Very nice train station indeed! Cool shops and connects to many other sites in Switzerland!read more

This is an excellent train station right in the city center. Basel is a great city known for its…read moreworld class art museums and also their pharmacies companies like Roche and Novartis. Anyway, there's plenty of retail shops in the train station from Migros (one of the staple groceries in Switzerland, but they don't sell alcohol), to Laderach Swiss chocolate, to a really good beer shop I think it's called World of Beers and you guessed it they have a really top notch selection of international beers!

We really enjoyed our train ride aboard the TGV Lyria. We took the route from Zurich to Paris, and…read morehad a very quiet and comfortable ride. The whole trip took about 5 hours (with a few stops here and there to pick up/drop off more passengers). The train leaves the station at a rather slow pace, but once you get into the open road, it really picks up speed. There is a monitor in the train car that tells you how fast you are going. I think the fastest we got up to was 316 km per hour (almost 200 mph!) On board, there is a café car with sandwiches, beer, soda, coffee, and some other snacks and drinks. There is also a rack above the seats for smaller carry- on bags and items, and a large rack area in the middle/front door-areas of each car where you can put your larger luggage. I think we may have had a newer model train, because the seats and the interior were both very clean and colorful/modern. The seats (at least the two that we were at) had power sockets, cup holders, reading lights, tray tables that fold down, and one ingenious part of the seat design - the seats have a small notch on the back of them to restrict how far back you can lean into the person behind you! It still offers quite a bit of pitch, but does put a limit on how much you can disturb the tray table of the passengers behind your seat. I thought that was great! On our trip back to Zurich from Paris, we had a group of school students join us in our quiet car (about 40 young students coming back from a summer trip with all of their band instruments) so it was a little less relaxing, but that is nobody's fault. Just bring headphones and take a nap or enjoy the view as it passes by!

The "Train à Grand Vitesse" was a revolution in train travel for Europe when it was introduced…read morenearly fifty years ago. Lyria TGV is the French-Swiss train line. It became even better, when SNCF's double-decker Lyria TGV was rolled out and the prices made it even more affordable for rail travel. For us retirees and for about $150*, we could go First Class from Switzerland to Paris in three and a half hours. Nice. I have attached the TGV service map to give you some idea of where to can travel throughout France and Europe. The German system ICE (Inter-City Express) also travels into and out of France and has a similar network. See service maps attached. Most European train stations are located in the center of the city. So no schlepping from a large airport several miles away to the city center. Btw, almost all European airports have a train into that very same central station. So you'll be traveling by rail no matter how you get there. LOL Oh yes, there are always several food options and Magazine/Newspaper stands, which also have carry-on food items available for your trip. It's absolutely a better, more relax way to travel. * Booked online several months ahead and prevailing currency conversion.

We came looking for fondue and were not disappointed. We had the traditional cheese fondue and it…read morewas perfect. Exactly what we were hoping for.

Steinbock is a restaurant that almost seems too good to be true - conveniently near multiple public…read moretransportation including the main train station, reasonably priced, and genuine local Swiss food. Seriously, this place is where we ended up eating our dinner for both the nights we were in town. They were easily 10+ Swiss Francs less than any other restaurant that we looked at; we finally said, screw it, let's just eat at the same place again. The best dish that everyone must have - the pork schnitzel, covered in a golden brown mushroom sauce, and a generous size of spätzle. Holy moly, this dish is amazing. If you eat here, you must order this (unless you hate mushrooms...) Also, try one of the rosti's. It's the Swiss version of a hashbrown or potato pancake. I chose to top off with some veggies to be a bit healthier, even though truth is that there's plenty of oil at the bottom of the rosti. On the second night, we went back and also had the true wiener schnitzel, i.e. made of veal. This dish came with rosti as the side, but without the glorious mushroom sauce. At 10 Swiss Francs more, I say order the pork schnitzel instead. When you order beer, they give you the one kind of beer they have on tap. We don't even know what kind it is. LOL. There are other types in bottles otherwise.

Margarethenstrasse is a great neighborhood to ride the local bus through to do some great…read moresightseeing. Stopped by in the south side after crossing the river and rented a bicycle and rode thru the Margarethen Cemetery where I laid the perfect European picnic amongst the departed lol. Baguette and yogurt compliments of the local Co-Op (Supermarket) next to the bike rental. The Central Train Station is next to the river, untouched for at least a mere 100 years and the only place where you can go to the bathroom lol, that's the only thing that sucks about Europe, nobody let's you use their bathroom unless you're a customer. Not even McDonald's- terrible!!!!!!!oh, exception: any Best Western Hotel. Which are usually also the best hotels in any European city. Oh, and I rode my bike with high heels just like all the local Swiss girls!!!!!

