Basel Sports & Outdoors

FC Basel is Switzerland's leading football (soccer) team in our days. They also scored some points in the European leagues (like Champions League), so they are really pretty good. If they play during your visit you might want to see the match at the St. Jakob Park stadium. Tickets are not overly expensive, mine was 35 Sfr. for a match vs. AC Bellinzona. Tickets for the Champions League cost more, of course, and these sell out quickly.

The atmosphere in the stadium was somehow special. Lots of families there, no hooligans, very positive and not aggressive at all. The most enhusiastic supporters, the fan clubs, are to find in the southeastern area, called "Muttenzerkurve". They can make a lot of noise! And sing!

The stadium is a quite impressive structure. It was built by architects Herzog & de Meuron (they also planned the Allianz Arena in Munich and the Olympic Stadium in Peking later) after the old "Joggeli" from 1950 was torn down in 1998. The new Joggeli has a capacity of about 40'000.

Equipment: It can get cold. Very cold. Layers! And get information in advance which colours are the colours of the guest team ... so you don't have to go back to your hotel room and change clothes. Or make sure you don't show the polo shirt with the odd colours ...

The European Football Championships were just coming to an end when I was in Basel in the summer of 2008, and the "Fan Zone" bleachers in the city center were still in place. This was where people could come to watch the games together on large screens, as a substitute for not being in the stadium itself.

The championships that year were held in two countries, Austria and Switzerland. Each country provided four venues. In Austria, the venues were Vienna, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Innsbruck, and in Switzerland they were Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zürich.

2 more images

Photos:
1. A man swimming in the Rhine River
2. People walking up the river so they can swim back down
3. More people walking up the river

As in Bern, where the local people like to go swimming in the Aare River, people in Basel like to go swimming in the Rhine.

Since the current is strong, there is only one way to swim, namely downstream, so people walk upstream along the riverbank and then find a place to get into the water and swim or float back down.

Though the Aare is said to be faster and colder, the Rhine is also a dangerous river, so swimming in it is only for very strong and experienced swimmers, who nearly always do it in groups.

*** Forum Sports Club St. Johanns-Vorstadt 41 4056

PhysioPlus Merian Iselin Spital Föhrenstrasse 2 4009
EQUILIBRIS-TRAINING Hirschgässlein 30 4051
John Valentine Fitness Club Basel Aeschenvorstadt 50 4051
KIESER TRAINING Steinentorstrasse 35 4051
M Wellness Parc Heuwaage Steinentorberg 8 4051
Joggeli Fitness Club Basel JFCB St. Jakob-Strasse 395 4052
TC Training Center FITODROM Lange Gasse 90 4052
Malibu Fitness AG Dornacherstrasse 210 4053
Olympia Fit-Line Güterstrasse 81 4053
ActiFit Fitness AG Rümelinbachweg 4/10 4054
Corpo Sana Tessinstrasse 15 4054
MedizinischeTrainingstherapie Bethesda-Spital Gellertstrasse 144 4054
GYM medico Hebelstrasse 56 4056
City Sports Club Rebgasse 20 4058
Novartis Fitness Club Werk St. Johann S-28 4002 (only for the employees)

Equipment: *** Forum Sports Club St. Johanns-Vorstadt 41 4056

Here it is like in Manhattan, they have everything, sauna, yoga, pilates.
Squash, Fitness....

No so good for swimming pool and pilates.
Monthly fees depending of your schedule.

Entry fees: 180 CHF.
Gold = 90 CHF / mo (from 5pm to 9pm)
Silver = 65 CHF / mo (from 9am to 5pm)
Personnal Training = 40 CHF / ho
Squash = 10 CHF, Guest = 20 CHF
Solarium = 15 CHF, Guest 25 CHF
Rentals racket = 4 CHF
Towel = 3 CHF

under construction

All events are listed here.

From November until Febuary there is this ice scating place right next to a restaurant! So after having had desert, you can exercise a little!!!