The quality campsiteRheinwiesen (052/659 33 00; May–Sept) is on the south bank of the river at Langwiesen, 2km southeast of the centre. Dorms cost Fr.23 in the modern HI hostel at Randenstrasse 65, in the suburb of Breite, 1km northwest of the station (052/625 88 00, fax 624 59 54; a; March–Oct; bike rental available), or you can spend the same for dorms in another, older HI hostel in Schloss Laufen, a castle overlooking the Rhine falls 3km west of town (052/659 61 52, fax 659 60 39; a; mid-March to mid-Nov).

There’s not a big choice of hotels in the centre, and the best budget deals are to be found in surrounding suburbs. The least expensive is the comfortable old guesthouse Löwen, at Im Hösli 2 in Herblingen, 3km north of the centre and reachable on bus #5 (052/643 22 08; b), although its rooms are all modern and renovated. In the centre of run-of-the-mill Neuhausen, ten minutes’ walk from both Schaffhausen and the Rhine falls, you’ll find the Edelweiss, Pestalozzistrasse 20 (052/672 34 34, fax 672 34 35; b), and the Rheinfall, Zentralstrasse 60 (052/672 13 21, fax 672 14 29; b), both of them simple and serviceable. On the edge of Schaffhausen’s Old Town is Park Villa, Parkstrasse 18 (052/625 27 37, fax 624 12 53; b–c), an atmospheric old mansion complete with chandeliers and Persian carpets: one lovely shared-bath room which opens onto the garden can undercut the other, en-suite rooms by Fr.40 or more. The central Kronenhof, Kirchhofplatz 7 (052/625 66 31, fax 624 45 89; c), has slick business-class rooms, but Schaffhausen’s most characterful choice is the Fischerzunft, Rheinquai 8 (052/625 32 81, fax 625 32 85; d), a super-modern hotel on the riverfront with just ten rooms – not all with Rhine views.