Great hotel, looks new, modern and well kept. Staff was helpful and spoke english. Lobby had a…read morelively bar, and a restaurant, which, unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to eat at. Unlike other Novotels I have been to, this one had some drinks and snacks available to purchase at the lobby. Right off the bat, they give you a BaselCard, which allows you to use the city public transportation (busses and trams) and half price on many touristic attractions across the city, during your stay. Public transportation in Basel is top notch, and you can get pretty much any where, including bordering french and german towns, using it. We were a family of four and stayed in a executive room on the 4th floor. Very spacious and comfortable. Had a queen bed and a sofa bed. Big screen TV with an immense amount of channels in german, english, french, italian... Room has a minifridge with complimentary water, and a Nespresso machine with 6 free capsules that are replenished daily. Plenty of outlets, including near the bed. Nice bathroom, fairly large. Loved that there was a shower separated from the tub. Also the toilet was in a separated space. Interestingly, the wall between the tub and room was some kind of "tanned wall", that appears as normal see through glass until you press a button and it becomes opaque. Worth mentioning that the hotel is a 15 min walk from the SBB railway station, but there are at least 3 nearby tram station. There is also a small grocery store 5 min from here. Overall, great hotel, would stay here again if I ever have the opportunity to comeback to this beautiful city.

This Novotel is a nice, modern American-style hotel conveniently located near the train station…read more Comfortable beds, spacious bathroom, and overall roomy space so you don't feel squished to death with your bags. They have a nice breakfast setup downstairs with tons of fruit, meats, breads, coffee, tea, cereals, etc. Staff is friendly although we did have to follow up with them several times to solve an issue in our room.

I stayed here in a 5-bed dorm room once for a few days in 2008 while backpacking en route back to…read moreIreland from Istanbul: it's a top notch hostel. The area is quiet, the rooms and beds are clean, and as I recall there's a pretty nice kitchen, a courtyard where you can chill after a day's worth of exploring, and it's really close to the train station.

Clean and comfortable. I love that the beds were assigned, I've had my bunk stolen in other hostels…read morebefore. The lockers were huge and the hostel itself was so clean, including the bathrooms. Great kitchen too in the common area. Staff was super friendly as well. Only con is that there were no outlets for the top bunks.

We were only here for 1 night before the Rhine River cruise, and we made the most of it. We…read moreventured off the beaten path to find an authentic Swiss restaurant. We had our eyes on one before we left, but they were full for the night. On our walk back, we looked at every restaurant menus that were posted on the doors, and happened upon what we call a "happy accident", Torstübli. Tiny, charming and quaint with only 6 tables inside, but with the menu of a Michelin Star establishment. We were greeted with an amuse-bouche - shrimp croquettes, that definitely made our mouths' happy. Then, the main courses: Angie had Wild Venison Medallions, and I had Calf Cheeks. Both were sensational; fork-tender and accompanied by roasted autumn veggies. We would come back to Switzerland just to go to this restaurant.

Basel is a wonderful city; clean, safe and great public transportation. We easily moved from the…read moreMesse area to the old town. Our 1st dinner of our trip was at Tor Stubli. We were fortunate that the springtime rains had moved on and we had lovely weather for sitting outdoors. The restaurant has a nice enclosed patio covered with grape vines Our server proposed a Swiss red wine from an area 40km from Basel. It was a surprisingly nice red wine. My colleague has a special meat dish and I had the wiener schnitzel. Both dishes were very well prepared. If you are visiting Basel, I recommend a visiting Tor Stubli.

The Hotel Ibis puts the "U" in utilitarian and for me that's a good thing. When traveling there's a…read moretime and a place for resorts. - sometimes you want all that luxury has to offer and sometimes you just need a clean place to rest your head. On this trip it was the latter. At the Ibis you can expect an immaculately clean room, a firm bed and quiet. I slept soundly, had a hot shower and a great cup of coffee downstairs. Paid the bill (very reasonable) and took on the day. Highly recommend.

Great stay here! The rooms are nice and the showers are amazing! High pressure and hot water! The…read moreinterior is very well done and the staff was great. I didn't notice any train noise but we were exhausted after our plane trip and crashed immediately! Id stay here again!

We landed in Zurich and stayed one night there. The next day we moved to Basel which is where the…read moreRhine River Cruise begins in Switzerland. I booked both hotels on line and even though I inputted Basel, once we were ready to change hotels I found out that our hotel was actually in Lorrach which was in Germany. Hey! What? Fortunately the reviews comforted me since previous cruise goers also stayed in that town and it wasn't too far away and very easy to get to. This station was directly across the street from our hotel. Awesome! The big plus was our hotel gave us transportation vouchers we could use to get back to Basel the next morning. The best and worst of it? The station had an elevator from the station platform to the street level. Always travel light...we never learn. If it had been any other day but Sunday, I would have been an ecstatic camper. Why? Take a walk into the town... keep walking and you see so many charming photo ops. There are LOTS of really nice quality clothing stores and even better SHOE stores with really nice and comfy styles and colors. Only hitch? ALL the stores are closed on Sunday. DANG! The huge and packer ice cream, dessert cafe was open. Who knew people here loved ice cream in all shapes and sizes at 4:30 in the afternoon? The one woman who spoke English told us there was a good Greek Restaurant which would be open at 5 pm. She pointed down the street to the awning. Yes, we had a nice dinner and an even yummier baklava then returned to the hotel in darkness. Thank goodness for this tiny German train station which afforded us safe and easy transportation plus a wonderful window shopping experience