LONG TIME DEAD

Three mates who used to run a business together in Manchester take their first holiday together. April 2023.

In order to avoid me overly shaping the agenda for this trip, which I fully accept is a tendency, we agree to divvy up planning responsibilities. I’m tasked with researching accommodation, whilst Simon and Neil get the glamour gigs of entertainment and food respectively.

The first bit of good news comes from Simon. Our trip coincides with the annual BScene Music Festival. He gets us all a two-day ticket so we have unlimited access to gigs on both the Friday and Saturday evenings.   

In further good news, Neil has found and booked some great places to eat and has also extended his brief into design. He is proposing we take a quick jog into Germany to see the Vitra Design Museum.

We arrive on Thursday late afternoon. Before long I am purring at Basel’s public transport system.  Our journey into town combines tram with bus and everything is superbly integrated. The real time connection boards on each vehicle are particularly impressive. But the best bit comes when we arrive at our hotel (Bloom Basel) and are each handed a free public transport pass for the duration of our stay.

Pre-dinner drinks are at Braubudebasel. This is an excellent little bar and nano micro-brewery. It was recommended by one of the staff at Fell Bar our fave local drinking den back home. We then have dinner at the fantastic Joy’s which describes itself as a boulevard café, restaurant, bar, gallery, vinotheque and event venue all in one. Neil has done well on the food and drink front.  The lovely hostess Anina provides us with loads of Basel top tips.

Friday is mainly given over to the Vitra Design Museum which is located at Weil am Rhein in Germany but still only a 15 minute bus ride from the centre of Basel. I don’t think I have ever spent five hours in a single museum before, but we do here (although technically this includes a visit to each of the two on-site cafés). The museum is set in a wider campus environment that includes the main building by Frank Gehry, the Vitra Schaudepot which was designed by Herzog & de Meuron and beautiful gardens by the brilliant garden designer Piet Oudolf. And don’t let me forget the Vitra Slide which we all went down several times. The whole campus is spectacular and we get to lounge on some seriously cool furniture.

Friday evening we eat in the industrial vibe of the Volta Bräu brew pub. This is a fab and very busy bar on the edge of the Novartis life science campus.

We then hit BScene. The festival takes place annually in a series of 7-8 venues all co-located within a large former barracks. Apparently the barracks had lain vacant since 1966 and have slowly been revitalised into a series of inter-connected cultural spaces. It is a very central location and jumping between gigs is almost instantaneous given the proximity of each venue. We probably end up seeing about eight acts that night – predominantly up and coming local artists and all decent.

Saturday morning we take a recommendation from Anina at Joy’s and go to Foundation Beyeler. This is a seriously impressive gallery designed by italian architect Renzo Piano. The gallery is set in its own park and looks out onto fields, pastures and vineyards on the edge of Basel. It is one of the most beautiful settings for a gallery I have ever experienced. We see a great exhibition by American artist Wayne Thiebaud.

Saturday afternoon we split for a few hours. In addition to a much-needed kip, I mooch around the Clara district which is where we are based. The You Belong in Basel site provides a nice overview of Clara.   

Saturday night is a repeat of the previous evening’s winning formula. We have dinner around 7ish – this time at the excellent Zum Goldenes Fass which is a recommendation from Neil’s mate who lives in Basel – before hitting BScene again.  

We are up early on Sunday for our flight home. Sunday service and a nagging hangover don’t stop me marvelling once again at the local public transport system. I’d come to Basel again just to ride the trams.  

Post Trip Reflections:

City-based music festivals are an excellent concept. You get to dress up and your back isn’t on fire from camping. If you are visiting Basel and are flexible on timings, then try to coincide your visit with the annual BScene.  

As you will have picked up, I fell in love with the Basel public transport system. That said, bike hire was much harder than many other cities I have visited. We were all determined to get on a bike but it wasn’t easy and we gave up in the end.

Basel is a proper mash up of cultures. The airport has exit doors to both Switzerland and France, and the German border is literally at the edge of town. My impression is that Basel has the same high quality of life as other Swiss cities. Swiss cities always fare well in global quality of life rankings (see this recent ranking that puts four Swiss cities in the Top 15 globally).

We used Splitwise to work out what we owed each other at the end of the trip. It’s great. You don’t need to worry about splitting bills when out and about. Just need someone to pick up each bill and then enter onto the App.

And finally, I love travelling with Neil and Simon. We make a good Trio.