Two or Three Days in Basel?

There is someone on these forums that lives in Basel and I hope he'll chime in. We just got back from a Rhine River Xmas market cruise a few weeks ago and we flew in 2 nights early. I think that would be plenty . . . maybe add a couple nights to the end of your cruise depending where it ends. All we did in Basel were the Xmas Markets . . . but just walking around the downtown, that was plenty of time. There is a great hop on/hop off bus. For us, Basel was just the beginning of our cruise, the town itself wasn't 'awe-inspiring' like EVERY stop we made along the Rhine. The Xmas Markets were ok in Basel, but NOT the best we saw by any means- although the food was great.

If we weren't recouping from a bad flight, we would have loved to have gone to Lucern. That would be the only reason to go for 3 days for me.

I'd rent a car and head for the Alps, They roll up the sidewalks at dark in Basel and Zurich.

t

Ellen, Basel is not cheap. The absolute base price for a hotel is CHF 100/night, CHF 150-200 is more realistic for a double room, except if a major trade fair is on, when it is telephone numbers.
I suggest you browse the official Basel tourist site: https://www.basel.com/en This will give you hotels and things to see.
There are a lot of good museums, starting with the Kunstmuseum (fine art) and the Fondation Beyeler (modern art, more Picassos per square metre than anywhere else).
Basel is a city for wandering and looking at the street scene. Starting at the "Marktplatz" with the red town hall: http://pher.ch/photos/landscapes.ch/switzerland/Basel,%20Marktplatz.jpg
And the Münsterplatz with the Münster (cathedral): http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/705494.jpg
And the views across the Rhine: http://www.swissmarketingspain.com/wp-content/uploads/Panorama-del-Rin-1-2.jpg
It is a very well preserved city, where you can look round the back streets and ask "WTF century am I in".

Thank you all very much. I'm thinking two days of wandering and museums.

Is there anything within an hour or so train ride that we should do?

Is there anything within an hour or so train ride that we should do?

• Luzern, but if you are coming from the Alps, you probably have that covered.
• Colmar (lots of posts about it on this Forum)
• Freiburg im Breisgau (not to be confused with the Freiburg in Switzerland). ~55 mins. by slow train, or ~20 mins. by faster more expensive ICE.

All the above are full day trips. I could do a much longer list if you just want a bit of green outside the city for a few hours.

Rheinfelden.

With the bad weather possible in mid-November be flexible.

If your hotel stay is in Basel the buses and trams are free.

Bad Säckingen for a few hours.
Google it. then click on "Images". Old town that ticks all the German stereotypes, plus a wooden bridge better than Luzern. Quote (from my then 10-year-old niece) "Uncle, is this place real?". Two trains per hour.