Basel runs the largest Christmas market in Switzerland across the Barfüsserplatz and the Münsterplatz in front of the red sandstone cathedral: around 180 chalets of crafts, candles, Läckerli — the hard spiced honey biscuit the city is known for — and glühwein, with a lit Christmas tree on the Münsterplatz.
No attendance figure is collected in this pass.
Basel's position on the corner of three countries is the market's economic logic: Germany and France are a tram ride away and the weekend crowd is substantially cross-border, which — as at Strasbourg — is a visitor-origin question that nobody publishes.
The window runs from late November to 23 December. The city's museums, among the densest concentrations in Europe, are the reason to stay a full day.
PlanningA month-long window to 23 December, on the Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz.