Two of us are traveling to Basel for 3 days 23-26 November. Where’s a good choice of accommodations in the old town pedestrian area? We’d like a low rise that has breakfast included. Twin beds, elevator preferred but not necessary if it’s a low floor.
Will Christmas Markets be set up at that time?
What’s the best way to get from the airport to old town Basel?
Thank you!!
I was in Basel last month and it’s super easy to get to from the Zurich airport. The train station is right in the airport complex so easy to get to. There are ticket machines where you can buy your tickets and train employees nearby if you need assistance. Some of the train routes will require you to change trains at the Zurich main train station or there are some that go direct to Basel with no change. I suggest you download the SBB app on your phone. That way, you can see all the different routes and which ones require a change.
There are multiple train stations in Basel. You will want Basel SBB. Directly in front of the train station is where you will find buses and trams that you can use to get to the old town.
If you don’t have to be in the old town, we stayed at a great hotel right across from the train station—Hotel Schweizerhof Basel.
https://www.schweizerhof-basel.ch/en/
The staff was so helpful and the breakfast was fabulous. The hotel has an elevator. We loved the location because it was so easy to get to. And the trams are right outside so we could easily get to the old town in a matter of minutes. The hotel provides a transportation card so there was no need to buy tram tickets.
I looked on-line and it looks like the Basel Christmas markets are Nov. 25 – Dec. 23rd. Basel is super close to Freiburg, Germany and it looks like that market starts a little earlier on Nov. 18th. You are also close to Colmar and Strasbourg, France but it looks like those markets open later on Nov. 26th.
Looking at the Altstadt area on Google map, the only hotel I see close by is Hotel Märthof:
https://www.hotel-maerthof-basel.ch/en.html
It gets excellent reviews on Booking.com, and looks to be more like what you are looking for than the next-closest Hotel Basel:
To get there from the airport, you would likely need to take the train the SBB station, then tram from there, as explained above. It would be more convenient to stay near the train station (a nice area, not seedy like in some cities) and walk or take the tram to the Altstadt for the markets, etc. without your luggage in tow. There are numerous nice hotels right in front of the station. We stayed at Hotel Gaia, which was small and quite nice, but next time I would choose Hotel Euler for the location (across from a park and a bit quieter.)
Now I am curious about Hotel Maerthof, which indeed looks charming, and checked their rooms and prices. Both the Superior and “signature” rooms offer twin-bedded rooms. Price with breakfast for your nights in November is 244 CHF for theSuperior and 264 CHF for the Signature rooms. But you need to look very carefully at the bathroom arrangements—-check the floor plans they show. The Superior rooms have “bathroom and sleeping area for a stylish unit”, meaning the shower area offers little privacy from the rest of the room (toilet is in a separate private compartment). The Signature room appears to be similar, but there is bit more separation between the shower and the bed.
I noticed this trend toward “open” rooms, with shower open to the bedroom, in other Basel hotels when I was looking for one, and rejected some that otherwise looked very nice on that basis.
Hotel Euler Double Deluxe rooms (with more traditional separate bathroom) offers twin-bedded rooms for 220 CHF a night with breakfast.
All rates I quoted are the flexible rate, not the lower non-refundable pay-in-advance rate.
Thank you for your responses. I’ve never heard of a hotel w a shower open to the room. We don’t want to be needing to leave the room in order for the other to take a shower! Now I’m really worried about where to stay. I booked the Hotel Basel, but I might need to check this out further.
Did you look carefully at the photos and the floor plans they show? I may have made it sound worse than it is. From the shower, one steps out into the area by the sink, in a sort of alcove that is separated from the bed by a wall 3 or 4 feet deep. It would be possible to maintain privacy for the shower as long as the travel partner stays in the sitting area of the room, especially in the larger Signature room.
Location and “charm-wise”, the hotel seems to fit your wishes better than the larger Hotel Basel.
Thank you!!
