Yesterday morning I just returned from by first trip to Switzerland. This city trip was decided as usual last-minute. The flight tickets weren’t expensive, but maybe for the hotel would be a better option to plan in advance. For the flight and hotel for one person I paid around 250 euro for four nights.
Once I booked a hotel in Basel, I received for the entire trip the Basel Card, which offers free transportation in Basel and surroundings, free wifi in the city center and 50% for some museums and activities in Basel.
On the arrival day, I didn’t know that the ride to the city center is also for free if I would show the hotel reservation. From the airport bus 50 takes the tourists directly at the central station. It took about 30 minutes.
The city is amazing, completely different than what I saw before and probably also the weather helped a lot. It was sunny, warm, just perfect to explore.
There are so many fountains in this city and if you are lucky, you can find some hidden places like this one:
The town hall was hard to overlook and the entrance in the courtyard is free:
Another highlight of the city is the Minster:
The view from the graveyard over Rhein is breathtaking:
The towers can be visited and the fee per person is 5 Franken. The climb was … interesting. The stairwell was very tight, allowing maximum one person.
The zoo in Basel was very crowded, the entrance with the Basel Card was 11 Franken (with some Nature Protection fee that one can ask not to pay) and it kept us occupied for about four hours.
I am not a fan of zoos, but the animals were cute.
Another place that is interesting about Basel is its position between three lands: Switzerland, Germany and France. Within a day, I was in three different countries. The position close to Germany is also good for cheaper shopping and food possibilities, a shopping center in Germany is 20 minutes by tram (number 8) from the city center. For example: A meal at McDonalds in Weil am Rhein was 7,5 euro and in Basel the same meal was around 15 euro. In the shopping center there were many other places to eat.
Coming back to Basel: very nice to see is the Dreiländereck and the view to the bridge between France and Germany:
The city has many small and beautiful streets, it was very nice to just get lost:
I can’t wait to go to Zürich in October!!