Mentions of Switzerland are normally followed up by conversations around how costly the country is. Wrong – Basel on a budget is wholly achievable, as I recently found.
Basel is cool, calm and collected – a laidback city that’s effortlessly composed and compact enough to make it manageable over a long weekend. It’s the ideal destination for anyone looking for a mix of accessible culture and outstanding cuisine. If you’ve not previously thought about a trip to Switzerland’s third city, add it to the list – you’ll not be disappointed.
And Basel on a budget is wholly achievable, partly as you’ll get free public transport thanks to Basel Card, which is given to every tourist when they book into their accommodation. The card also gives very sizable discounts on entrance fees to a number of world class museums and galleries. Quids in already!
Being able to jump on and off of trams without having to worry was truly liberating and made my stay a whole lot easier than I’d anticipated. My hotel, the ibis Basel Bahnhof, was on Tram Line 2, which was ideal as it got me into the old town in a matter of minutes.
It was also just down the road from VITO Gundeli, a truly amazing pizza parlour. Locals queue down the street for takeaways but I chose to eat in – boy, was it good! And just across the road from the hotel is Mum’s Kitchen, a great Vietnamese restaurant.
The art of the matter
My first port of call was the Kunstmuseum Basel, one of the two main reasons for my visit. Handily situated on Line 2, it made an ideal start to my stay. Its collections of medieval and Renaissance art, as well as works from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, inhabit the second floor, while European post-war modernism fills the third.
The special exhibition by Dan Flavin, ‘Dedications in Lights’, was a colourful spectacle, but the real joy lurked in the basement – a collection of truly breathtaking Japanese colour woodblock prints by Hiroshige, Kunisada and Hokusai.
I also visited the Fondation Beyeler – a two tram journey – which contained so many amazing works of art it was impossible to take it all in, in one go. It isn’t an especially large space but the array of works by Francis Bacon, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Georges Seurat and Andy Warhol, amongst others, was more than enough to make me catch my breath.
A special exhibition, which consisted of massive photos by the Canadian artist Jeff Wall, was equally arresting. Many of his images – mostly back-lit – fizzed with movement and story telling. I’d never seen any of his work before and it was therefore a double pleasure to encounter these intricately posed tableaus.
Markthalle – a must visit
One of my greatest finds was a small but perfectly formed food hall, slap in the centre of town. If this was local to me I’d be there every night.
Markthalle hummed with people having fun, eating from the various pop-ups and drinking from a range of bars. It was quality throughout, although I developed a soft spot for Bierrevier, a seller of some of the finest beers I’ve ever had the good fortune to sup. Pints of perfection, albeit not cheap… but worth every penny, in my humble opinion. Great staff, too.
I visited two more museums and another gallery stop before my stay was over. I can’t say much in praise of the Museum of Cultures Basel – an ethnographic collection of very little interest. What was there was okay but it felt like all the big exhibits had been spirited away.
The Naturhistorisches Museum Basel was a lot more fun – dinosaurs, a mammoth and exhibition about the evolution of procreations called ‘Sexy’, which included a racing game to see who could get their sperm to fertilise the egg first, were great.
It felt a little too compact at times but the best bits were good fun.
A phenomenal visual experience
I think I accidentally saved the best to last. Back at the Kunstmuseum I encountered the work of the black, female, American photographer Carrie Mae Weems.
Her ‘The Evidence of Things Not Seen’ exhibition was politics in picture – often hugely personal, always nuanced and regularly thought-provoking.
It reeled me in, image by image – a phenomenal visual experience that will stay long in my mind. I must get a book about her work.
And with that it was over – my time had come to an end. But what a truly great weekend I’d had. Great art, fine food and some exception beers, plus free transport – if that’s also your idea of glorious perfection then book your fights and sample the best of Basel.
