Erasmus Walk

This short walk takes you via the Rheinsprung to the Basel Cathedral hill, which was home to many important events in Basel’s history. People have lived in this area for 2100 years because of the strategically favourable location and the excellent view across the Rhine. Celts and Romans built settlements here. In 1439, Pope Felix V was elected during the Council of Basel on the Cathedral hill. The prince bishop also lived here until the Reformation in 1529. Today, this area is an attractive residential zone and also an administrative and museum district. The Münsterplatz has an idyllic atmosphere that transforms into a scene of lively festivities during Basel’s numerous events. From the courtyard “Pfalz” behind the Cathedral you can enjoy breathtaking views of the city, the Rhine, and the hills of the Black Forest and the Vosges. Visit the Cathedral with its well-preserved Romanesque elements and the grave of Erasmus of Rotterdam. Or explore the Gothic cloister with its impressive vaulted ceiling, where numerous councilmen, scholars, merchants and their families are buried. The route back to the lively Marktplatz leads you down the Freie Strasse, the city’s best-known shopping street.

Erasmus of Rotterdam (around 1466 – 1536). A prominent humanist, lived and worked in Basel from 1514 to 1516, 1521 to 1529 and from 1535.