How to see 3 countries in 1 day

Americans spend a week in Zurich wondering why Switzerland feels so touristy. Basel locals watch from across the river and shake their heads.

The real Switzerland exists in the places Americans skip. Here's how to find it.

Read Time: 5m 30s

Here's what nobody tells you about Switzerland:

Zurich, Lucerne, and Interlaken aren't Swiss anymore. They're international tourist zones that happen to be located in Switzerland.

You'll see Swiss flags. Swiss chocolate shops. Swiss watch stores. But you won't see actual Swiss life.

The real Switzerland—the one where Swiss people live, work, and aren't performing "Swissness" for tourists with cameras—exists in smaller cities and towns that Americans ignore.

Basel is one of them.

And from Basel, you're 30-60 minutes from dozens of others.

Alsatian villages with cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses. Black Forest hamlets where German bakeries have been family-run for four generations. Swiss towns along the Rhine where the only tourists are German day-trippers.

This is the anti-Interlaken.

No crowds. No selfie sticks. No restaurants with menus in eight languages.

Just normal European life happening around you while you figure out how to participate.

Know someone planning their first Switzerland trip? Forward this before they book a week in Zurich and wonder why it felt like Disneyland.

Why Basel is Switzerland's best-kept secret

Basel is Switzerland's third-largest city. Most Americans have never heard of it.

That's the point.

While everyone's in Zurich taking photos of the same lake and the same mountains, Basel sits on the Rhine River at the spot where Switzerland, France, and Germany meet—and goes about its business like a normal European city.

You'll find world-class art museums (Kunstmuseum Basel, Fondation Beyeler) without crowds. You'll see locals swimming down the Rhine in summer carrying waterproof bags called Wickelfisch. You'll watch Swiss, French, and German commuters share the same tram. You'll eat at Markthalle Basel where office workers grab lunch at communal tables.

This is what Zurich looked like before it became a brand.

The tri-border location isn't just geography. It's cultural education. You can compare how three different countries approach the same things—food, public space, architecture, daily rhythm—without the exhaustion of packing and moving hotels every two days.

Stay in one place. Go deeper. Experience more.

That's slow travel with a strategic advantage.

Thinking of Going to Switzerland? Love YouTube? Here are some of my favorite videos:

My take: Skip the famous cities

Most Switzerland itineraries look identical:

Fly into Zurich. Train to Lucerne. Day trip to Mount Pilatus. Train to Interlaken. Jungfraujoch excursion. Train back to Zurich. Fly home.

You just spent $3,000+ per person to see the same things everyone sees, surrounded by everyone seeing them.

Here's a better approach:

Fly into EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg. Stay in one apartment in the Basel area for 5-7 days. Use it as a base to explore small towns, hidden valleys, and local spots that don't make the guidebooks.

From Basel, you're within 90 minutes of:

Swiss small towns: Rheinfelden (medieval riverside town), Stein am Rhein (preserved medieval buildings), Appenzell (traditional Swiss culture without the crowds), villages in Canton Jura (nobody goes here—it's stunning)

Alsatian villages: Eguisheim, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg (cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, family restaurants where the recipes haven't changed in decades)

Black Forest towns: Staufen, Badenweiler, Freiburg im Breisgau (German university city with medieval old town, zero tourists, incredible food scene)

Swiss Rhine Valley: Small farming communities where Swiss-German dialect is so thick even other Swiss people struggle with it

These places aren't performing for you. They're just existing. That's why they're better.

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How locals actually do this

Here's what Swiss people who live near Basel already know:

The best strategy for experiencing this region isn't "stay in expensive Swiss hotels and day trip everywhere."

It's: pick one affordable base with good transport connections, live there for a week, and explore by train and tram like a local commuter.

Step 1: Stay where it makes sense

Saint-Louis, France sits 15 minutes from Basel by tram. It's a small French border town with apartments at $90-120/night instead of Basel's $180-240/night hotels.

Why apartments? Because slow travel means having coffee on your balcony, cooking a few meals, doing laundry, settling in. You're living there, not visiting.

All Basel hotels include a free mobility pass for unlimited trams, trains, and buses. Your French apartment costs less AND you get the same transport pass. Location doesn't matter when everything's connected by tram.

Booking.com Basel-area apartments or Airbnb in Saint-Louis, Weil am Rhein (Germany), or suburbs of Basel work equally well.

Step 2: Shop where locals shop

This isn't about being cheap. It's about being curious.

Locals who live on borders don't shop in their own country. Swiss people cross into Germany for groceries. Germans cross into France for wine. French people work in Switzerland for higher wages.

The borders here aren't barriers - they're options.

