Car Hire Basel - Mini guide to Basel

The third-largest city in Switzerland, Basel stands on the Rhine at the point where the French, German, and Swiss borders meet. With over 27 museums Basel is truly a cultural utopia.

The Kunstmuseum, (Fine Arts Museum), is the oldest museum in Switzerland. This spectacular museum has painting collections by Van Gogh, Picasso, Chagall, Gaugin, Klee and more.

Other sites of interest in Basel include the Basler Zoologischer Garten and the Basel Cathedral. The Garten is one of the greatest zoos in the world, famous for breeding endangered animals in captivity. A 26-acre park in the middle of the city, this zoo houses 4,500 animals of 600 different species. The Cathedral, originally built in 1019 and subsequently destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in 1356, was designed in the Gothic style and has functioned as an Evangelical Reformed Church since 1529.

Cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and prosperous, Basel has numerous shops whose merchandise rival that found in much larger cities. And after shopping or walking around the city, Basel offers good restaurants and pubs.

Due to Basel’s position near the borders with France and Germany, the city offers interesting day trips by car into these countries. Nearby, in France, is the Vosges region, and just over the border into Germany is the famous Black Forest.

If you are flying into Basel you will actually land at the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg which is 5 miles over the border in France. This is no problem as there is frequent bus service from the airport to Basel. Though there are no flights from North America directly to Basel, there are frequent flights between Zurich and Basel. Zurich’s airport offers flights to and from cities around the globe.