For a more luxurious stay, I recommend either the Napoleon or Les Trois Rois suites. The Napoleon offers guests a stunning rooftop Jacuzzi, two bedrooms and three bathrooms. Rumour had it that Roger Federer was occupying this suite during our stay, but sadly I didn’t get a glimpse of the tennis champion.
Cheval Blanc was booked during our stay, so we dined at three superb local restaurants. I can highly recommend lunch at the Bistro Kunstmuseum. The menu is flavoursome meat and fish dishes, with fine desserts and a good wine list.
It’s a great place for breakfast too, before diving into the Kunstmuseum’s superb art collections. We had a guided tour around the fascinating Chagall Exhibition – on until the 21 January 2018. This retrospective looks at the painter’s early work, from stays in Russia and Paris draws upon his enforced exile from France during WW1. His depiction of Jewish ghetto life in Russia particularly moving.
Basel is blessed with outstanding museums – almost 40 in all – so you could easily spend a week in the city with museum visits alone. The Fondation Beyeler, Museum Tinguely, Naturhistoriches Museum and the Jüdisches Museum are all highly recommended. And for lovers of architecture, Basel provides an eclectic mix of vintage and modern. Among 15th century dwellings, you’ll discover buildings designed by Renzo Piano, Frank O. Gehry and Mario Botta.
Les Trois Rois is ideally placed: within minutes’ walking distance of the Old Town, Marktplatz and the main shopping streets, as well as 20 museums. And the hotel is only a 15-minute taxi from the airport. Much investment has been made in Basel, thanks to the Big Pharma presence of around 900 pharma and medtech companies in the area, such as Novartis and Roche.