Basel, an underrated Switzerland tourist destination
Basel
Today we’ll be talking about a Swiss tourist destination that, unfortunately not many have heard of, the city of Basel.
Situated at a distance of fifty-three miles of Zürich and sixty-one of Bern, Basel is the country’s third-largest city as well as its most underrated tourist destination, and there are no real reasons why this should be so as you’ll see in the following article.
Let’s start with its location, Basel stands on the Rhine and borders the French Vosges, the German Black Forest and the Jura Mountains, so just the setting should be enough for many people to want to visit here, but that’s just the beginning. Due to its location, the city is split in two, alongside the banks of the Rhine, the two parts being linked with each other by six bridges as well as ferries.
The city has a very long history, starting life as a Roman fort named Basilia, in 374 A.D; thanks to its location and the fact that since 1225 it had the only bridge to span the Rhine for centuries to come, Basel found itself part of many important and interesting historic events.
Modern-day Basel is a cosmopolitan city thanks to its university and industry as well as its proximity to the German and French borders, however it also features a beautiful medieval old town center, a Carnival that is only beaten in grandeur by those of Venice and Rio, as well as many top notch museums – all twenty-seven of them – all of which are surrounded or housed in wonderful variety of rich architectural styles.
The ‘old town’ attractions can be found in the walkable area between the Basel Zoo – yet another attraction – and the Rhine.
Probably the first thing that you’ll see while in the old town is the Munsterplatz or Cathedral square, the Munster (Cathedral) was built between 1019 and 1500 in Romanesque and Gothic styles. The square itself is also lined with many other medieval buildings which are worth a see and visit as well.
The city is also well known in the art collector circles as being something of an international marketplace for art and antiquities, however all of these manage to coexist with modern industries, such as the chemical and pharmaceutical industry and the banking industry.
These are obviously only a very few of the many more things that Basel has to offer, hopefully they will make you look into this destination in more detail and decide to eventually visit there.
