Funny Farm Backpackers

Funky turn-of-the-century combo of hotel and hostel that has seen better days, but is reasonably priced for the area, had a glorious view (from our balcony), and has architecture with "character" and an evocative old lobby. We stayed in the hotel section, though I gather there's also a hostel. The room itself was scruffy, and the "double bed" was two twins pushed together, with two skimpy pillows and not much of a blanket. You may want to ask for more pillows. (We did, and they provided, but clearly it's a "don't ask, don't get" situation.) Location is pretty far from the train station; we walked, pulling one suitcase, but that was just us being silly I guess. Anyhow the area itself is pleasant, walkable, with restaurants and mountain views. We enjoyed the stay in Interlaken, and for a last-minute trip without much available at a decent price point, this was fine. I just wouldn't move into that particular room, hah. The pictures posted by others give a good sense of what to expect. The property itself is a gem, frankly, so maybe someday they'll restore it a bit. (But then they'd charge more ;-) )

Better than expected. Photos on booking.com don't justify the what you really get so that's a positive. Double room with toilet attached is pretty good with the view and balcony, even the room is spacious. Overall loved it.

Stayed in the hostel section in an 8 bed room: the room itself was good, only had a few others in and wasn't cramped. There was a small sink, fridge and storage for food items, however no cooking services. Great communal lobby area and eating space, well-priced bar for the area that had some great beer. Nice outside area for when the sun comes out, overall great stay at an affordable price. Nice dog also 🐶

Overall, I had great experience. The service is friendly and there is lounge, garden and dinning area as it is also sort of a hotel. My only complaint is that walls of the hostel rooms are thin so when someone walks on the floor above, there is disturbance in the room below.

Great place! Relaxed staff, low pieces, simple, dog friendly, nice bar. It's not new and fancy, but I'm fine with some older, well used stuff given all the other benefits.

Reading the comments I’m appalled by the negative feedback. This is the cheapest stay in the area, so your expectations shouldn’t be too high, right? I enjoyed the stay, there was nothing to complain about. I’m satisfied with the accommodation for the price I paid considering it’s Swiss prices 😉

Great place to start your journey into the Jungfrau area. The building's real cool and historical, has grandeur. Neat rooms. Affordable for Swiss standards.

To be honest, looking at the name (Funny Farm|Backpacker) I did not have any high hopes from this place. I simply booked it because it was way cheaper than anything in Interlaken/ Lauterbrunnen/ Wengen.|But I was so wrong…|It’s a big hotel (combination of Mattenhof resort and Funny Farm backpacker). We booked a room with attached bathroom. |Check in took less than 7 seconds (not kidding!!) told my name and got the key.. that’s it. Apparently check in is from 5;00pm but we got it around 2:30 ish.|When I opened the room, I was so surprised to see how spacious it was. It’s bigger than most Ibis Budget rooms. Room had amenities like safe box, kettle and hairdryer. Lots of place to store luggage. Clean and tidy, comfortable bed. Linen however I found to be a bit old (not dirty or soiled, just old). Room/hotel is old (just like any other hotels in the region) but it’s actually not bad. Bathroom had bathtub, bath towels, hand towels and bathmat were provided. Hotel has a bar, washing machine and dryer. |I would 100% recommend this place.

Originally, we wanted to stay at Balmers hostel because we needed a place to crash while in Interlaken. Unfortunately, we didn't book enough in advance and was stuck between the Funny Farm or The Barn. With such limited information online from websites such as hostelworld, we decided to go wth the Funny Farm. Let me say that this is by far the worst hostel I've stayed at in terms of cleanliness and service. The entire building is super old and dusty. The furniture was probably donated or grabbed off of Craigslist's free section and the service isn't the best. Staff seemed to be more interested in doing the minimum for us. Our room was supposed to be a mixed gender six bed hostel, but when we walked in it was an eight bed. When asked about this, it was stated that the other beds were reserved and would not be rented out? Seemed sketchy to me. Additionally, there are no lockers for your personals, no ladders for the bunk beds, the rooms were super dusty, the bathroom was similar to that of a cruise ship's bathroom meaning it was extremely dank and small. For those of us who are over 5'10 (I'm 6'), you'll need to crouch, so that you can enjoy the beautiful mold and black residue left on the wall of the shower. For the price of 30 francs, I expected more. However with all things considered, it was in a convenient location and easily accessible from the bus stop. It seems like a lot of Chinese and South Korean tourists come to Interlaken, so you'll see these people around the hostel. Most likely, in the same situation as us meaning this hostel was not their first choice. There was also a fraternity or college kids who rented out a good majority of the rooms, so lots of noise. On top of this, stones/rocks seem to be the item of choice to decorate and hold doors here (see pics). Nonetheless, I visited The Barn located in the back, also owned by the same people. I spoke to the guy who owns the place and actually checked The Barn out myself. Let me say this, The Barn is a hundred times worse than The Funny Farm, which is the only reason I am giving The Funny Farm two stars rather than the lowest score possible. Tl;dr The Funny Farm is not the first, second, or third pick for most. Will you survive? Yes.

The Funny Farm is EFFING WEIRD. Which is a good thing, IMO. Located in gorgeous Interlaken, Switzerland, the Funny Farm is a hostel designed for youthful backpackers who don't mind the loss of much personal space and who likely don't spend a lot of time in beds or hanging around the hostel when they are backpacking. Onsite, the Funny Farm offers you all the amenities for enjoying the great outdoors of Switzerland - you can sign up for bouldering, canyoning, cliff diving, river rafting, etc. On the grounds, the Funny Farm has a large sunny pool area with a large diving board, a Space Camp with large outdoor seating, and there's always a couple of guys smoking weed, passing around a pipe, and selling the hash if that's up your alley, talking about how the man totally harshes my mellow, yo. If it helps at all, I got into a deep philosophical and HUGELY IMPORTANT conversation of which I can recall very little about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the philosophy of The Simpsons here with some hippies from Sweden. I feel this kind of thing happens a lot at The Funny Farm.

Nice lobby. Awful staff. Has mini bar with rude bar tender and overpriced drinks. Has nice pool table and entertainment area on 1st floor. Pool is empty. Tennis court is rundown. Decent room size with nice porch. Beds are ok. Pillows are very uncomfortable, bring your own. Broken door knob to bathroom. Front door is lock at night. Broken tv. Hiking trail behind hotel. Find somewhere else if you can.

I stayed here with a Florence for Fun trip for a weekend in Interlaken. Our room was very comfortable and had a gorgeous view of the town and mountains behind. The staff was very friendly and we spent many hours sitting and chatting with bartenders. Funny Farm also has a great location, it's only about a 10 minute walk to everything you'd want to visit (town center, surrounding restaurants etc). Definitely recommend if you need an easy place to stay in the area!

Stayed here a few years ago. Place seemed not to go together inside. Staff were not friendly. In the middle of the night, a drunk German started banging on our door and screaming, running down the hallways. I felt very unsafe and in general found it to be an uncomfortable place. It's also not in a central location.