Buy bread at a German bakery in Weil am Rhein where four generations have been baking the same recipes. Shop at Carrefour in France where you'll find products you won't see in Swiss supermarkets. Explore small Alsatian villages where the architecture looks like it hasn't changed in 200 years.

You're not "saving money." You're experiencing how people actually live here.

Step 3: Take trains to small towns

From Basel SBB station, trains leave every 30-60 minutes to places Americans never visit:

Colmar, France (60 min) - Half-timbered buildings, flower-lined canals, family restaurants where menus haven't changed in 40 years. This is what tourists think all of Europe looks like. It actually exists here.

Freiburg, Germany (45 min) - University city with a medieval center, farmers markets where vendors speak Black Forest dialect, restaurants full of German families, zero tourists. Spend a day here and you'll understand why Germans take quality of life seriously.

Bern, Switzerland (60 min) - Switzerland's actual capital. Locals outnumber tourists 20 to 1. The old town is UNESCO-listed but it's also where people live, shop, and work. Not a museum.

Alsace villages - Take the train to Colmar, then local buses to Eguisheim, Riquewihr, or Kaysersberg. Walk through cobblestone streets. Explore half-timbered architecture. Find family restaurants where the menu has been the same for decades.

Use SBB.ch to plan all trains (works for France and Germany too). Swiss trains are famously punctual. French trains are surprisingly good. German trains... well, they try.

If this approach makes sense, you'll like what I write every week. Read past newsletters here or subscribe below—Thursdays at 3:30am PT.

What you actually do in Basel

Skip the "top 10 Basel attractions" lists. Here's what matters:

Rhine swimming - In summer, locals put their stuff in waterproof bags called Wickelfisch and float down the Rhine through the city. You swim with the current, get out downstream, walk back. It's not a tourist activity. It's what people do after work.

Markthalle Basel - This isn't a tourist market. It's where locals eat lunch. International food stalls, communal tables, real prices. Go at noon on a weekday and watch the city eat.

Fondation Beyeler - World-class art museum in Riehen (just outside Basel). Monet, Cézanne, Giacometti, Picasso. It's one of Europe's best small museums and there's never a line.

Dreiländereck - The monument where three countries meet. Walk there along the Rhine (30 minutes from city center). It's industrial, not scenic. That's what makes it interesting - this is a working border, not a photo op.

Tram into Germany or France - Take tram 8 to Weil am Rhein. Or tram 10 to Leymen, France. No passport checks. No border ceremony. Just ride the tram and watch street signs change language. Get off. Walk around. Have coffee. Come back.

Rhine boat tours - In summer, take a boat along the Rhine to see all three countries from the water. Locals do this on Sundays.

The real benefit: Better experiences AND savings

Here's what a week based in Basel costs versus a week in Zurich/Lucerne/Interlaken:

Basel-based approach (5 nights):

Apartment in France: $500 (5 nights × $100)

Groceries + some meals out: $400 ($80/day for two people)

Day trip trains to small towns: $150

Activities (museums, Rhine boat): $100

Total: $1,150 for two people

Traditional Swiss cities route (5 nights):

Hotels in Zurich/Lucerne/Interlaken: $1,000 (5 nights × $200)

All meals in Swiss restaurants: $750 ($150/day)

Activities: $200 (Jungfraujoch alone is $200)

Total: $1,950

You saved $800 while seeing places most tourists never find.

That's not budget travel. That's smart travel.

The savings aren't the goal. Deeper experiences are the goal. The savings just mean you can come back sooner or stay longer.

Why small towns matter

The best conversations happen in places like this.

A baker in Germany who explained how they proof bread overnight using techniques passed down for generations. A Swiss couple at Markthalle Basel who recommended their favorite Rhine swimming spots. A shopkeeper in Alsace who drew a hand-sketched map of the best villages to visit by train.

These conversations don't happen in Zurich. Everyone's a tourist there. Nobody has time.

In Basel and the small towns around it, you're unusual. Americans don't come here. So when locals realize you're not just passing through - you're staying, you're curious, you're asking good questions - they open up.

That's when travel gets interesting.

Not when you're taking photos of the same mountain everyone photographs. When you're learning why someone's family has been baking bread the same way for four generations, or why they still swim in the Rhine after work every summer day.

Small towns force genuine interactions. Tourist cities let you avoid them.

Already thinking you should forward this? Do it. Send it to one person who's planning their first Europe trip. Save them from the Zurich mistake.

Until next Thursday,
Jeff

P.S. If this approach to travel resonates with you, the best thing you can do is forward this newsletter to one person who'd benefit. That's how this grows. One recommendation at a time.