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!