In the city of Basel, northwestern Switzerland

 "Switzerland is a small, steep country, much more up and down than sideways, and is all stuck over with large brown hotels built on the cuckoo clock style of architecture." –- Ernest Hemingway

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(in northwestern Switzerland) The city of Basel lies along the Rhine River at the mouths of the Birs and Wiese rivers where the French, German, and Swiss borders meet -- at the entrance to the Swiss Rhineland. It was originally a Celtic settlement of the Rauraci tribe. The name Basilia seems first to have been applied to a Roman fortification mentioned in 374 CE. At the beginning of the 5th century, the bishop of Augusta Raurica moved his see here. The city’s university, the first in Switzerland, was founded in 1460 by Pope Pius II, who had been in Basel for the celebrated Ecumenical Council (from 1431–49). In 1501 Basel was admitted into the Swiss Confederation. With the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus teaching at the university (from 1521–29), the city became a center of humanism and of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. The Counter-Reformation brought skilled workmen as refugees from other parts of Europe, and by the 18th century political power was largely in the hands of the trade guilds.

+ Historically, Basel's position astride the (north flowing) Rhine has contributed to its growth as a key trade and transport hub. Today, it is a global center for the pharmaceutical industry -- titans Roche and Novartis are both headquartered here. Of much greater interest to the many thousands of art and architecture lovers who visit each year, is the world-famous ART Basel festival and the city's wealth of galleries, museums, and iconic buildings.

+ Basel's position at the juncture of the French, German, and Swiss borders adds to its multicultural appeal, and it is perhaps the place where Switzerland's Franco-Germanic roots are most evident, although the dominant language spoken is Swiss-German. It is easy to spend a day wandering the cobbled streets of the lofty and beautiful Altstadt (Old Town) in Grossbasel (Greater Basel) on the Rhine's south bank before crossing the Mittlere Brücke to Kleinbasel (Little Basel) for a more "everyday" vibe -- and riverside alfresco dining.

+ Basel does contain Switzerland's highest concentration of museums. The culture-centric city, site of the world's most influential art market each June, is also home to the great Münster Cathedral, made of red sandstone with a multi-colored tile roof. Green spaces abound, including the popular zoological gardens in the city center. Switzerland's largest site of Roman ruins, Augusta Raurica, is just an easy day trip to the east.

+ The University of Basel and the city's centuries-long commitment to humanism, have made Basel a safe haven at times of political unrest in other parts of Europe for such notable people as Erasmus of Rotterdam, the Holbein family, Friedrich Nietzsche, Carl Jung, and in the 20th century also Hermann Hesse and Karl Jaspers.