Analise

I will be flying to/from ZRH with miles. I want to take day trips to Strasbourg, Colmar and Freiburg (Germany). I am traveling on my own and was thinking of staying in the Basel area as it would be a good location for these day trips which could include Swiss day trips as well like to Lucerne. I would think that the French side of the border in Saint Louis would be a more affordable locale to stay than Basel across the river. I'm looking to spend about €100-125/night. I will spend my last night in Zurich as I have never been there and want to visit.

Is Saint-Louis a good option? I ask because when I went to Gibraltar, I know I could have saved money by staying in La Linea on the Spanish side of the border but as a woman alone, I wanted to be in a safer area and I also wanted to be in Gibraltar.

Is it the same with Basel? Should I stay in Basel as it would be more interesting and safe?

Also, any day trips you would recommend? Thanks.

pbiflyer

We were just in Basel for Art Basel this past weekend. We stayed outside of Basel at the Courtyard on points. It was a 10 minute walk to the S Bahn. Not much else in the area though. Not sure I would recommend it for a solo female traveler as it is in an industrial part of town. They gave us a visitor card at the hotel for free local transport. I think many hotels might do that in Basel.

Are you driving? If so, I think either location would be fine. While we didn't really see St. Louis, it seemed a bit industrial from the highway.
If you are planning on taking the train, Basel might be easier.

Good choices for day trips. We stopped in both Colmar (mrs pibflyer's favorite french town) and Freiburg. Wish we could have spent more time in Freiburg. Interesting college town.

Luzern is a bit touristy, but interesting as well. The lake is gorgeous, but a bit of a hike from the city.

Analise

I won't have a car. I'll be using public transport. I appreciate your insight about the industrial area in Basel of where the Courtyard is. You are right; I don't want to be in an industrial area. I don't want that in Basel or Saint-Louis.

Colmar is on my list as is Freiburg where I lived in 1982. I haven't been back since and am eager to return. Thanks for the info about Luzern.

KLouis

@Analise: All of Switzerland and most (well, above 98%, I'd say) of France are absolutely safe compared to most places in the world; definitely compared to any place in the USA. As for the area where the Courtyard is located in Basel, it's certainly not unsafe but it is certainly plain ugly.

As for St. Louis, the town centre is definitely not "industrial', but one would not call it beautiful. There are plenty of small villages a little further north in Alsace that are much more atractive. Your problem is that you won't have a car, though. If I were you, I'd think about getting one at ZRH (you are allowed to drive it in France). I got a small one just a couple of weeks ago for 120 € for 4 days, and I visted Colmar, Luzern, and Bern (being "stationed" at Olten").

Analise

KLouis

I can "offer" two possibilities, both less than 30 minutes from Basel SBB, with lots of trains during the day: Olten (CH), a nice, very Swiss (quiet, clean, cute), smallish (pop. ~20K) city and Mulhouse, a larger (pop. ~ 110 K) city, very Alsatian, and certainly much cheaper than Olten. I used to shop at the latter when I lived in Basel 40 years ago due to the prices and I just drove through it a few weeks go: still about the same place . Olten, on the other hand, I visit often nowadays, as one of my sons lives there. You can see, therefore, that I am biased in favour of ... any one of them . I should add, though, that since I speak both German and French, I'd have absolutely no problem staying at any one of the two.

PS You abandoned the idea of St. Louis, fine, but I must tell you that I had the second best dish of tripes there for dinner the day I moved from Heidelberg to Basel . The best one was in Madrid (completely out of topic!!!)

Analise