Freiburg or Basel
 

We're planning a trip around southern Germany in May, and wouldn't mind checking out Basel, as it's included in the German rail pass. Would it be better to stay in Basel, or stay in Freiburg and day trip to Basel? Or are either towns worth including on our itinerary at all? Other places we are visiting are Koblenz, Lake Constance, Munich, Salzburg, and maybe Rothenburg.

Basel is much larger than Freiburg. It also has more interesting museums in the immediate area. The Fondation Beyeler is a must for modern art. It's structure should be contrasted to the Vitra Chair Museum on the German side of the border.

In terms of charm, quaint Freiburg IMO has more to offer and yet there's no heavy tourist crowd, so it still feels like a comfortable normal town.

Basel does have some significant cultural & art museums even though it's not a big interenational tourist city (except for congress/conferences). It has some old city buildings & towers just like Freiburg, but the larger size makes them less noticeable.

The town of Freiburg is more beautiful than Basel, but Basel has more museums.

http://www.freiburg.de/servlet/PB/me..._l2/index.html
http://www.museenbasel.ch/

The train from Freiburg to Basel takes 35min, so it does not matter very much where to stay.

From Freiburg, you may take the scenic train (Höllentalbahn) up into the Black Forest (1 hour from Freiburg to Schluchsee) to explore some of this area.

First of all, you did not tell us how much time you have - could well be that you better add another day or two to the other places in spite of going to Freiburg/Basel.

On the other hand, Basel would be a nice change. It's Switzerland, after all! Yes, Freiburg has more charm,is quainter, but to be honest, I was more impressed with Basel than Freiburg regarding architecture/art.

Freiburg was bombed in WWII and has been partially rebuilt. The structure of the old town remained, but quite many houses were rebuilt in more modern style.

Basel, on the other hand, has some very old, very beautiful old townhouses - entire quarters in the old town are perfectly preserved.

And I love the chocolate in Basel ... Schiesser at the market square e.g. has such delicious pralines ;-)

Ingo

While I would love to include either one, I've now come to the conclusion that we don't have time. But this information is great, and there's a good possibility I may end up doing the Black Forest/Basel at some point in the future.
Thanks for everyone's info!