2 Days in Basel Switzerland
There are many things to see and do in the city of Basel located in the northwest corner of Switzerland! I visited this scenic town in early December for the first time. It’s especially nice to see Basel at Christmastime as there are many wonderful decorations and Christmas markets! Here are my tips on what to do if you have 2 Days in Basel Switzerland.
Basel sits on the Rhine river and is known for its beautiful Old Town, modern architecture, and the most museums in all of Switzerland. For this reason, Basel is widely regarded as Switzerland’s cultural capital.
Ferries
You can easily explore Basel on foot or by bike. There are four Rhine ferries that connect the areas of Grossbasel with Kleinbasel. These motorless ferries are fascinating to watch and for only 2 Swiss francs, you can take the short ride across the river. Each ferry is attached to a long wire cable and are guided purely by the current of the Rhine. We took the ferry called ‘Wild Maa’ next to St. Alban. It offered great views of Basel’s skyscrapers!
Roche Towers
The Basel Roche Tower II is the highest building in Switzerland at 205 meters high and was completed in 2020. The Roche I building is the second highest in the country at 178 meters and was completed in 2015. They appear as a stark contrast to the historic old buildings but are interesting nonetheless.
Tinguely Fountain
One of the interesting things to see in Basel is the famous Tinguely fountain. It was designed by Jean Tinguely, a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines.
Christmas Markets
One of the main reasons we chose to visit Basel in December was to see Basel’s Christmas markets. Two markets located on Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz are considered as the most beautiful and largest in Switzerland. There are a total of 155 stands where local crafts and food are sold.
The markets are fun to visit during the day as well as night when they light up with all the decorations. To stay warm while carousing through the markets, you must try the hot wine (called Glühwein) which is prepared from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, star aniseed, orange, sugar and at times vanilla pods. You can also have it with white wine and different alcohol such as rum or whiskey. It’s delicious!
Another specialty to try is a fondue dog. It’s a crunchy, fresh bread, filled with a tasty fondue cheese. You can get it with or without the meat hotdog inside. We shared one and loved it. Other food specialties you can find include waffles, genuine Basel Läckerli (a kind of gingerbread), delicious Swiss raclette or the popular grilled sausages.
The Christmas market is generally open daily from late November to December 23rd from 11:00 am to 8:30 pm. You will experience crowds on the weekends, especially later in the day. If you’re lucky, there will be a covering of snow like we had!
The Münsterplatz market is the bigger of the two and is situated next to the historic cathedral built between 1019 and 1500.
Pfalz Lookout and Mittler Bridge
Behind the cathedral is a great lookout point called Pfalz. Here you will see more of the city and the Rhine river. Don’t miss a walk through Old Town down to the Mittlere Bruke (bridge). They decorate it with glistening hanging lights at the holiday time.
You will find unique outdoor restaurants set up like the one below where you can have a meal inside a ski lift gondola. I wish we had reserved one of these as it looked like a cool experience.
One place not to miss while visiting Basel at any time of the year is the City Hall (called Rathaus). This unique red brick building is home to the Basel government and parliament and was built between 1504 and 1513.
City Hall
Walking inside the small courtyard of the building was a highlight to see the huge Christmas tree and light display on the facade.
One of the must-do activities in Basel is to visit the three city gates. We went to two of them while walking all over the city. The Spalentor (Gate of Spalen) is the most magnificent and impressive of the three gates dating from 1400.
City Gates
The St. Alban city gate shown below is located next to the Rhine and in a quaint neighborhood known for being an upscale residential district dotted with villas and Gothic and baroque merchants’ houses. It is also the are where the Basel Paper Mill was located and produced paper for more than 500 years. Today you will find an interesting museum to learn about the history of the paper mill.
One of the off-the-beaten-path places we visited was the Basel Messe tram station. I had seen pictures of the unique building and wanted to see it in person. We just took a few pictures of the rounded sculpture with a hole opening to the sky. It was very unique!
Messe Sculpture
In summary, I found Basel to be a delightful city worth exploring for two days. I’d like to go back in summertime now. Below is a city map showing in yellow the areas we walked.
If you liked this blog post about Christmas markets, you may want to check out my post on the Montreux Christmas Market in Switzerland as well as the Vienna Austria Christmas Markets.
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