My friend and I are interested in visiting Switzerland next Sept/October in conjunction with a trip to Oktoberfest.

Has anyone visited Basel before? If so, would you recommend it, or advise us to see Zurich or Geneva instead? Please advise.

>Has anyone visited Basel before?
I think so.

Aren't you clever, logos?

Now maybe someone can answer Kylie's question.

I haven't been to Basel, but I have been to Geneva and Zurich. Neither one was my favorite place ever, but Switzerland is really better for its countryside than for its cities. Of Geneva and Zurich, I much preferred Zurich. Zurich has good shopping and some good old world flavor. It's also close to Lucerne, which is quite lovely.

People here seem to like towns on Lake Geneva like Vevey and Lausanne and Montreux, but not Geneva itself.

Basel probably isn't what you think of when you think of Switzerland. It isn't in the mountains. So, if you're thinking about Switzerland because you want to see the mountains, and maybe a city with nice mountain views, Basel won't do it for you.

Basel has some good museums and art, both in the city and in the suburbs, but primarily people go there for conferences and congresses. Having been to both, between Zurich and Basel I would choose Zurich for a few days for leisure travel.

Basel is very nice.

The University and music are well known in Europe. The Art Museum is not huge but excellent. The Munster ( the oldest church ) has an interesting history and it is also well located for an old town walking tour by the old town walls and fountains .

The Rhein boats across the River to Klein Basel are fun.

There are near-by Roman ruins, the townhall and related marketplace are often very active ( not just fasnacht ).

The train stations provide excellent connections thru all of Europe.

and there is more...

I spent three days in Basel last year. It was february, so temperature was low, as expected.
We liked Basel, although we didn't fall in love with it.
I liked very much the Bayeler Foundation, a contemporary art museum that combines western contemporary classic paintings (Picasso...) with primitive African and Asian sculptures. In fact, it is out of Basel, but you can reach it easily by public transport. By the way, if you are staying at a Basel hotel, you will be given a free public transport card for the whole of your stay. Bear in mind that it is good for the airport bus also.
Another thing that we enjoyed in Basel was Spalentor (Spalen Gate). It was beautiful, and most of all we loved the location: so nice old streets!
Tinguely fountain at... theaterplatz? was funny and interesting.

We did a daytrip to Bern, which has a old town area awarded by UNESCO. A lot of colourful fountains, a lovely rathaus (town hall) and the very modern Paul Klee Museum (I think it was built a couple of years ago). There is a church next to railway station which is worth a inside visit (I can't remember the name)... so theatrical! Bern is less than an hour far from Basel by train and Luzern, more or less the same. We bought the best chocolates we have ever had in Bern (I might look for the shop's name, if you are interested).
Some Spaniard fellows which we met at the hotel did a daytrip to Strasbourg (France) and they loved it very much. It was about an hour and a half by train...
I haven't been at Zurich or Geneva, but I have friends who have made a whole Switzerland tour and they told me that Geneva was the less interesting of the places they had visited (not that it was bad, but they liked all the rest better)

My husband and I visited Basel last Oct. It was okay, certainly not what I expected a city in Switzerland to look like. It wasn't really dirty, but not a clean city. There were some pretty views but unless you have a particular reason to go there, I wouldn't go out of my way, I think there are much nicer cities.
We went primarily for the art museums. The Museum Jean Tinguely was excellent and because of the size and the mechanics of his work, it's hard to see a lot of it anywhere but at that museum.
We also visited the Kunstmuseum, which was a bit boring but they had a Klandisky that was supposed to include just about everything the man ever set a brush to.
I do regret not going to the Beyeler Foundation, that looks like a it would be worthwhile, if you like modern and contemporary art

I considered the Beyeler Foundation to be worth the trip to Basel if you are interested in 20th Century art. During Art Basel there was a great exhibition of Matisse.

Thx everyone! Planned another trip before this one, and kinda forgot I'd even posted this But I appreciate all of the information!

Near the Beyeler Fondation's location is the town of Weil with the Vitra furniture factory and its chair museum housed in a Frank Gehry building.

Basel is a nice compact city--but I'd put it lower than Bern and Zurich as places to see. I do think it is nicer than Geneva, which really has very little to see for a tourist. The Basel art museum is excellent, there are some nice areas to walk around, and although it's not why you're going to Switzerland, it has a wonderful zoo.

Les

I don't know your interests, but we absolutely loved Basel. You can easily visit Bern from there, as well as France and Germany - in day trips, might be a good lengthy day trip but you can train to both for a day if you would like -

we did not do that, although it was on our 'possible' list - we were just having too much fun in Basel and we were on our way to Germany and we have spent a fair amount of time in France on other vacations, so we did not opt to do that, but there are threads here on day trips if you put "basel' into the search bar, or 'day trips from basel' etc.

Here is a link to my trip report below - we loved the museums, churches, restaurants, people - we would return and will some day - but we love museums, architecture and eating !!

We also spent a few days in Bern, if I were doing it again I would make Bern a day trip from Basel -

if you decide to look at the trip report, just keep scrolling down until you get to the days in Basel -
we began in Lauterbrunnen and - we have never been to Geneva or Zurich to I can not speak to that choice.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34737788

Basel doesn't excite.

I've stayed in Lucerne a few times, and that may be a better place to visit.

Peter