I had never been to Switzerland prior to this year's Eurovision Song Contest, but I can't pretend I wasn't excited to spend a week there for the sake of my podcast, Eurovangelists. Chocolate! Clocks! Fondue! And while we were there for Eurovision, we saw signs everywhere for Fantasy Basel, Switzerland's largest sci-fi/anime/gaming convention. So I felt right at home as a Pop Heist correspondent in a place that seems to embrace all things pop culture, at least in the month of May. My thanks to Nemo, last year's ESC winner, for bringing the contest to a lovely country, and a delightful city: the third largest within that country after Zurich and Geneva.
Basel is right at the intersection of Germany, France and Switzerland — so close that we stayed in nearby Grenzach, Germany to save a few bucks. Grenzach isn't a place you would likely visit on its own: it's less built-up than Basel, but I still found it to be full of quaint European charm. I spent a morning walking around Grenzach only to encounter a bustling elementary school, a public library, lush green parks and this mill… press… thing?
If only I spoke any other language fluently besides English. That said, nearly everyone I spoke to in Basel started in Swiss German and switched to perfect English after I apologetically admitted to being American.
Robust public transit options meant we could stay in Grenzach and simply take a bus into town every day with minimal planning. We could be at the center of the action in about 20 minutes from our hotel, so downtown Basel is where we spent most of our time. Also, if you're not riding a bus or a tram, are you even in Europe at all? And since we were blessed with breezy, late spring weather for our entire trip, I also spent a considerable chunk of my visit walking the cobblestones and bridges along the Rhine. Occasionally you'd see a swimmer in the Rhine with their clothes safely stowed in an invention that Basel boasts as its own: the goldfish bag; aka, the wickelfisch.
It's a lightweight, waterproof bag to store your stuff while you swim — and hundreds do in August!
Basel as a city is literally thousands of years old, with the name Basilius reaching back at least 1700 years. There are basilisks all over town at water fountains for reasons that are apparently not pun-related to the name of the city.
Our tour guide told us that due to the nearby winemaking regions and filtering of the river, all the fountains in town are safe to drink from, and many do. With all this history, there's plenty of historical sightseeing in the old town of Basel with its cathedral and town hall. But Basel is also the art capital of Switzerland and boasts multiple great art museums. The first and foremost of these is the (do-re-mi-fa-so-so-serving) Kunstmuseum, home to a massive collection of Renaissance, Impressionist and contemporary art across three different buildings.
We also had an amazing guided tour of the Tinguely (pronounced tang-ly) Museum, home to many works by Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, who also made the distinctive fountain in one of Basel's public squares. The Tinguely Fountain was the first thing we really experienced in Basel, and it won us over immediately. It's such a goofy public installation, much more whimsical and European than American public art. What's more, Basel's proud of it (we started our walking tour there) and it conferred a relaxed, continental vibe onto us as well, only having just arrived. Unsurprisingly, everyone in Europe also somehow looks more quintessentially European than any American, since we're the land of immigrants. Yes, I'm white, but I've got ancestors from six different nations in Europe. We've lost the unfiltered version of most European nationalities in America, whereas everyone in Basel sort of looks like a Tintin character.
It was a little overwhelming to visit a city for the first time in the midst of Eurovision, but it was also really exciting to see so many people and feel the energy of the contest take over, especially from Thursday onward. Everywhere you went, people were wearing scarves and outfits in honor of their favorite acts, and everybody was smiling and chatting about the shows with strangers. I know because I spoke to dozens of people while I was there about it, and I don't think it had anything to do with being a podcast host.
In fact, when my cohost Oscar and I were waiting for the late night bus to take us back to Grenzach after Semi 1, a group of university students who had just finished all their exams came up to us and just started asking us what we were doing in Basel. When they found out we were Americans in town for Eurovision and that we had a podcast about it, they got really excited and had tons of questions. Sadly, the bus arrived before they could convince us to come out drinking with them. But we had similarly positive experiences on the trams to and from St. Jakobshalle for Semi 2 and St. Jakobsarena for the Grand Final (they are, helpfully, across the street from each other), both with Eurovision fans and with Basel residents who seemed proud to show off their city.
There's a value in having Eurovision not in the biggest cities like Geneva or Zurich, who would likely just be annoyed the same way LA is thinking about the 2028 Olympics. Speaking of the (1976) Olympics, the mayor of Innsbruck, Austria is making his city's case to host Eurovision next year, and I think a smaller city might be a better pick than much larger Vienna. Of course, I've only been to a single Eurovision, so I'm hardly an expert. But think about it, Austria!
The most incredible thing about our time in Basel was that we were recognized, like, multiple times. Eurovangelists is not a video podcast, and while it is true we were posting photos of us having fun in Basel the whole week we were there, at least one fan spotted us before we posted any.
Every person who politely approached us and said, "Excuse me, but are you the Eurovangelists?" was somehow more excited than we were at the positive identification. That said, considering I am the only white person on the show, we as a trio may have been easier to spot in Switzerland than I assumed. But it was a thrill every time.
Our two biggest regrets were not having fondue (too expensive!), and not going on the karaoke tram (sold out too fast!). But I would happily return to Switzerland any time, and Basel as well. And as for whether the Eurovangelists will be in Austria for 2026, that remains to be seen. I certainly wouldn't bet against it, as we had an absolutely fantastic week in Basel that I could see repeating with a different backdrop. I know it's not cheap, as we certainly wouldn't have been able to go without the support of our listeners, but if you're a Eurovision fan who has the means, it's extremely exciting to be there as it happens.
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