Basel offers a great range of hotels set up as a base for your Swiss adventure, so you can indulge your love of sport and the great outdoors to your heart’s content. In Basel itself you’ll find wonderful parks and open spaces, plus great cycle routes you can enjoy from your hotel, taking you around the sights of the city and into the stunning countryside beyond. Some of Switzerland’s most state-of-the-art sports facilities can be found at the St. Jakob complex, a few miles southeast of Basel city centre, with opportunities to watch events or participate in swimming, tennis, football, athletics and ice sports.
Best Basel Hotels for Sports
If you fancy catching some elite international athletes in action during your stay in Basel, book a hotel close to St. Jakob, where the Swiss Indoors men’s tennis tournament takes place in St Jakobshalle in October, and top-flight football team FC Basel plays national and international games at St. Jakob Park, which you might hear being affectionately referred to as ‘Joggeli’. Other annual events it’s worth booking your Basel hotel in advance for are the Basel Rhine Swim, an open-water event held in August in the city’s famous river, and the Basel City Run through the city’s streets lit up with Christmas lights at the end of November.
Outdoor Adventures near Your Basel Hotel
For visitors with a bit more of a thirst for adventure or extreme sports, choosing a hotel in Basel makes a good base for exploring further afield, as the city is right on the border between Switzerland, France and Germany, with easy access out to some spectacular landscapes in all three countries, including the Black Forest, Alsace and the Jura Mountains. If you’re staying in Basel in the winter months, the affordable ski and snowboarding opportunities in the Black Forest are less than an hour away to the north by car. And in the summer, the Jura Mountains, about 90 minutes south, offer a huge array of spectacular places for hiking, climbing and mountaineering. So whatever Basel hotel you decide on, you’ll be well set up to get out and get active.
