Weekend in Basel

Posted by Anura Samara, 3 November 2014

Basel is literally in one corner of Switzerland, where Switzerland, Germany and France meet. So clearly the attraction is being able to visit three countries in one day!

So we hired a car for the weekend and headed north-ish, stopping at Avenches on the way to see the Roman ruins.

Basel itself is large and busy, and comes the closest to the feel of other European cities compared to other places in Switzerland we’ve visited. It might have been busier as there was a large festival on, with rides in different parts of the city and lots of street stalls. Our hotel was right on the river front which meant negotiating our way through the city streets, complete with trams.

We had almost the perfect view from our room – across the river and looking towards the old town with the cathedral and ferris wheel dominating the skyline. So of course, that’s where we headed for on foot – all of the narrow streets, open squares and old buildings in an old town. There was definitely a party atmosphere – with lots of Christmas stalls, rides, music and more. And one street back, on what looked like a main shopping district, it was equally busy.

Instead of driving straight home on Sunday, we decided to head into Germany. We ended up in Freiburg which is on the edge of the Black Forest. Unfortunately, it was hard to get a sense of this city as so much of it was closed. Even finding somewhere to eat was hard. We drove to the top of the hill behind the city for the views, and then realised we had a problem – no maps. We’re so used to just relying on our phones that we had completely forgotten that once out of Swiss network coverage we had no maps. And the main direction signs are in a different colour in Germany, so it took a while to figure out how to leave the city.

Once we were out on the highway, we decided to cross the river to drive some of the way in France – yes, three countries in one day. We really only skirted the outskirts of Mulhouse – the outer industrial suburbs never do justice to a place – before following the signs back to Basel. Again, with no maps we felt it was safest to just head there even though we felt sure there was a cross country route back to Geneva.

Categories: Switzerland

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