Basel

Basel is a city in Switzerland.

The city is located near the German and French border.

East, South towards Bern, Zürich, Luzern
Take the S1 or S3 in the direction of Olten or Laufenburg (both'll do..) at Basel's main train station ("Basel SBB"). Get off at Pratteln and follow the Zehntenstrasse (parallel to the railway tracks) in the direction of the train you took, for quite a short time. Go left at the little steps, which lead to a road underneath the tracks, then straight. Turn right at the main road, then continues on the road Hohenrainstrasse. Follow this road for 5 minutes, keep on the left footpath, and you will then see a small commercial area. Turn left onto this street, Zurlindenstrasse, walk down until you reach a little forest with a path going down. Follow the path. Then you will be at the motorway service station Pratteln-Süd. It is open 24 hours a day.

NOTICE: It might be useful to use a sign here or to ask people where they're going.. A few kilometres down the road there's a big crossing. You can choose between the direction Zürich and St. Gallen or Bern and Luzern.

North towards Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, etc
Go to the Basel “Hauptbahnhof” (main train station) and take the number “50” bus, direction “Euroairport”. The second last stop ("Frachthalle") arrives at the St.Louis area which is beside the Swiss-French border. You will see that there is a police check point for cars. If you make your way to this area and stand at the side you should be able to interact with vehicles’ at a very slow speed. Look out for the police as they can be a nuisance but I had no problems.

Alternatively, you can walk straight down through St. Louis, or take the bus, down to the other end of town. Eventually, you will be at a small petrol station. Not exactly the best place, but there is a round-about that leads straight to the A35. There is only a small parking space for vehicles to stop, so not so ideal for trucks, however when I was hitchhiking there, there was heavy traffic coming from all directions and vehicles had to slow down as they turned. I only stood there for about 20-30mins. I found the atmosphere a lot nicer than around the border patrol. (On googlemaps: 47.59372,7.555225)

You can also take the bus number 50 to "Friedrich-Miescher-Strasse" and walk down the hill. There you'll find the slip road for the motorway to France. In the morning and especially in the evening there is a lot of traffic. And just next to it, you find a colorful squat, where you can probably find a sleeping place for a night, if hitchhiking just doesn't work.

North towards Germany, Freiburg
You should follow the directions in the first paragraph. Also, one has to go to the other side of this petrol station to go to Germany. There is a crossing at the restaurant at the Pratteln-Nord service station.

A bigger rest area is just on the border to Germany! There it is very easy to find rides. You have to take the Regional express train to "Weil am Rhein". Then walk back in the opposite direction the train was driving. You see a bridge leading over the railway lines. Cross the bridge and walk straight ahead till there is a second street turning right. Just follow this road to the rest area! (You can see it soon so it’s impossible you don’t find it!)


 * A helpful cutout of a map

isin: Switzerland

Basel Sen Galen