Getaways from Basel: day trips and destinations close by.

An airport in France with an exit to Switzerland

Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport (BSL) is in France, on the outskirts of Basel, and has exits to both the Swiss and the French side. There are direct flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga, Seville, Palma and Santiago de Compostela, and from Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Palma.

What leaves Basel in Geocalia heads north, to the Black Forest, and goes by car. You hire it at the airport itself and drive up the A5 to Freiburg: from there, south to the Schauinsland valley station, in Horben; east, through the Höllental, to Hinterzarten and the Feldberg, and north, via Offenburg and the Kinzig valley, to Triberg and Gutach. The three areas are in different valleys, and that is what makes the car useful.

Without a car it can be done, with more time. The train to Freiburg leaves from Basel's German station, the Badischer Bahnhof; from Freiburg, tram 2 and bus 21 reach the cable car, the Höllental line goes to Hinterzarten and the Schwarzwaldbahn stops at Triberg. What remains out of reach is the Gasthaus Staude, in the meadows above Triberg.

To the south, the train goes to the Jungfrau region, as far as Interlaken Ost, although there is not yet a timetabled plan for it from Basel.

The Schauinsland by cable car, an hour and ten minutes away

An hour and ten minutes away is the Schauinsland, Freiburg's mountain. The Schauinsland and the Ravenna Gorge rides the cable car up to 1,284 m, eats on the terrace of Die Bergstation looking out over the Vosges and spends the afternoon in the ravine of waterfalls and bridges that starts at Hinterzarten, an hour and twenty minutes from Basel, with cake at the Hofgut Sternen, the old inn of the Höllental. It is the plan for anyone who wants effortless views in the morning and a short walk in the afternoon.

The heart of the Black Forest, the one on the postcards, is an hour and three quarters away. The Triberg waterfalls and the Vogtsbauernhof combines the Gutach falls, the cuckoo clocks of the Schwarzwaldmuseum, lunch at the Gasthaus Staude, in the meadows of Gremmelsbach, and the afternoon among big-roofed farmhouses at the open-air museum in Gutach. It works with children of any age; anyone looking for mountains without crowds should know that Triberg is the busiest place in the region.

With two nights the south and the centre can be combined. Two nights in the Black Forest with the Feldberg sleeps at the Hofgut Sternen and adds to the above the Feldbergsteig loop, 12.4 km along the summit of the Black Forest and the Feldsee, with lunch at the Raimartihof, a farm you can only reach on foot.

Triberg, not on Mondays or Tuesdays

From May to October everything works, and it is the season for the two-night getaway. The Vogtsbauernhof museum is open from 21 March to 7 November 2027, and the Gasthaus Staude serves food from Wednesday to Sunday: the Triberg plan does not work on Mondays or Tuesdays.

In autumn, the Schauinsland and the Ravenna Gorge remain a good plan as long as the ravine is dry and free of ice. The cable car stops for its annual inspections: in 2026, from 16 November to 4 December, and Die Bergstation closes with it.

In winter there is little of this. The Vogtsbauernhof closes from November to March and at the Triberg waterfalls only the lower stretch is open; the gorge, with ice, is not recommended.

A Sunday with views, another with children and two nights in the Black Forest

• A Sunday with views: the Schauinsland and the Ravenna Gorge, under an hour and a half away.
• With children: Triberg and the Vogtsbauernhof, between Wednesday and Sunday.
• With two nights: the Black Forest with the Feldberg, from Friday to Sunday.