Hostel Ruthensteiner in Vienna – Intellectuals Refugees and Open Arms at the oldest Hostel in Vienna

Hostel Ruthensteiner welcomes Vienna international travelers since 1968 and is a real love child. A mixture of family-style, cozy hostel and art exhibition; it all comes together to create ths unique backpacker hostel in Vienna. Hostel Ruthensteiner is everything a traveler could wish for – and it has everything we at Hostelgeeks are looking for.

The infobox on Hostel Ruthensteiner ⭐

If you are looking for a fabulous hostel in Vienna, you have just found the right place to be. We wrote a big guide on the coolest hostels in Vienna – and Ruthensteiner made it.

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Find all 5 Star Hostels in the world with us.

The Hostel Ruthensteiner Vienna is a remarkable accommodation with all the usual little bits and big bit of extra! Two green backyards with handmade furniture and a gigantic, oversized chess board game invite you to a tranquil, social time.

And if you fancy a drink while hanging out in the garden, just get one at the well-stocked in-house bar.

The Ruthensteiner bars offers cocktails, local beer, soft drinks and one special secret. We at Hostelgeeks cannot talk about it right now… but let us just mention: keep an eye on the bar offers!

Here is the video, showing you some insights as well as the location.

Find more cool hostel videos here.

But no secrets from now on, we promise.

Hostel Ruthensteiner Vienna is a great backpacker hostel, because…

We are excited to introduce you to Hostel Ruthensteiner, the oldest hostel in Vienna. The history takes us from the early 1800s to WW2 – leaving scarves on the hostel facade – to the opening in 1968 and intellectuals fleeing from a political change. A colorful history.

We also wrote up a big guide to the best hostels in Vienna.

Let us have a close look together why this top-rated hostel in Vienna is on top of the game.

1. Green power, herbs, and bike rental

How sustainable and eco-friendly is this accommodation? Hostel Ruthensteiner has plenty of stories to tell here. The solar panels on the roof make sure you have a nice, hot shower.

As Vienna is not sunny all year round, the hostel was looking for alternatives to power their hostel green annually. Nowadays, this cool backpacker hostel in Vienna purchases their power supply from the Vienna start up Awattar, a 100% green power supplier.

The garden also comes with a small herb and spice garden. Having a Mojito at the Ruthensteiner Bar?

The mint used for your cocktail comes right from their own garden!

At the bar, we recommend having a look for the local red wine „Scheiblhofer DAC Zweigelt“ or „Rögner Rivaner“ in white. These are wines produced in Lower Austria which are delivered directly from the winemaker straight to the hostel every week. In season, he also brings bottles of the thickest and tastiest apricot juice there is to drink pure or mix with vodka.

Read: +28 handpicked Boutique Hostels to admire.

We at Hostelgeeks love to discover a city by bike. Vienna is a very bike-friendly city and easy to get around.

Therefore, the in-house bike rental at Hostel Ruthensteiner is pretty handy, and highly recommended.

2. Handcrafted furniture and an oversized chess game

Back in 1968, the family Ruthensteiner opened the building as a student residence, which turned out to become the first independent backpackers hostel in Vienna.

The eye-catching, handmade furniture in the garden was crafted by Mr Ruthensteiner. The oversized chess figures as well as the backgammon and the solid-cherrywood bar were crafted in their own workshop.

The accommodation communicates this frequently, and we get the feeling the guests highly appreciate this bit of handmade extra effort in the garden.

And it’s not just the garden’s furniture which is unique.

In fact, the whole hostel is handmade by local artists, and creative staff members.

Different sleeping areas have been redesigned in 2016: 4 dorms got a new look and feel, now featuring four different Austrian themes. The themes are based on famous personalities from Austria such as Sigmund Freud, Hundertwasser, and world-famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Mozart room is a creative interpretation by a digital artist, associating Mozart with synthesizer and pop-art “à la Andy Warhol”.

Have a look for yourself:

The renovated female-only dorm is based on Egon Schiele, a major figurative painter of the early 20th century, provoking the society with raw sexuality, and naked self-portraits; a big no-go in his times.

Doubts about only female dorms? We collected the pros and cons of a female-only dorm to help you decide.

The hostel is all about being a friendly, laid-back place, giving travelers the possibility to explore Vienna whilst staying in a unique hostel – on a budget!

