Basel Audio Tours

Basel sits where France, Germany, and Switzerland share a corner, and its airport, EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, is built entirely on French soil but jointly operated by Switzerland and France. The city has always been comfortable with this kind of arrangement. In 1661, the Kunstmuseum Basel became the first public art collection in the world when the city bought the Amerbach Cabinet. Every June, Art Basel turns the city into the most concentrated art market on earth, with galleries from fifty countries selling work in the convention centre while smaller fairs and installations spread through the old town.

Albert Hofmann worked at the Sandoz pharmaceutical company in Basel and synthesised LSD on November 16, 1938.

He did not know what he had made until 1943, when he accidentally absorbed some through his fingertips and cycled home to experience the world's first LSD trip. That date, April 19, is now observed internationally as Bicycle Day. The Rhine divides the city into Grossbasel, the historic core on the south bank, and Kleinbasel on the north. The Basel Minster, dating to consecration in 1500, sits on a terrace above the river and its terrace is one of the best viewpoints in Switzerland.