Basel is Switzerland’s third most populous city (behind Zurich and Geneva) with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany.
Located in northwest Switzerland on the river Rhine, Basel functions as a major industrial centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Novartis, Hoffmann-La Roche, Clariant, Actelion, Basilea Pharmaceutica and Syngenta are headquartered there. Pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals have become the modern focus of the city’s industrial production.
Basel is among the most important cultural centres of Switzerland. The city comprises a large number of theatres and one of the highest density of museums in Europe, including the Museum of Fine Arts, the world’s oldest art collection accessible to the public. And the University of Basel is the oldest university of the Swiss Confederation (1460).
We are looking forward to welcoming you in Switzerland, showing you around Basel and letting you try a “Basler Läckerli” (THE typical local candy) or a typical Swiss cheese fondue!
-> Check out how people in Basel talk: Markus Heiniger, “Drr Mond“
