All eyes will be on Basel this month as it hosts the Eurovision Song Contest. But we discover it’s a great destination at any time.
Visitors and residents of Basel are going to enjoy one ‘massive party’ when the Eurovision circus rolls into town from 10 to 17 May. The city won the bid to host the event after Switzerland’s act Nemo was victorious last year – triggering a contest between destinations in the country.
Basel played up its location – positioned close to the German and French borders, it’s a truly cosmopolitan destination – and its desire to create a city-wide party. Tickets are sold out for the St Jakobshalle venue and nearby viewing area at the St Jakob-Park football stadium but there are lots of other ways to get involved.
“Across the city there will be concerts, Eurovision fan club nights and hopefully the biggest 60-plus disco party ever!” according to Maja Hartmann, head of media relations for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision celebrations aside, the truth is that the Swiss city makes a great destination all year round, as well as being the departure point for many Saga river cruises.
There was not a cruise ship in town when I visited, but I still managed to make it on to the Rhine. There is a traditional way to travel from Grossbasel (the main part of the medieval old city) to Kleinbasel and that’s by ferry.
The boat crosses using the currents alone, and the ferrymen and women who guide you are the descendants of the original boatmen.
From the boat, you can see the twin towers of the pink sandstone cathedral and the thin five- or six-storey houses that drop dramatically to the walls of the riverbank.
The heart of Grossbasel is well preserved, with streets of medieval white houses decorated with red or dark green shutters. There are narrow alleys and hidden staircases leading up from the Marktplatz, where the 16th-century red sandstone Rathaus, or city hall, is located.
In places, modernity intrudes. Steinenvorstadt, the hub for tourist nightlife, is lined with bars, but used to be lined with cinemas – giving it the nickname ‘Cinema Street’. It will be renamed Eurovision Street during the contest, and will transform into a huge fan zone leading to the Barfüsserplatz, or ‘Eurovision Square’, where there will be a stage and local acts performing.
In the Eurovision Village, in the Messe Basel (aka the ‘donut’), the exhibition centre designed by Herzog & de Meuron, this year’s acts will do meet and greets.
Close to the square is the Kunstmuseum, Europe’s oldest public art collection, with the modern art housed in a striking 2016 building. It is filled with treasures – works by Picasso, Monet, Munch and Warhol.
From here, it is a short walk to the St Alban Tal, a small district with a notable pink church and river running between houses. There was a tradition of paper production here but now it’s a place for a stroll and quiet reflection if the partying gets too much!
If art is your thing, there is no shortage of museums to visit in Basel. Wandering the streets, I kept finding beautiful murals painted on buildings, the most well-known being a wall of portraits of famous musicians.
It’s worth taking the tram to the outskirts and Fondation Beyeler. Exhibitions change but I was lucky enough to be there for Nordic Light, featuring works by Munch and other Scandinavian artists.
From there, you can follow 24 Stops, a 5km trail to the Vitra Design Museum in Germany. Artworks along the way encourage you to rest and take stock, as do interviews you can listen to on the accompanying app. You are even encouraged to hug a tree.
Everyone I talked to sucked in their breath when I said I was walking it, but it’s really not far and not too challenging, albeit easy to lose the path early on. For islanders like us, it remains a thrill to be able to stroll across a border.
Once you have visited the exhibitions (the mid-century modern chair display is impressive), a short walk takes you into Weil am Rhein, where Tram 8 whizzes you back to Basel. The transport here is so good, it’s like a dream.
After all that walking, I was in the mood for refreshments. Restaurants in the city can be expensive, but portions are large. Because of its location, there’s a choice of Swiss, French and Italian food as well as modern food halls, like Klara in Kleinbasel, with international cuisine.
For more on Basel, see myswitzerland.com. The BaselCard is free to hotel guests and provides free travel and discounted museum entry.
There are a multitude of wood-panelled pubs called ‘beizen’, like the Löwenzorn or the Hasenburg, which serve city favourites like fried liver, rosti and schnitzel. Close to my hotel, the Spalentor – next to the surviving 15th-century town gate of the same name – there was a small, cosy place called the Zum Tell, which gave a modern twist to more established dishes. Beer, of course, is delicious and plentiful, but I also enjoyed a glass of Riesling or two.
Visitors who tire of Swiss food can try the Volkshaus in Kleinbasel, a beautiful French brasserie with a large internal window overlooking a courtyard – again designed by Herzog & de Meuron. I was lucky enough to bag a seat on the banquette by said window to eat my moules frites.
There are plenty of more modern bars too, like the Blaupause or Alchemist cocktail bars. During Eurovision, the place will be heaving.
Normally, pubs in the centre have strict closing times due to residents, but these have been lifted for the event. It promises to be epic – and I am very envious of anyone who makes it there!
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