You may have noticed that whenever I go on a day trip, I always visit a museum. I must admit this is probably the highlight of all my travels. I’ve always loved going to exhibitions, so when I moved to Switzerland I couldn’t wait to discover the local museum scene for myself. I didn’t even have to look far. We live just 30 minutes from Basel, which is also known as the cultural capital of Switzerland. In a previous blog post, I wrote that this city has the most museums (including art, historical, and architecture) in Switzerland. This idea really stuck with me and I kept thinking about it until I realised that I should do something with this information. And this is why I decided to visit all the museums in Basel and share my experiences with you.
Sources mention 40 museums, but unfortunately, I only managed to find 27. My only guess is that they don’t just mean the city but the whole canton itself when they talk about so many institutions. However, if you can help me with which museums I have missed, please feel free to let me know in a comment below, email, or Instagram message.
The list of museums in Basel
Where possible I added links to English websites, but if it’s easier, they are all available in German. Then, with time, I will write lots of English summaries of all of them.
- Kunstmuseum Basel – Contemporary Art Museum Switzerland
- The Antikenmuseum Basel and the Sammlung Ludwig
- Foundation Beyeler
- Art Basel
- Basel Museum of Cultures
- Swiss Paper Museum – Basel Paper Mill
- Natural History Museum Basel
- S AM Swiss Architecture Museum
- Kunsthalle Basel
- Basel Historical Museum – Barfuesserkirche
- Museum Tinguely
- Historisches Museum Basel – Musikmuseum
- Toy Worlds Museum Basel (Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel)
- Haus zum Kirschgarten
- Anatomical Museum of the University of Basel (Anatomisches Museum der Universität Basel)
- Skulpturhalle Basel
- Caricature & Cartoon Museum Basel (Cartoonmuseum Basel)
- Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel
- HeK (House of electronic Arts Basel)
- Museum Kleines Klingental
- Jewish Museum of Switzerland
- Rappaz Museum (Rappaz Museum)
- Exhibition transportation hub Switzerland (Hafenmuseum)
- Wonderful World of Mechanical Music
- Laleh June Gallery
- Hoosesaggmuseum
- Fire Brigade Museum Basel
Useful information and tips
Free museum entry
Most museums are free to visit at least once every month. The dates vary, so it’s always a good idea to check the website of the museum you’re interested in.
Basel Card
The so-called Basel Card comes free with your hotel booking in Basel, even if you only spend one night in the city. The personal guest card is handed out at check-in, but can also be downloaded as an app. The card can be used to buy tickets to any of the museums at half price, but it also comes with a number of other discounts (such as free public transport), which you can find out about here. More information here.
Access to museums
As I just mentioned, the Basel Card gives you free access to all public transport in the city. By the way, Basel is quite small, so you will probably rarely take any tram or bus (there is no metro in the city).
