Due to a sudden change of plan to my itinerary, I had a quick 2 night (1 full day) flying visit to Basel, Switzerland. I arrived later than planned due to an unfortunate situation at Basel Airport which caused a lot of delays.
On arrival at the airport, you get stamped through border control before collecting your bags. Make sure to exit into the correct country as Basel Airport sits on the border of Switzerland and France. My hostel (I stayed at Hyve Hostel) was about 20 minutes away by bus and thankfully, they provide every guest with a Basel Card (I’ll explain more about this later) so transport was free. I arrived at my hostel which was a 2 minute walk from Basel SBB (the main train station) and after checking in, I settled into my dorm room for the night.
As I only had one full day, this blog will give you an idea of what you can do if you have a day trip or, like me, one full day in Basel.
Starting the new day, I walked to the train station and got some snacks for the day. I then got the tram (right in front of the station) to the Tinguely Fountain which was where I was to meet the city sightseeing tour bus. The Tinguely Fountain was really interesting – it is a mechanical water fountain built in the 1970’s on the site of the old city theatre and the figures within the fountain are designed to look like performers. There’s a couple of museums nearby if you are interested in visiting them. I spent around an hour walking around the area and admiring the fountain.
The sightseeing tour began at 11am and took us around the new and old city of Basel. I was really glad it was a bus tour I had booked because the weather was not the best (pretty chilly and raining). While taking us through the city, there was a focus on the architecture and the historical figures of Basel. It was really interesting and a great way to see the city in just a couple of hours (the tour finished just after 1pm). On the tour, we had a couple of stops – the best stop was to visit the sail/propellor-like statue that marks the triple border of Switzerland, France and Germany (pretty awesome to say I technically walked through 3 countries in under a minute). After the tour, I went back to one of the stops to take more photos and take in views of the river.
I then got the tram to Zoo Basel and amazingly, the sun came out and it became quite warm. The zoo was fantastic! They had an aquarium, petting zoo and various inside areas for animals. The enclosures were large and well thought out. The zoo itself was huge and you definitely needed the zoo map to find your way around (it’s a little bit like a maze in some places). My favourite spots in the zoo were the aquarium (obviously), the snow leopards enclosure and the hippo house. I spent about 2.5 hours walking around the zoo.
So there we go, a flying visit to Basel in Switzerland. A sweet city that I wish I had had more time to explore. The city sightseeing tour and Basel zoo were so worth it considering this trip was very last minute and I had no idea what I could do in Basel before arriving.
The Basel Card
The Basel Card is so worth getting – I think most hostels/hotels provide this to their guests for the duration of their stay. It allows free transport across the city and also gives you discounted on various activities. The sightseeing tour and entry to Basel Zoo were both half price with the Basel Card, costing €12 and €11 respectively.
Considering I was never meant to go to Basel, I actually had a great time and really enjoyed exploring the city. I only had one full day and as I hadn’t planned on going here originally, I had no plans and wasn’t even sure what to do here. I do wish I’d had more time in Basel so I could have explored more of it.
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