Unoriginal holiday advice thread, please, thanks

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#1

in a panic about flight prices in school holidays (first time it has been relevant) we booked hilariously cheap, £200 for three people flights to an airport that sounds made up: Euroairport.

It’s listed as both the Frieburg and Basel airport, yet is in France. I already love it.

However, given it is basically in France, Germany, Switzerland, and next door to Austria, and just a bit up from Italy, where the bloody hell can we go on the actual holiday (and do bear in mind comedy summer hotel prices).

Thanks

#2

Blackpool

#3

There’s quite a lot of mountains in between you and Italy there …

#4

Just stay in the airport hotel for a few days.

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#5

This looks quite good near it

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#6

You could have a pleasantly bland time in Mulhouse, just down the road.

(Or bankrupt yourself buying a coca-cola in Bern)

#7

Basel is dull as fuck but Freiburg is supposed to be really nice.

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#8

I have a friend who comes from Freiburg. She really rates the place.

#9

Do they have a lot of Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute bands locally?

#10

same here, my friend said it’s a nice place and a bit of a hidden gem.

#11

A huge, secret gem?

#12

yep, like that guy who built a castle and then hid it with hay bales

#13

Actually, part of the motivation is that Mrs JH lived in Frieburg and wants to go back, so we are going to go there for sure. We have 11 nights, so maybe 3 there, then would like some alpine times in a ski resort (out of season obvs), some Black Forest from there? After that, not a clue.

Have a car.

#14

That’s a really helpful article - thanks.

#15

@elthamsmateowen to the thread: He seems to spend about half his time in Basel at the moment.

#16

Think you’ll have to book a holiday there via Euroairport to sample the covers scene there.

#17

NOASIS

#18

not sure if this helps now, but maybe for the future. I’ll just copy and paste this from MSE:

No matter which airline you fly with, prices fluctuate wildly according to demand – especially during the school holidays. Yet with Easyjet, we’ve found a clever way to battle price hikes. Its ‘Flexifares’ let you switch dates by a few weeks without paying extra. It works at any time of year – but it’s particularly useful when prices really take off.

The idea is to book a Flexifare on the same route at a less busy time when flights are cheaper. Do note that restrictions mean you can only move the phantom ticket one week earlier or three weeks later, so you can’t just book any old date.

You’ll usually pay more than a standard flight for a Flexifare ticket, but as you’ll get the flexibility to switch dates, so long as it’s cheaper than the cost of a peak time standard ticket you win. Plus as an added bonus you’ll also get speedy boarding and one piece of hold luggage (max 20kg) free per person.

Provided there’s capacity, 24 hours after booking you can switch to the dates you originally wanted at no extra charge, possibly saving you £100s. (It’s worth noting Flexifares aren’t available on every flight and are only available 120 days in advance.)

#19

OK @1101010 Euroairport is a good’un. Amazing lounge as well if you get access to it too.

Basel is very beautiful and a 33CHF (each way), 1 hour train ride to Zürich. It’s about 20 minutes taxi from the airport (also around 50CHF). It’s a lovely place to visit but like the rest of Switzerland, and as I’m sure from the pattern emerging you can see, it is not cheap. If you go there there are places that are good to check out.

Les Trois Rois: Incredibly expensive hotel and bar, where Israel was ‘founded’ (/they decided to go and found Israel in talks there). Very beautiful and classic with a wonderful bar, an experience for one drink, and if the weather is good - a beautiful balcony overlooking the Rhine.

Elsbethenstübli: A small, unassuming restaurant on Elisabethenstrasse. Book ahead as it fills up. Not going to get anything mindblowingly fancy or even great service, but probably the most authentic place to go for really good fondue in Basel.

In summer you can do the river current swim they do. It’s a beautiful,amazingly clean river and it’s quite fast moving (but manageable) you go to one end of the city (upstream) and buy/take/rent a water proof bag. You put your clothes, phone, everything except your trunks in the bag, which you make sure air is in when you seal it. You then jump in the river with the bag and use it as a float. You float down stream and get off anywhere you like, but the best place is obvious, and has loads of barbecues and converted shipping containers as small restaurants/bars/take aways. you do the swim, then get off there, dry off and change and get shitfaced and eat bbq, it’s quite nice and fun.

Balthazar Bar: A very nice place to get some decent cocktails, with a good balcony terrace that allows you to see a lot of Basel from while you have a very nice (and for CH, reasonably priced) beer or cocktail.

Hotels to look at that might not be TOO bad but are still nice if you book in advance:
Hotel Basel: (smaller rooms, a lot of character, in a really nice, basically pedestrianised) part of the city. They print you a ‘bed time story’ every day as well.
Hotel D: Opposite Les Trois Rois and just across the bridge from Klein Basel, which is a bit cheaper to eat and drink and has all the student places.
Le Passage: Same chain as D, nice rooms, but this one is the other side of town, near Balthazar.
Nomad: A kitsch 70’s style hotel that is really nice despite trying a bit hard. Wonderful bar and Restaurant, but on the whole it’s probably the priciest option.

If you have any further queries I have spent almost half of the last 2 years there so I’m happy to answer anything, there is a lot more to do and a ton more restaurants, but I think I’ve gone on long enough.

Freibourg is nice but I’ve only been a few times, It’s certainly a lot cheaper due to being in Germany, but it’s further from the airport. I’ve never been to (everything is coming up) Mulhouse - I know it’s closer, smaller and is French, but that’s basically it I’m afraid!

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#20

Colmar (France) is half an hour north and looks like a nice place to have a look around. I looked into it a while back as it has a good Christmas market and there was some good apartments on air bnb / booking.com.

I’d avoid Switzerland if possible because although it’s lovely it is €€€€€€€.

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