Basel

Its Marktplatz front is red paint and gilding, visible from any corner of the square. Parliament and government still sit here, yet in office hours you can simply walk into the courtyard for the murals. Upstairs chambers need a guided tour.

Built of red sandstone, so the walls glow redder toward sunset. The humanist Erasmus is buried inside. The Pfalz terrace behind the church juts above the river and takes in the Rhine and Kleinbasel on the far bank in one view.

In summer people stuff clothes and phones into a fish-shaped dry bag and drift downstream. With a strong current, where you climb out up the bank steps matters more than where you get in, so decide that first. Nobody swims out into the mid-river shipping lane.

Four small ferries cross with no engine, hung from a cable over the river and pushed across by the current alone. Hand the ferryman a few coins and you are on the far side in minutes. Many ride one on purpose even with a bridge close by.

One of the oldest art collections bought by a city and opened to its people. Few places hold this much Holbein, and modern work hangs in the new building across the road. A tunnel joins the two, so you cross without going outside.

A museum by Renzo Piano out in Riehen, a tram ride toward the German border. Monet's water lilies hang facing a pond beyond a long glass wall, so the painting and the water outside seem to run together. Big exhibitions sell tickets for set entry times.

A home for Jean Tinguely's scrap-metal machines, which rattle into motion when you step on a floor pedal or press a button. Mario Botta designed the riverside building, and Rhine swimmers often get into the water right outside it.

A furniture maker's grounds in Weil am Rhein, Germany, where Frank Gehry's design museum and Zaha Hadid's fire station share one fence. The bus from central Basel crosses the border, so bring ID. Some of the buildings can only be entered with a guide.

One of the few gates left from the medieval walls, its roof tiled in glazed green and yellow. Cars and bikes still pass under it, so a photo means stepping aside to the kerb. Statues are fixed to the outer face, which is the showier side.

At 4am on the Monday after Ash Wednesday the city lights go out and lantern-lit cliques set off with piccolos and drums. From then it runs exactly three days. Spectators in masks are frowned upon, so watch from the kerb bare-faced.

Opened in 1874, Switzerland's oldest zoo, known to locals as the Zolli. It is right in town; walkers reach it from the main station within minutes. Gorillas and penguins are favourites, and crowds gather for feeding times.

A Roman town site at Augst, east of Basel, with the best-kept Roman theatre north of the Alps. Most ruins lie open in fields to wander free; only the rebuilt Roman house and museum charge. On the theatre steps, voices from the stage carry to the top.

Where the Rhine port ends, a silver pylon marks the meeting of the Swiss, German and French borders. The true point lies mid-river, so from the pylon you look at three countries at once. Open-air bars on the quay get busy on summer evenings.

A stone bridge on the spot that has linked Greater and Little Basel since the 13th century; the present span dates from 1905. A small chapel sits mid-bridge, where convicts were once said to be thrown into the river. Its grille is thick with love locks.

A museum of paper and printing in a medieval mill by the St. Alban canal, its waterwheel still turning. Visitors scoop a sheet of their own paper from a mould and can set their name in lead type. Families with children stay a long while.

Running since 1471, Switzerland's oldest fair fills the city squares with rides and stalls from late October, lasting just over a fortnight. It opens when the bell of St. Martin's rings. Spiced biscuits and roast chestnuts scent the lanes.

An international art fair begun in 1970, drawing galleries from around the world to Messe Basel each June. Satellite shows open across town alongside the main halls. That week hotels fill early and prices jump, so avoid the dates or book far ahead.