BASEL FOR BIBLIOPHILES: BEST BOOKSTORES IN BASEL

Basel is hands down one of my favourite places in the world, and its bookstores are especially divine. With the city’s medieval old town, red-sandstone town hall, its incredible food – everything about it lures you in. I visited Basel during Storm Ciara, where I found myself stranded in the city as our flight kept getting pushed further back, day after day… and what a wonderful place to be stranded!

I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing as sweet as walking into a beautiful bookstore where the staff welcome you home and you’re surrounded by wonderful books, new and old, packed with all the beauty in the world. The storm allowed me to really get to know these bookstores, and find my own little haven in Basel.

THE BEYELER FOUNDATION

The Beyeler Foundation is, in essence, an art museum, but with a comprehensive collection of books. It’s a super pretty gallery with gorgeous exhibitions featuring big names such as Goya and Hopper, interspersed with pieces by small-town local painters. The best bit of the whole place has to be their massive gift shop with the ma-hoosive collection of art books to purchase – glossy, high-quality books, in which the sales then go back into the cost of running the gallery itself. There’s this one part of the gallery where glass encompasses you as you sit on plush sofas looking outside, with books stacked in every corner of the room. It’s a very serene and relaxing place, and a beautiful way to spend the afternoon – especially when that golden sun shines in.

MÜELLER PALERMO

Müeller Palermo feels like a gallery with the pristine white walls and the shelves filled with gorgeous images, but it is actually just a very gorgeous Basel bookstore. Apparently they do events here, too, but unfortunately we didn’t have the time to experience one (although they look like a lot of fun; so vibrant and welcoming and filled with the best people – book people). They have beautiful window displays, showcasing textured Japanese paper, books made of cloud, and postcards depicting every utopia on earth. What more could you want?

CAFÉ CON LETRAS

When I first touched down in Basel, one of my friends from Canada suggested that I visit the Café con Letras – a super cool bookstore-cum-cafe that serves a wide array of beverages and baked goods, along with hosting entertainment in the evenings. The whole place is super cool, with gorgeous paintings on the wall and art books covering the shelves, and the fact that it’s located just off the Rheingasse 69 is pretty ideal for visiting the Natural History Museum or taking a stroll by the water afterwards.

B&B LIBROS

I’m not quite sure what the deal is here, but can only assume that along with having all of these gorgeous books, they’re also a cool place to stay. They have this super interesting bit where a selection of sketches hang from the ceiling surrounded by books, paintings, and succulents, and it’s such a restorative place to visit. It’s a little messy, but in that lived-in, loved-in sorta vibe. And as I’m sure you know, the best places always are.

LIBELLE MIT H&B

This place pretty much has everything! Unfortunately we weren’t able to spend a lot of time here, but the time that we spent browsing and quickly meandering around the shop was a lot of fun. Their windows are always gorgeous and often colour-co-ordinated, and when you walk into the shop it seems to blossom open, with layers upon layers of floors dedicated to books, all featured around the book square in the middle. It’s so beautiful, and with tens of thousands of books available, it’s a pretty convenient place to be a bibliophile. They have a bunch of books dedicated to ‘Helvetica’ – the female national personification of Switzerland, along with artwork and photography, and graphic sheets and posters, and it comes together to be pretty beautiful.

ANTIQUARIAT GERBER

Where do I even begin? The Antiquariat Gerber is full of seemingly millions of volumes on literature, art, photography, and architecture, and the shop genuinely feels as though you’ve walked into a bibliophile version of Ollivander’s. They have the most beautiful old books with burgundy spines and intricate typefaces, and wonderful framed paintings and sketches. The guy behind the desk was super nice and welcoming, and pointed us out to the English volumes when we stared confusedly at books in German. The posters and artwork decorating the walls are beautiful and really tie the whole place together, and if I’m allowed to be a little biased, this is probably my favourite Basel bookstore out of them all. We spent so long here just merely looking at the books, and it was wonderful.

ARCADOS

I’ll be honest with you, I really wasn’t expecting to run into a gay book store whilst out and about in Basel, but boy, am I glad I did. Their books are so, so gorgeous, with beautiful covers on books such as A Thing of Beauty and The Art of Looking. It’s so nice to run into a welcoming, inclusive little store when you expect it the least, and the fact that the bookstore is run by Peter Thommen, a 70 year old gay activist, only makes the whole thing ten times cooler.

BIDER AND TANNER

Bider and Tanner has the same vibe as a Swiss Waterstones, but on a less mass-produced scale. We spent hours here when our flight home got pushed back by one day, and then two, and then three, and we spent so much time just lounging around here and reading about tea and food and travel. It’s a pretty cool place with one helluva collection, and you’re sure to find something that works for you. Also called ‘Basel’s culture house,’ the bookstore also sells music by Swiss artists.

Can you believe that this blog post is the only relatively comprehensive post on the whole internet about bookstores in Basel? We’re out here making history, people.

Basel truly is one of my favourite places in the world for food, views, and, of course, books. Have any of y’all visited Basel before, or any of these bookstores? More importantly, which ones do you crave walking through the door of? Let me know in the comments below!

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