A varied family weekend in Basel

The con­trasts already became appar­ent on the jour­ney to Basel Youth Hos­tel: After alight­ing at St. Alban Tor, a short walk along the pic­turesque Rhine takes you past beau­ti­ful his­tor­i­cal build­ings and down to the youth hos­tel, which is sit­u­at­ed on a pret­ty lit­tle riv­er. Inside awaits purist, mod­ern archi­tec­ture with lots of con­crete, wood and leather. We imme­di­ate­ly felt right at home!

Our home over the weekend – Basel Youth Hostel

Dur­ing our week­end in Basel we stayed at the ultra-mod­ern hos­tel in Basel. It’s the per­fect start­ing point for all kinds of activ­i­ties. The Basel Card, which you receive when you check in, gives you free trav­el on pub­lic trans­port and 50% dis­count on numer­ous excur­sions and activ­i­ties! Thanks to the well-equipped fam­i­ly room with its own show­er and WC, as well as the games cor­ner and the mod­ern ambi­ence in the lounge, we set­tled right in. This time we only ate break­fast at the youth hos­tel, which is includ­ed in the room price. How­ev­er, you also have the option of book­ing din­ner or a packed lunch.

Join­ing us on our fam­i­ly-friend­ly adven­tures in Basel?

Basler Papiermühle – the interactive paper museum

The Basel Paper Mill is just a few steps from the hos­tel. Here you will learn all about paper, writ­ing, print­ing and book­bind­ing. The muse­um is housed in the his­tor­i­cal build­ings of yes­ter­year and much of it is still in its orig­i­nal con­di­tion. What we liked most was that the exhi­bi­tion was incred­i­bly inter­ac­tive: You can make paper your­self, print, emboss, write with a quill and ink and much more.

Lange Erlen Zoo – free fun for the whole family

«Lange Erlen» park is locat­ed just out­side Basel, and is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble by pub­lic trans­port. Here you can catch your breath and recov­er from the hus­tle and bus­tle of the city. Kids can climb, slide and swing to their hearts’ con­tent at the huge play­ground. Next to this is the spa­cious and beau­ti­ful­ly land­scaped zoo, where you can observe many native ani­mals. You and your fam­i­ly can spend either a few hours or like­ly even a whole day at «Lange Erlen», as there’s so much to dis­cov­er. In addi­tion to the free activ­i­ties, you can also race on the Kids’ Auto­bahn or ride ponies (sub­ject to a fee).

Tinguely Museum – marvel and be inspired

The Tingue­ly Muse­um is also easy to reach from the youth hos­tel: The best way is to catch the «Wilde Maa» fer­ry, which will take you across the Rhine. This in itself is a high­light! A short walk along the Rhine brings you to the impos­ing Tingue­ly build­ing. To be hon­est, I was amazed at how many fam­i­lies were in the muse­um at first. But when I saw our son’s enthu­si­asm for the machines, it was imme­di­ate­ly clear to me why: The muse­um is a real high­light for kids! There’s some­thing mov­ing, ring­ing, spin­ning, mak­ing noise, light­ing up or rat­tling no mat­ter where you are. At the end, the kids can get cre­ative and doc­u­ment their impres­sions with pen and paper.

Markthalle – a culinary world tour

The Mar­ket Hall is sit­u­at­ed right next to the SBB rail­way sta­tion. Here you can feel like you’re eat­ing your way through all the coun­tries of the world! From (South) African, to Per­sian and Thai, you’ll find it all here. Each per­son can get what appeals to them at a mar­ket stall – after­wards, you meet up at one of the many tables locat­ed through­out the mar­ket hall. And you know what’s real­ly cool? For kids, there’s even a games cor­ner, table foot­ball and a slide down to the low­er floor. We had a great time at the Mar­ket Hall, with its wide vari­ety, and would have liked to try more dish­es!

Summary of our long weekend in Basel

For us, the two-night stay at Basel Youth Hos­tel was per­fect. The city has so much to dis­cov­er – we can real­ly see our­selves return­ing one day. There are dozens more options for fam­i­lies! The youth hos­tel is per­fect­ly sit­u­at­ed and was the ide­al start­ing point for all our activ­i­ties.

When will be the next time you vis­it Basel Youth Hos­tel? Let us know in the com­ments.

Our lit­tle adven­tur­er has expe­ri­enced lots – find out which youth hos­tels he’s already vis­it­ed here.