Day tours from Basel take you out for the whole day, to the Alps, Lake Lucerne, Lake Thun, Alsace or the Black Forest. Most start at Basel SBB or with a hotel pickup, and most fares carry a pass, a boat or an entry ticket as well as the guide.
Lucerne's old town on foot with a guide, then a reserved seat on a panoramic train to Interlaken. The day's rail pass is paid, so you only buy food. Meet in the Basel SBB hall at 8:40am.
From $391 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The lowest fare for a whole day out: a minibus from the Tinguely Fountain stop to Colmar, the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle with its ticket paid, then Ribeauvillé. The listing's day runs from 9am to 6pm.
From $108 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Forty minutes by train from Basel SBB, then about two and a half hours of Colmar with a guide, free time for lunch and a visit to an organic wine producer. The tasting is dropped in the Christmas market season.
From $261 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A hotel pickup at 9am, then Eguisheim, Colmar and Freiburg in the Black Forest, with guided walks in each. The fare carries the van and the guide-driver and no tickets, which keeps the day simple. Groups can reach 25.
From $286 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A van of eight at most collects you at 8am for Lake Lungern, the St. Beatus Caves, Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. The cave ticket is in the fare. The path up to the caves is steep, so you need moderate fitness.
From $330 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Second-class trains from Basel SBB at 8:15am, the old town of Thun, a boat across Lake Thun and time in Interlaken, with a cheese tasting on the way. The train, boat and tasting are paid; lunch is not.
From $410 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The train to Lucerne at 8:45am, a cruise on the lake and three hours on and around the mountain. The rail and cruise passes are paid, and so is the cogwheel railway from mid-May to mid-October. Lunch up top is extra.
From $432 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The longest day here, 11 to 13 hours by van from your hotel: the Rhine Falls by boat, Konstanz, Feldkirch and its castle, then Vaduz. Both tickets are in the fare. Bring your passport; shared days need three to run.
From $435 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A rail day from the Basel SBB hall at 9:30am to the Staubbach Falls, up to Kleine Scheidegg and down to Grindelwald. The railway pass and a Jungfrau Region Pass are both in the fare; lunch at the pass is not.
From $495 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Two towns in one guided rail day from the Basel SBB hall at 8:40am, with the day's train pass and your panoramic seat reservation in the fare.
See this tourA day tour from Basel is a whole day away from the city, with a guide who handles the connections. You leave between 8am and 9:30am and you are back in the evening. In between, you see the Alps and their lakes, Lake Lucerne and its mountain, the Alsace towns over the French border or, on the longest day, four countries.
Two kinds of day do this. A rail day meets you in the hall at Basel SBB and travels on public trains, with the pass in the fare. A van day collects you at your hotel and drives a small group. The Alsace day is the one exception: it leaves from a coach stop by the Tinguely Fountain.
What you pay for is the transport, the guide and, on most days, a ticket inside the fare. It might be a boat, a cave or a castle. That is why two days that look alike can differ by more than $150.
On most days you never queue at a ticket office. The Jungfrau day carries a railway pass and a Jungfrau Region Pass. The Alps day pays for the St. Beatus Caves. The four-countries day pays for the Rhine Falls boat and a castle ticket in Feldkirch. The Alsace minibus pays for Haut-Koenigsbourg. You only buy lunch.
A day with three changes, a boat and a cogwheel railway is a puzzle to plan alone. On a guided rail day the guide knows the platform, the timetable and where to stand for the view. You follow, and you look out of the window.
Basel sits where Switzerland, France and Germany meet, so the border is close. The Colmar and Alsace days cross into France. The Black Forest day adds Freiburg in Germany. The four-countries day reaches Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein before it turns for home.
The Alps and four-countries vans take eight at most. Most rail days take 15. Only the Black Forest day, at up to 25, and the Colmar train day, at up to 20, run larger. A small van means the guide can wait while you take one more photo.
The main alternative is the train on your own, often with a Swiss Travel Pass. Here is what changes when you book the guided day instead.
| A guided day from Basel | A pass and the trains alone | |
|---|---|---|
| Fare | $108 to $495 a person, one day | $351 and up, for three days |
| What it covers | The day's travel, the guide and often a ticket | Trains, buses and boats; museums |
| Panoramic seats | Reserved in the fare on the Lucerne day | A paid reservation on top |
| Mountain railways | Paid on the Jungfrau and Pilatus days | Up to 50% off most of them |
| The route | Planned for you | Yours to plan |
| Refunds | Full refund to 24 hours | The terms state 24 and 48 hours |
The guided Lucerne day costs about the same as three days on a pass. For three days of trains, the pass wins. Our guide to Basel without a tour works through the sums, and our guide to choosing a day out lines up every day side by side.
Colmar, the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle with its ticket paid, and Ribeauvillé, by minibus from the Tinguely Fountain stop. The listing's day runs 9am to 6pm, for $108.
Check availabilityWhat each fare carries, line by line, is in our guide to tour prices.
Staying in the city instead? Every way of seeing Basel is compared on Basel Switzerland Tours.