Basel is a wealthy and vibrant city in the Germanic region of Switzerland and offers many excellent choices for delicious coffee. Here’s a look at four places that are worth a visit.
Best Coffee In Basel, Switzerland
When I’m in Germany visiting my in-laws, I’ll typically bike from their house to Basel on Sunday afternoons for coffee, followed by (Anglican) church. It has become a quintessential part of my travel routine, in no small part because coffee shops tend to be closed on Sundays in Germany, but open in Switzerland.
Here’s a look at four places over my two visits.
Café Frühling
Klybeckstrasse 69
4057 Basel, Switzerland
+41 61 689 16 23
8:00 am – 6:00 pm (daily)
This is a trendy coffee shop filled with young people, offering delicious coffee (I had a flat white) and indoor and outdoor seating. I really enjoyed this coffee.
Daniska
Feldbergstrasse 12
4057 Basel, Switzerland
8:30 am – 11:30 am, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm (Monday – Friday)
10:00 am – 5:00 pm (Saturday – Sunday)
After enjoying my flat white at Frühling, I biked to Daniska and found out (it was about 5:00 pm) that there was no coffee left! I’m going to assume the coffee must be pretty good in order to run out on a Sunday and will be back to try it next time.
Cinnamood
Freie Strasse 93
4051 Basel, Switzerland
+41 61 421 77 77
8:00 am – 8:00 pm (Monday – Friday)
9:00 am – 8:00 pm (Saturday)
10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Sunday)
With Daniska closed, I biked into the city thinking I’d just skip my second cup of coffee, but came upon a place called Cinnamood, which appears to be the Germanic equivalent to Cinnabon. As tempting as the cinnamon rolls looked (and yes, they did look very tempting) I resisted the urge and just had a flat white, which was very nice.
Oh, and this place sells humorous greeting cards as well…
Brü Specialty Coffee
Grenzacherstrasse 97
4058 Basel, Switzerland
8:00 am – 9:00 pm (Tuesday – Friday)
9:00 am – 6:00 pm (Saturday – Sunday)
Closed Mondays
I was biking back to Daniska last trip but stumbled upon Brü instead and decided to stop…wow, what a pleasant find! The guys were very nice inside and the coffee was excellent.
CONCLUSION
In case you read the menus closely, you can expect to pay a hefty premium for coffee in Switzerland. For example, the flat white at Brü is 6,90 CHF, which at current exchange rates is $8.69. That’s an expensive cup of coffee! But I appreciate the quality of the coffee at each place I stopped at, and it’s nice to be able to drink coffee on Sundays too!
“in no small part because coffee shops tend to be closed on Sundays in Germany, but open in Switzerland.”
Just curious, but what is the reason for that? Is it nation wide in Germany or just the majority tend to close?
While I believe that coffee shops are exempt from “Ladenschlussgesetz” Sunday closing laws (but maybe not in Baden-Württemberg), most choose to be closed anyway. Maybe someone from Germany with more knowledge of this can chime in?
Longtime reader not just from Germany, but from Lörrach here:
Coffee shops, restaurants and so on are exempt from the Ladenschlussgesetz and are allowed to operate on Sundays and public holidays. The fact that most coffee shops in the city centre of Lörrach (and other towns along the Swiss border) choose to close on Sunday is a purely economic one. As you know, the economy in these towns is heavily reliant on Swiss people doing their shopping on this side of the border (the “Einkaufstouristen”), which leads to the cities being packed primarily on Saturday. On Sundays however, when shops are closed, the city centres are mostly deserted. It just wouldn’t make sense to keep a coffee shop open under these conditions, especially if your employees receive a higher salary for work on Sunday.
Coffee shops in other locations around here even in Germany tend to open on Sunday, as they can attract enough customers – e. g. the coffee shops at the VitraCampus in Weil am Rhein, given that the museum and showroom there are quite frequented on Sunday as well.
Hello James, makes perfect sense. I appreciate you taking the time to offer this detailed explanation.
I’m thankful at least Michaelangelo is open on Sundays! 😉
The official flag of Basel looks like an umbrella on lsd. Good photo and artwork I suppose.
It dates back to 1249!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_of_Basel
Very anti-American behaviour! Going to some random Cinnamood instead of the Starbucks next to it. 🙂
LaMarzocco made decision, not you.
Supporting local Swiss instead of “your own” world famous hyped brand with average or below the average/the regular coffee) products. No wonder CBP gave you the leccture at the border 🙂 Karma
LOL.
Noticed the bicycle parking was full up. Refreshing to see.
And our two bikes were added! 😉
Yeah, Cinnamood is a chain……with places all over.
Yes, but in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.
IMHO, you were wise to avoid the Cinnamood rolls. They look good but if you know real cinnamon rolls then these are disappointing at best.