00 to 22:00, and you should let them know if you’ll be later.

Mind the dates. In 2026 it opens from 16 January to 13 December and then takes a break until 15 January 2027. In other words, there’s no hostel over Christmas or at the start of the ski season.

Camping Mittagspitze in Triesen

The campsite with its own website is the Mittagspitze, at Sägastrasse 29 in Triesen, 7 km from Vaduz. In summer it’s a family place. There’s an outdoor pool with a children’s pool, open from mid-June to mid-August, 9:00 to 19:00, three playgrounds, a shop with fresh bread every day and a restaurant on site. From the pool you look across the Rhine to the Gonzen and the Alvier, and it’s the sort of view that makes me think the campsite has a better position than many hotels.

Winter is different. In 2025-26 it opened from 1 November to 21 December and again from 2 March for motorhomes and caravans only, with seven pitches with electricity and heated washrooms, and shut entirely between 21 December and 1 March. It hasn’t published dates for winter 2026-27 yet, so I’d check before setting off. In September 2026 it’s also warning of roadworks at the entrance, with a signed diversion.

The other cheap beds, up the mountain

There’s a third route that budget travellers tend to overlook, the mountain huts and group dormitories, which the statistics list as «Massenlager» and which logged 5,266 nights in 2025. The Pfälzerhütte, at 2,108 m, charges non-members of an Alpine club CHF 75 for half board and members CHF 68. The Berggasthaus Sareis, at the top of the chairlift, offers bed and breakfast at CHF 50 a head until 18 October 2026. The huts are cash only and they’re not somewhere you roll up to by bus with a suitcase, but if you’re here to walk they may be your cheapest and most memorable nights. They’re covered in mountain huts in Liechtenstein.

Hostel, campsite or a self check-in hotel?

Travelling alone or as a couple on the smallest budget, the hostel, no question, for the breakfast and bus pass. In a motorhome or with children in July, the Triesen campsite. If neither suits, the self check-in hotels are the next step up in price, covered in hotels in Vaduz. For the bigger picture across every area, see where to stay in Liechtenstein. Whichever you choose, prices here are in Swiss francs, so budget in francs rather than pounds or euros. One last practical point, LIEmobil buses don’t take cash, so bring a card or the app until you have your pass.