Basel Farmer's Market, Cheese, Chocolate & Pastry Tour
Description
History, art, treats, and pastries are waiting for you in Basel. Our Basel tasting tour offers the opportunity of a lifetime to discover significant places that bring forth the signature tastes of Switzerland. Start the journey by admiring historical landmarks that have endured the test of time. Then, dive further into understanding culture by indulging yourself with cheeses and eventually appreciating the process of making Swiss AOP cheeses. We will also take you to chocolate and pastry shops selling notable chocolates and traditional Swiss spice biscuits. End the tour by embracing the natural flavors you can only taste in Switzerland.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Our discovery will let you travel back in time by exploring the city of Basel and Swiss food. The guide will lead you through Swiss delights and historical events that define the city and Switzerland. Be amazed by the Munster Cathedral and the 500-year-old Roothus (Town Hall) that houses several unique paintings. Make a remarkable memory of observing the iconic Tinguely Fountain. Along the way, you will head directly to a traditional Swiss sweetshop to taste the authentic treats of Switzerland.
Since Switzerland is known for its cheese, you will go beyond the usual tourist destinations in Basel to discover the process of making various kinds of Swiss cheese. Learn from a sommelier and master cheese ager to cherish the mild and strong flavors of young and aged Basel’s cheese. Try the country's pride called Gruyère AOP cheese, including other famous cheeses in Switzerland. By the end of the cheese tasting, you will admire the natural taste of a cheese free from preservatives, food colorings, and flavor enhancers.
Awaken your sweet tooth in this city filled with freshly made chocolates with no additives. In this tour, you’ll be blown away by the historical significance of the development of the Swiss chocolate industry and understand how Switzerland was able to gain a spot on the list of the best cholates in the world. To fully appreciate the detailed process of chocolate making, taste some mouthwatering truffles, hand-scooped dark chocolate, or chocolate almonds.
For your final stop, you will be guided to a local bakery to taste a traditional Swiss spice biscuit. You’ll fall in love with the distinct heavenly flavor and texture of this 17th-century pastry with recipes that have been passed from generation to generation via oral or handwritten communication. Experience a glimpse of Basel’s culture by tasting a local pastry that was formerly only produced in private households by housewives looking for an extra source of income.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(198)
Be very careful with this tour operator. Highly recommend you book with someone other than Tours of Switzerland. We never were able to go on the tour due to partial cancellation by tour operator the day before the tour. We requested a refund but tour operator has not answered any emails nor made any contact. We paid in excess of $400 for four guests and now see that Viator offers almost the identical tour for approx. $45 per person. Email to tour operator was as follows: When we met our guide on Aug 17 at 10:00 am we were told that due to the pouring rain with lightening and thunder in the background the farmer's market at the Marktplatz would be closed and was not an option for the tour. As shown below the chocolate and cheese portion of the tour had already been cancelled the day before. Effectively, all the tour highlights listed in the itinerary were either cancelled or closed. The guide and our group of four agreed that it would be futile to start the tour given the severe weather conditions and realizing that none of the highlights of the tour were available. Therefore, we are asking for a full refund of the tour cost. Please initiate the procedure to get a full refund.
Surprisingly beautiful city, big, lots to do, lots to see, culture, history, hospitality, shopping, it's all there. Clean and tidy city
Guide never showed Called & set up another appointment Never showed up again for 2nd appointment
It was a nice tour. The guide gave us info about the town as we walked. We went to the Farmer's Market and got to taste some cherries. The meeting place, in front of the museum, was easy. The pastry was not that great, but a great little shop. The chocolate and chees tour was delicious, in a small, single-owner shop.
Travelers should thoroughly review the meeting point information. The meeting point information accompanying the ticket was different from the location on the map. Description said Marktplatz while map said 16 St. Alban Graben. So we missed the tour. Also we could not contact the tour guide as we didn’t have his contact information and he apparently didn’t have ours. Overall, very poor communication and logistics process by Viator. Not what we’ve come to expect from Viator.
Terrible experience THEY STOOD US UP they changed our tour time one early morning before, moving it up 5 hours They wanted to give us a “mini tour” in exchange And neither VIATOR NOR THE PROVIDER took responsibility THERE WAS NO REFUND IT WAS A RIP-OFF
Selma was an awesome guide! Walking and tram, raspberries at Farmers Market, local bakery and a tasty treat with option to buy and chocolate and cheese made by a solo business owner who was so knowledgeable and welcoming!
The cheese and chocolate part of the tour was good however, the old town and marketplace part were …meh… Not worth the price.
The best part of this tour was the cheese and chocolate part. Alejandro was very knowledgeable, personable and fun to listen to. I liked the history and process of cheese making as well as tasting the various types of cheese. I was happy that he explained all the ingredients that he used to make the chocolate as I normally cannot eat milk chocolate. The city tour part of the tour was MEH… There was no accommodation for my allergy although it was clearly given months in advance. (Other food tours had substituted safe foods available).
Great guide Selma! Knowledge was extensive.
