Zurich - Rheinfelden to Basel

Boat Coming Out of the Lock

It was a mixed bag of weather while Geraldine was over, but I had a list of things to do for all eventualities. Although I had a heavy itinerary planned, when it came down to it, neither of us had the energy to have a full-on timetable, so we mostly took it easy and then picked one thing off the list of options (and sometimes not even that).

A good weather trip was to take the train to Rheinfelden and then to take the boat for a couple of hours up the Rhine and end up in Basel. Even though Basel isn’t that far away, I’ve never actually taken Geraldine there. I’m not sure why I don’t go to Basel much – I think it’s because I used to go there a lot when I lived in Freiburg in Germany for two years and so I feel I’ve done Basel to death. However, that’s 18 years ago now, so really I should give it more time!

We had beautiful weather. Rheinfelden itself is a pretty town that sits right on the border with Germany; it’s even split in two, with part of it in Germany and part in Switzerland. We walked over the bridge across the river and into Germany, just because we could.

It was extremely quiet and, again, it felt like walking round an open-air museum with no visitors. There was a huge stork’s nest on top of one of the towers into the town – we had to look for a while to work out whether it was real nor not, since there were several things round about named after the stork (so it could have been historical), but it was indeed alive.

We found a restaurant that appeared to be attached to a clinic for the wealthy (there were some nice statues outside) and overlooking the river. We couldn’t have a seat right by the river because, despite the fact that no-one was in town, the riverside tables for lunch had all been booked, but we had a perfectly good view also from sitting just one row behind. When in Switzerland, do as the Swiss, so we started off with a prosecco and then continued on with a small lunch (I had soup, Geraldine had a salad).

It was then time to go to the boat station (only you have to call them ships in Switzerland or they get upset), where it said we had to get tickets in the nearby hotel. However, the hotel told us that since we had money-off coupons (I got them from the Coop), we’d need to buy our tickets on board. It was all very confusing, but it turned out that we could indeed just buy tickets onboard.

The trip takes you through a couple of very impressive locks – it’s amazing to see the water sink 15 metres as you just sit there. There was food and drink on board and plenty of spaces to sit although it was very hot out in the sun.

As we entered into Basel, we spotted a nice restaurant looking right out onto the Rhine. Several people were floating / swimming down the Rhine in their bathing costumes with their goods attached in a waterproof bag floating behind them. It looked fun!

We’d arranged to meet Steph and Nicolas in Basel (the trip was Steph’s suggestion), so as we came off the “ship”, Steph greeted us and, lo and behold, we ended up in the lovely restaurant overlooking the Rhine. It was a very posh place so when they brought the drinks menu, it was a huge tome bound in a black hardcover. But to our delight – it was all meant to be – their signature drink turned out to be a “petite Geraldine”. By the time we ordered, a table outside had become free, so they escorted us to our preferred location and we sipped our drinks in the evening sun; Nicolas joined us shortly afterwards.

Toward the end, it started to rain, and Steph and Nicolas had to go, so Geraldine and I went to a place recommended by Steph to eat. It was an indoor location with many different stalls each selling food from a different country and you just select which one you want to take (it reminded me of the Zurich food festival). I had really wanted to show Geraldine at least the old town of Basel, but since it was raining, we just ate and went home, but it still made for a very enjoyable day. I would recommend it to anyone as a day trip!