Basel Travel Guide

Basel, Switzerland — Travel Tips

Getting There By Air

EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse Freiburg (MLH)
Tel: (061) 325 3111.
Website: www.euroairport.com

Basel's international airport is located just 6km (4 miles) to the west of the city center. In the terminal building there are newsagents and duty-free shops as well as cafés, bars and a restaurant. ATMs, currency exchange and Internet access are also available.

Regular bus services connect the airport and Basel's city center. Bus 50, operated by Basel Bus Company (tel: (061) 685 1414; www.bvb.ch), runs frequently between the airport and Basel central railway station (Basel SBB). Airport Taxi (tel: (061) 325 2700) and Taxi am EuroAirport (tel: (061) 325 2900) are among taxi companies operating at the airport.

Getting There By Road

Basel is an important European motorway junction with direct road connections to the rest of Switzerland and to France and Germany. The A1 heads southwest to Bern, the A2 leads south to Lucerne, the A3 east to Zurich, the A35 northwest towards Mulhouse in France and the A5 north towards Freiburg in Germany, to mention just some of the motorways connecting with Basel.
There are two motoring associations in Switzerland. These are Touring Club Suisse (TCS) (tel: 0844 888 111; www.tcs.ch) and Automobil Club der Schweiz (ACS) (tel: (031) 328 3111; www.acs.ch).

Emergency breakdown services
TCS/ACS (tel: 140).

Getting There By Rail

Switzerland has the most efficient railway network in the world, with plenty of intercity trains. Basel has three rail stations, linking the city with the rest of Switzerland and all parts of Europe.
The Basel SBB (tel: 0900 300 300; www.sbb.ch) and Saint Louis SNCF (tel: (051) 229 3403; www.sncf.ch) stations are located next to each other in the city center south of the Rhine and serve trains to and from destinations in Switzerland and France respectively. The DB (tel: (061) 690 1215; www.bahn.de) station, called Basel Badischer Bahnhof, lies north of the river and primarily serves destinations in Germany. The easiest way to move from the Swiss and French stations to the German station is to take tram 2.

Getting Around in Basel, Switzerland

Public Transport

Like most Swiss cities Basel has an excellent public transport network that operates frequent and reliable services throughout the urban and suburban areas. Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) (tel: (061) 685 1414; www.bvb.ch) operates the city's many trams and buses. There are 15 tramlines and numerous bus lines, most operating every 6-7 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes late in the evening (although some lines only operate at rush hour). Day cards and two-, three-, four- and seven-day tickets are available.

As a supplement to the public transport network there are four ferries crossing the Rhine between the city's bridges. They are operated by the Basel Ferry Association (tel: (061) 692 7173; www.faehri.ch), and they travel across the river without a motor, propelled only by the force of the current.

Taxis

There are several taxi companies in Basel, and it is never hard to get hold of a taxi. Companies include Taxi Zentrale AG (tel: (061) 222 2222), 33er taxi AG (tel: (061) 333 3333) and Taxiphon-Genossenschaft Basel (tel: (061) 444 4444).

Car Hire

Car hire is available from Avis (tel: (061) 325 2840; www.avis.ch), Europcar (tel: (061) 325 2903/4; www.europcar.ch), Hertz (tel: (061) 325 2780; www.hertz.ch), Alamo (tel: (061) 325 1743; www.alamo.ch) and Sixt (tel: (061) 325 1540/1; www.sixt.ch).