Things to do in Basel

Basel is a museum city rather than a lakeside stop, so treat it as a full day trip: trains from Lucerne take around 1 hour 15 minutes on the direct SBB service. The Fondation Beyeler, out in Riehen, charges CHF 30 for adults and holds Monet, Rothko and Giacometti in a Renzo Piano building with a garden pond.

Museum Tinguely (CHF 18) covers the city's own kinetic-sculpture artist, while the Kunstmuseum Basel (CHF 26, temporary exhibitions extra) is Switzerland's oldest public collection, founded in 1661. The Münster, a red-sandstone cathedral above the Rhine, is free to enter and its tower costs CHF 5 to climb.

In summer, locals swim the Rhine current in a Wickelfisch dry bag, and the Basel Fährimaa reaction ferries cross the river on a cable, no motor, for a few francs. The Dreiländereck, where Switzerland, Germany and France meet, is a tram and short walk from the centre.