Basel bars and nightlife: the Rhine, Kleinbasel and the best addresses

Basel goes out differently from Zurich. In summer the city sits by the Rhine, on the steps of the Kleinbasel bank and in the buvettes; in winter it moves into the bars of Rheingasse and the wine taverns of the Old Town.

This page sorts out the districts, names the places we have checked, and tells you how late they open and what an evening costs. If you want to eat before you drink, the taverns are in eating in Basel.

Where do you go out in Basel?

We calculated the minutes on OpenStreetMap, from the middle of the Mittlere Brücke to the door. How the districts sit in relation to each other is shown on the map of Basel.

What are the Rhine buvettes?

A buvette is an open-air bar that only opens in the warm months: a container, a kiosk or a small pavilion with tables on the bank. The canton lists 9 waterside buvettes in its open data, most of them on the Kleinbasel bank.

They include the Oetlinger Buvette and Buvette 7 "Flora am Rhy" on Unterer Rheinweg, the Dreirosen Buvette further downstream, the Saint Louis Buvette on St. Johanns-Rheinweg and "S'Fähribödeli" below the Pfalz. Depending on the place, the season runs from March or April into October.

Buvettes only open in dry weather, and their hours change from year to year. On hot evenings every seat on the bank is taken by 6pm: come early or sit on the steps.

Photo: Jules Verne Times Two, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Downstream, in the old harbour district on the Klybeckquai, is the Landestelle, an open-air lounge with deckchairs that opens from April to September. This is where the sun sets latest over the Rhine.

Which bars are worth it in Kleinbasel?

Kleinbasel is the city's going-out district. Rheingasse and its side streets have more bars in a few hundred metres than the whole of Grossbasel's Old Town, and the Rhine is one row of houses away.

For an aperitif, Consum at Rheingasse 19 is the first address, a wine bar with more than a hundred wines and boards of jamón, salami and cheese. It opened in 2008 in the house of Basel's first consumer cooperative.

For a Basel beer, go a few doors along to the Ueli-Brau-Bar. Ueli beer has been brewed since 1974 at the Fischerstube on Rheingasse, and Reverenz, Weizen, Robur and Lager flow from the taps.

For a late night, the Irrsinn Bar on Rebgasse is the right choice: home-made syrups, house infusions, rock on the speakers and open until 3am at weekends.

Photo: WikiEuropian, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where do you get a good drink in Grossbasel?

On the Grossbasel side, the bars cluster around Barfüsserplatz. Steinenvorstadt with its cinemas is loud and young; the Kohlenberg and the lanes around the theatre are quieter.

The Pot Still Bar on the Kohlenberg is a classic bar with a large whisky selection, reopened by new owners in 2025. Its Läckerli Sidecar is Basel in a glass.

The Campari Bar in the Kunsthalle garden is the classic place for an aperitif before the theatre or a concert, under chestnut trees and a stone's throw from the Tinguely Fountain.

Bierrevier in the Markthalle near Basel SBB station has around 40 taps with changing beers. If you still have an hour before your train, this is the place.

Photo: Basmus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Which beer and wine are from Basel?

The Basel beer is Ueli from the Fischerstube, joined by smaller breweries such as Unser Bier in the Gundeldingen district and Volta Bräu, which is served at Consum among others. In many bars they stand alongside the big Swiss brands.

For wine, Basel looks across the cantonal and national borders: to Basel-Landschaft and to the Markgräflerland in Baden, just over the border. The Ueli-Brau-Bar has a selection of regional wines, and the city's wine bars usually have several local wines by the glass.

What do you order in a Basel bar?

If you order a beer in Basel, you ask for "e Stange" and get three decilitres on tap. Smaller still is the "Herrgöttli" of two decilitres, a Basel peculiarity unknown in Zurich.

For an aperitif people drink a white wine, a spritz or a beer, with a board of cheese and cured meat. Tap water is drinkable in Basel, but not always free in bars.

You pay by card or with Twint, the Swiss payment app, and almost every bar takes cash in francs. Euros are not accepted everywhere, and where they are, the rate is poor.

What is a summer evening on the Rhine like?

Around 6pm the steps of the Kleinbasel bank fill up, between the Mittlere Brücke and the Johanniterbrücke. Swimmers drift past with their Wickelfisch, and across the river the Minster glows in the evening sun.

If you cannot find a seat at a buvette, get a drink and sit by the water. Around 10pm many move on to the bars of Rheingasse, which are then at their loudest.

The ferries cross the Rhine in summer until the evening, and a crossing costs CHF 2 for adults according to the ferry association. From Grossbasel, that saves the detour via a bridge.

Can you smoke in Basel bars?

Smoking is banned indoors in Basel, except in separate smoking rooms. Some bars have one, others only tables outside where smoking is allowed.

People smoke on the Rheingasse terraces and at the buvettes, so if it bothers you, pick a seat at the edge. There is no general smoking ban on the Rhine bank itself, but rubbish belongs in the bins.

How late are bars open in Basel?

Basel-Stadt's hospitality law generally allows bars to open from 5am to 1am. On the nights into Saturday and Sunday they may serve until 2am.

Opening later requires a special permit: that is why some bars such as the Irrsinn Bar stay open until 3am at weekends, and the clubs even later. Buvettes usually close between 10pm and 11pm.

What does an evening in Basel cost?

Basel is expensive, at the bar too. The following prices come from the bars' own menus, with the year in which we found them.

The cheapest place to drink is by the Rhine: many locals buy their drinks in a shop and sit on the steps of the bank. What a whole day in Basel costs is worked out in Is Basel expensive?

Where do you go dancing in Basel?

The Kaserne on Klybeckstrasse in Kleinbasel is the city's cultural centre, with concerts and club nights in the old barracks by the Rhine. Nordstern, one of the best-known house and techno clubs, plays on a boat in the Rhine harbour according to Basel Tourismus.

Photo: Mikatu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On the Dreispitz site in the south of the city are the Elysia and Viertel clubs. Programmes, entry prices and door policies change from night to night, so check the clubs' websites on the day.

What applies on the Rhine and at Fasnacht?

If you have been drinking, stay out of the Rhine: the current is strong, and the rules are in swimming in the Rhine in Basel. After midnight the bank calls for consideration, as residents live right above the steps.

At Basel Fasnacht the calendar of the cliques counts, not that of the bars: at the Morgestraich at 4am the Old Town taverns are full, and for the three days the city is up all night. If you need a room that week, book early; more in where to stay in Basel.

After a night out, the night network of trams and buses takes you back to the districts at weekends, with lines and fares in getting around Basel. If you come for Art Basel, expect crowds that week in every bar around Messeplatz.

Sources: Canton of Basel-Stadt (open data, "Buvetten in Gewässernähe" dataset, accessed 23 October 2026; hospitality law, 2026 version), websites and menus of the bars named (2024 to 2026), Basel Tourismus (nightlife), Bajour, Untappd, walking times calculated on OpenStreetMap.