Destination Guides
EuroAirport or Zurich: Choosing the Airport for Basel
Basel has an airport fifteen minutes from the city and a larger one an hour away. Which is better depends on where the flight comes from, when it lands and where the trip goes next.
By CABLANE Editorial3 min read
Two Airports for One City
Basel is served by two airports. EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg lies just outside the city on French soil, about 15 minutes from the centre by car. Zurich Airport is 89 kilometres away, about an hour and five minutes by road in normal traffic.
Most travellers do not choose between them freely. The flight decides, and often someone else books it. When there is a choice, it is worth making deliberately, because the two airports lead to very different first hours in Switzerland.
EuroAirport: Close, With a Border in the Building
EuroAirport is the shorter journey by a wide margin. The centre of Basel is about 15 minutes from the terminal and Messe Basel about 20. Bus line 50 runs to Basel SBB station in around a quarter of an hour. For a visitor whose meetings are in Basel, no other arrival comes close.
The network is mainly European. Depending on the season, EuroAirport serves around 90 to 100 destinations, most of them in Europe and around the Mediterranean, and it is linked to hubs such as Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, London and Istanbul. A long-haul journey to Basel therefore usually includes a change at one of them.
The airport has one peculiarity, described in our Basel guide: two exits, a French one and a Swiss one, each leading to a different country's road network. A customs road connects the Swiss sector directly to Basel. Which exit to use is best settled before the flight lands.
Zurich: The Network, at a Distance
Zurich Airport is the main hub of SWISS and the country's long-haul gateway, with non-stop flights to North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. From many cities outside Europe it is the only way to reach the Basel region without a change of aircraft.
The cost is distance. The 89 kilometres to Basel take about an hour and five minutes on the motorway in normal conditions, and longer in the morning and evening peaks around Zurich. By train, Basel SBB is a little over an hour away with a change at Zurich main station, or just under an hour and a half on the direct service.
How to Choose
A few situations decide the question.
Flying long-haul. When Zurich offers a non-stop flight and Basel would need a change, Zurich is usually the better arrival. An hour on the road replaces a connection, and with it the risk of a missed one.
Flying within Europe. When there is a direct flight to EuroAirport, it is almost always the better arrival for Basel. Nothing is gained by landing an hour away.
Arriving late. After a late landing the distance matters more than the timetable. From EuroAirport the hotel is a quarter of an hour away. From Zurich it is still more than an hour, at the end of a long day.
Fair weeks. During Art Basel in June both airports feed the city. When the direct flights to EuroAirport are booked out, Zurich is the practical alternative, and the drive is worth planning around the first evening's commitments.
A trip with several stops. For a programme that also includes Zurich, Zug or Lucerne, it can make sense to land in Zurich and fly home from Basel, or the reverse. For meetings in Alsace or around Freiburg, EuroAirport is the natural starting point.
The Transfer Itself
At EuroAirport the exit is agreed before the flight lands, and the driver waits on the correct side. At Zurich the driver follows the flight and waits in the arrivals hall, so a delay does not cost the car. Both journeys are made in all-electric vehicles, at any hour.
The choice of airport is usually made weeks before the trip. It deserves a minute's thought, because it decides whether the first hour in Switzerland is spent on a motorway or already in Basel.