Basel punches above its weight for museums. The Kunstmuseum is Switzerland's most important public art collection, and a short walk from it you can reach the Tinguely Museum, the Museum der Kulturen, and the historical museum in the Barfüsserkirche. Out in Riehen, the Fondation Beyeler is one of Europe's best private collections.
The old town centres on Marktplatz — with its astonishingly red-painted Rathaus — and the Münster cathedral on its sandstone terrace above the Rhine. Cross the river on the small ferry pulled by nothing but the current, and wander up into Kleinbasel for a completely different feel. If you're here in the last week of February or early March, the Fasnacht carnival transforms the city for three days and three nights.