All rooms and common areas come with free Wi-Fi, and a fully equipped kitchen. They also offer free iPad rentals at the reception, and the bunk beds come with a power socket and a locker big enough for a Backpack – and one more power sockets inside to safely charge electronics.

No Wi-Fi when traveling in Europe?

Have a look at the Hippocket WiFi. It is a small travel device, connecting you and up to 10 devices to the internet.

It is a must-have for the hostel packing list.

3. The History and unstoppable passion

Hostel Ruthensteiner in Vienna is the oldest one in the Austrian Capital. And we think, the heritage is the unique part of the hostel.

The original building of Hostel Ruthensteiner was constructed in the 1840s.

After WW2, the building was a sad witness of the bomb attacks of Vienna, covering the facade in scars. In 1960 the Family Ruthensteiner purchased the building and land, renovated if from scratch, and opened the house as a student residence.

Back in the times of Cold War and Prague spring, Vienna and Austria were in between the eastern and western world.

In 1968, right after the Prague Spring and occupation of the Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union, many intellectuals like poets, artists, and politicians were fleeing to the West, arriving in Austria and Vienna.

Hostel Ruthensteiner gave shelter to the refugees, whilst they were applying for visas to the USA and other countries, further away from the Iron curtain.

Years later, many of the intellectual refugees from the Czech Republic and former Soviet Union came back with their families to the hostel to show them where it all began.

Back in 2014, Family Ruthensteiner gave the management to a team of their own staff. Having been part of the „Ruthi tribe“, as they call it, for years, the new owners are leading their project in the spirit of taking great care for their visitors.

It is still a home to many people from different nations, a place to make music, mingle, and to feel free in every sense.

4. Generations, food, and Music – it feels good

Since the beginning, this great accommodation is a lifestyle, feel-good hostel.

It is an everyday goal to let all guests feel at home. It may sounds like a cliché with hostels, but the accommodation is certainly one where it fits 100%.

Once you enter the hostel, you feel safe, welcomed.

We think there are several reasons for this cozy vibe, many hostels around the world are aiming for.

One is that the hostel crowd is a mix of every type of traveler and age. Young families, the typical backpackers, small groups, couples and solo-travelers; it’s a place where all ages and nationalities come together.

Another reason is music. The hostel invites musicians and bands to play at Hostel Ruthensteiner, and also for the guests to come up with casual, spontaneous jam sessions.

The shared lounge comes with different instruments for the guests to use. A piano, guitars, ukulele, djembé and more… they are always ready for a good jam session.

What about the staff? They will join you!

Lorenzo is one of the best percussionists in Vienna, Juan plays the drums in a Latin funk band and Stefan is a producer of mostly electronic music.

Music is the universal language, and it always brings people closer!

Once a week, the team invites you to a family dinner.

The staff cooks for and also with the guests. Tables are put together to create one, long community table, and the hostel vibes become ever more easy-going and laid-back.

5. Top-Rated family

Hostel Ruthensteiner was opened by people with a deep passion for traveling, and since the first day this has not changed.

Today, the staff welcomes you in several languages, but not just in a few words.

They speak German, English, Spanish, Russian, French, Chinese, Korean …

Surely, you won’t have any problem communicating with the Ruthensteiner Team.

Additionally, every single one in the team knows Vienna like the back of their hands. So ask them as many questions as possible on Vienna and surroundings.

They are your walking, multilingual guide books.

The most impressive part for us is a different one, though. At a lot of hostels, it is very common to have a high staff turnover. However, not so here.

The longest working employee at Hostel Ruthensteiner is for: 22 years!

Stefan, the manager, has also worked at the hostel since 2006.

Since 2015, the accommodation has hired volunteers for helping with the breakfast, organizing events, and social media. Some new volunteers also bring special skills to the table, such as photography and videography skills. Want to work in hostels? Check out Worldpackers.com

Here we wrote a big guiide on how to use Worldpackers.

The ratings on many booking platforms confirm our experience, and it’s inspiring to see how the team is always on top of the game.

Read: best hostel booking platforms—compared

So many ideas to improve the full hostel experience, numerous interesting upcoming projects – opened in 1968, the journey of Hostel Ruthensteiner continues—with art and passion.

Promo Code for Hostel Ruthensteiner

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