Basel City Guide gives you all the relevant information about must see places in Basel City. Here you can also find the Basel history, picture, hotels, museums, night life, weather and all the other tips you can think of while visiting Basel City. Detailed information for your attention is given on the left where you can see all the components of the Basel Travel Guide.

About Basel:

Basel, the capital of the half canton of Basel City, is in north west Switzerland, at the point where the Rhine bends northwards. It borders on both Germany and France and is part of the Upper Rhine Euroregion, which covers the border area of the three countries.

Basel is the centre of the Swiss chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. The well-known pharmaceutical firms Novartis and Roche not only have their roots in Basel, but also the headquarters and some of their production.

The Rhine divides the city into two parts. On the left bank is Grossbasel (Greater Basel), and on the right is Kleinbasel (Lesser Basel.) The traditional enmity between the two is reflected on the one hand by the bust of the so-called Lällekönig ("tongue king"), at the Grossbasel end of one of the Rhine bridges, who sticks his tongue out at the right bank. Kleinbasel repays the compliment in its Vogel Gryff carnival, where the traditional carnival figures dance on the bridge demonstratively turning their backsides to their rival.

Basel is not only an important European rail hub and the centre of the freight division of the Swiss Federal Railways, it also has an airport, EuroAirport, which it shares with the French city of Mulhouse and the German city of Freiburg. (Most of the airport is built on French territory.) Switzerland's four Rhine ports are also in or close to Basel.

    * Canton: Basel-City
    * Area: 37 km2 (14.29 sq miles)
    * Population (city): 163,930 (2005)
    * Population (agglomeration): 479,308 (census 2000)
    * Height above sea level: 244 m (800 ft)
    * Language/s: Basel dialect of Swiss German, High German.

____________
Part or or all of this text stems from the original article at: http://www.swissworld.org