Barts Best of: drinks in Basel. The nicest bars and cafes
Beer in Basel? Wine in the Altstad? Cocktails in a hallelujah-gorgeous hotel bar? Yep, we collected them all. There is more than enough to have a drink, toast and drink in Basel (Switzerland). From one of the oldest breweries in Switzerland to a wine bar where they specialize in (yes wine), but also salami and cheese.
The nicest and most beautiful bars and cafés in Basel for cocktails, beer, wine or something else tasty in your glass.
And where to sleep and eat in Basel? You can find that here.
A hotel bar exactly how we prefer it: dark brown Chesterfield, red velvet pouffes, a crackling fire, a view over the Rhine and very (very) skilled staff who shake up the tastiest cocktails. The classics such as a Martini are of course on the menu, but there is also a range of other, more innovative cocktails. With some you are even 'sprayed' for that extra sensory experience. Sleeping is absolutely not a punishment here, but if that is just outside your budget: at least have a drink in the bar of Les Trois Rois (or an Afternoon Tea, is also possible).
Hypokras is a typical Swiss drink (which you can very well compare to mulled wine) that can be found everywhere in Basel in winter: at the (Christmas) markets of course, but also on the menu in the bar. It is a spiced, sweet red wine with cinnamon and cloves (and if you do it really well, you will eat a Basler läckerli with it).
The largest and perhaps most beautiful Christmas market can be found on Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz, where it is of course hypokras heaven is.
Also with Hinz und Kunz Bar you will find such a wonderful nostalgic bar vibe with a modern twist (a la Les Trois Rois, but more accessible). Menu is for everyone, because they have (local) beers on tap and bottle, as well as wines, a whole list of cocktails (with a separate section for champagne cocktails) and more than 480 whiskeys. Also plenty of choice for non-drinkers, including some really tasty and fun mocktails. It almost feels like you have the prohibitionperiod enters in terms of speak easy interior, but fortunately with a drink in your hand.
You will find Hinz und Kunz in the Markthallen.
Now there are probably plenty of places in Basel where they serve a good beer, but as in... Zum Bierjohann you don't come across it every day. There are usually around eighteen beers on tap, including from Basel itself, the must-try-a-beer-from-here brewery BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes) and other German, English, American and Belgian beers. So it's constantly changing, but if there really isn't anything for you, you always have the bottle list. Small snack menu, but with exactly the snacks you can use during an evening of beers (Bierjohanns Wurst-Käsesalat for example, just do it). Really nice beer shop with ditto beer garden.
If you like beer and good food, then you should go to Fischerstube. Simple interior with white walls and roughly sanded wooden tables, cozy atmosphere and friendly service. Lots of meat on the menu and the dishes all have Swiss and German influences. Fischerstube is one of the oldest breweries in Switzerland: no crazy, new-fangled brews, but just classics. You can't see it from the front, but at the back of Fischerstube you have a cozy patio where you can spend hours.
Consum is a no-nonsense wine bar and we love that. More than a hundred bottles of wine (of which there is plenty by the glass), in the old town and Consum is also known for its salami and cheese offering. Did we hear someone shouting 'borrelplank' there?
