Basel is the city where Switzerland, France and Germany meet, and you can stand at the point where the three borders converge, on the Rhine in the harbour district, and see all three countries at once. The Rhine is the heart of the city: it sweeps through in a broad curve, dividing the old town of Grossbasel on the south bank from Kleinbasel on the north, and on summer evenings thousands of people float downstream in the current, holding their clothes and phones in waterproof fish-shaped bags called Wickelfisch.
Across the river, four small ferries without engines are pulled across by the current, attached to a cable stretched over the water, a charming way to cross the river. The old town is dominated by the red sandstone Münster, the cathedral, with its two towers and colourful tiled roof, where the humanist scholar Erasmus is buried. Basel was a centre of learning and printing in the Renaissance, with the oldest university in Switzerland, founded in 1460, and it is still a city of culture, with dozens of museums, including the Fondation Beyeler and the Kunstmuseum, and every June it hosts Art Basel, one of the world's leading art fairs.
The city is also the home of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical industry, with the huge headquarters of companies such as Novartis and Roche, whose tower is one of the tallest buildings in Switzerland. Carnival, the Fasnacht, is a big event, starting at four in the morning on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, when the lights go out and processions of masked drummers and piccolo players march through the old town for three days.
For riders, Basel is a city, with all that entails: traffic, trams, narrow streets, speed cameras and limited parking. It is best seen on foot. Beyond it, though, the riding is excellent. To the north, the Black Forest is just across the border, with winding roads through forest and valleys, while to the south, the Jura offers curvy roads through limestone gorges and over passes, and to the west, Alsace and the Vosges are within easy reach. Fuel, workshops, hotels and restaurants are all easy to find. The Läckerli, a spiced honey biscuit, is the local speciality, and makes a good snack for the road. Remember that the Swiss motorway vignette is required for the motorways, and that fuel is often cheaper across the border in Germany or France.