Basel - Transport

Like most Swiss cities Basel has an excellent public transport network that operates frequent and reliable services throughout the urban and suburban areas. Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) (tel: (061) 685 1414; www.bvb.ch) operates the city's many trams and buses. There are 15 tramlines and numerous bus lines, most operating every 6-7 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes late in the evening (although some lines only operate at rush hour). Day cards and two-, three-, four- and seven-day tickets are available.

As a supplement to the public transport network there are four ferries crossing the Rhine between the city's bridges. They are operated by the Basel Ferry Association (tel: (061) 692 7173; www.faehri.ch), and they travel across the river without a motor, propelled only by the force of the current.

There are several taxi companies in Basel, and it is never hard to get hold of a taxi. Companies include Taxi Zentrale AG (tel: (061) 222 2222), 33er taxi AG (tel: (061) 333 3333) and Taxiphon-Genossenschaft Basel (tel: (061) 444 4444).

Car hire is available from Avis (tel: (061) 325 2840; www.avis.ch), Europcar (tel: (061) 325 2903/4; www.europcar.ch), Hertz (tel: (061) 325 2780; www.hertz.ch), Alamo (tel: (061) 325 1743; www.alamo.ch) and Sixt (tel: (061) 325 1540/1; www.sixt.ch).

You can hire bicycles from Rent A Bike (tel: (051) 229 2345; www.rentabike.ch) at the SSB railway station.