April 22, 2025, 10:10 a.m. | Reading time: 7 minutes
Although Basel is hosting the ESC this year, travelers tend to ignore it. The city is not just an architectural highlight. Sunnytrips reveals why a trip there is worth it, and not just for the ESC.
With over 200,000 residents from almost 170 different nations, Basel is the third largest city in Switzerland after Zurich and Geneva. From May 11th to 17th, the St. Jakobshalle, where pop greats have given concerts and ATP tennis tournaments have been held, will be the main venue for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). With lots of exposed concrete, clear lines and an overhanging roof in the middle of the greenery on the southeastern edge of Basel, the building is an important example of 1970s brutalism in Switzerland.
Architectural highlights
Tallest building in Switzerland
Still a dirty image
You can swim in the Rhine today
Sponsoring by the pharmaceutical industry and banks
Further information for Basel holidaymakersArrival and local transportAccommodationThe current weatherTours/activitiesBasel on the map
Arrival and local transport
Stay overnight
The current weather
Tours/Activities
Basel on the map
Architectural highlights
But if you come to Basel with architect's glasses on, you will mark many other points on the city map in addition to the St. Jakobshalle. Because Basel is considered the architectural capital of Switzerland.
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City marketing is advertising with thirteen winners of the Pritzker Prize, a prestigious award for architects who have built in Basel or the surrounding area. Those interested in art and culture will also find a wide and varied museum landscape. Of course, this also includes the Swiss Architecture Museum.
Tallest building in Switzerland
The tallest building in Switzerland is not in Zurich or the “federal city”, i.e. capital Bern, but in the city on the Rhine. Roche Tower 2, a double-tower office building for a pharmaceutical company, built in 2022, is 205 meters tall and replaced the first Roche tower as the record holder three years ago.
The building was designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron. It is located just a few meters from the promenade on the banks of the Rhine, in the immediate vicinity of the old workers' settlements.
Industry, art and architecture are inextricably linked in Basel. The Tinguely Museum, designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta, is located next to the Roche headquarters. This is what the people of Basel call the pharmaceutical giant Roche, which also runs the museum.
The house is named after Jean Tinguely, the Basel artist who created huge machine sculptures out of scrap metal. Their sole purpose is to have no purpose. It's worth taking a look inside.
Still a dirty image
The premises of Roche's competitor Novartis, also based in Basel, with its office and laboratory buildings reads like a who's who of international architecture. In addition to Herzog & de Meuron, Frank Gehry, Richard Serra and Sanaa are represented there.
But the industry also plays a part in the fact that Basel's image is still rather dingy. The history as a location for the textile, paint and chemical industries is long, and the economy is still present. People still associate Basel with gray winding motorways and smoking chimneys. Many holidaymakers find it easy to simply jet on towards Italy on their way south.
You can swim in the Rhine today
But the Rhine is now so clean that you can swim in it without hesitation. The water quality is checked regularly in three different places during the bathing season, says Yves Parrat. “The measurements show that you can cool off in the Rhine without hesitation if the water is clear,” emphasizes the cantonal chemist from the health department of Basel-Stadt.
There are several designated swimming zones, one of them at the Tinguely Museum, and Rhine baths. You can borrow waterproof bags for free from the tourist information office at Barfüsserplatz if you want to float in the river.
Anyone who visits the city center for the first time will be surprised by the medieval flair around Marktplatz and Barfüsserplatz. The Basel government and parliament meet in the red town hall, which is an eye-catcher with its facade painting. From the terrace of the nearby Münster, the view of the river and Kleinbasel on the right bank of the Rhine is wonderful. Here the Rhine makes its famous bend east towards Lake Constance.
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Sponsoring by the pharmaceutical industry and banks
The Basel Historical Museum is also housed in the Barfüsserkirche on the cathedral hill. This sheds light on the city's identity from a cultural and historical perspective. It lies at the intersection of Switzerland, Germany and France.
The art museum is downright opulent and just a few minutes' walk away. It consists of an old building and a new building connected to it underground, which is said to have cost 100 million Swiss francs. From the old masters like Holbein, Rembrandt and Rubens to classical modernism with Gauguin, van Gogh, Pablo Picasso to Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, they all hang there. And this is only possible with sponsorship from the pharmaceutical industry and banks.
But of course they are also served in Basel, the industrial romantics. To do this, you have to go to the Dreispitz area, which is a little outside. The customs warehouse for Basel industry was once located there.
Today, a colorful mix of studios, universities, architectural offices and museums has settled between the aging factory buildings and disused tracks. These include the House of Electronic Arts, which deals with the social impact of new media and digital art forms. Or the Kunsthaus Baselland for contemporary art, which opened in 2024. Anyone who just rushes past Basel on the motorway will have no idea about any of this.
Further information for Basel holidaymakers
Arrival and local transport
Basel can be reached by ICE. By car to Basel it takes around nine hours from Berlin, five hours from Cologne and three hours from Stuttgart. When you book an overnight stay, you receive the Baselcard, which entitles you to free travel by bus and tram. This means you can get to museums for half the price of admission.
Stay overnight
Accommodation: The Youth Hostel Basel is located on the edge of the old town and also offers double and family rooms. With the German youth hostel card you save a few francs. The boutique hotel “Volkshaus Basel” was designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron; The “Arthouse Basel” was created based on a design by Basel-based Diener & Diener Architects. The “Hotel D” is slightly cheaper in price and is conveniently located near the Rhine between Kleinbasel and Großbasel.
The current weather
Tours/Activities
Roche offers free tower tours through Basel Tourism. A Novartis campus tour costs 28 francs. Basel Tourism provides an overview of the museums in Basel and the surrounding area on its website. Savings tip: Many Basel museums do not charge admission on the first Sunday of each month (does not apply to special exhibitions).
Basel on the map
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