What is the Basel outdoor escape game?
The Basel outdoor escape game is an escape room moved out of doors: the puzzles sit in the city's landmarks and your phone holds the whole game. Set aside roughly 2 hours, 44 minutes of which go on walking the 3.5 km between the 10 stops, and pick any day you like for it.
Puzzles are set at the red sandstone Minster above the Rhine, at the painted Town Hall on the Marktplatz, at the Spalentor city gate, at St Peter's Church and on the Mittlere Brücke, with the last one by the river itself. Each puzzle stands alone rather than feeding a plot, and three levels of hints are there for the stubborn ones. Basel's old town packs churches, museums, a gate and a Rhine crossing into one short walk.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 44 min · 3.5 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese
What you do on the escape game
Solve on the spot
One puzzle per attraction, cracked by watching the surroundings and thinking it through. No background knowledge required.
Hunt for the clue
Dates on facades, figures on gates, inscriptions beside doorways: the answers are built into the buildings.
Cover the ground
About 44 minutes of walking across 3.5 km, with Google Maps showing the way to each next stop.
Keep your own clock
No timer is running against you. Take a hint, break for a coffee by the Rhine and continue later or on another day.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who it suits
Friends
Ten puzzles give a group plenty to disagree about, and nobody has to arrive knowing anything about Basel.
Couples
A challenge to work through together, from the Minster hill down to the river, at whatever pace you feel like.
Team building
Teams of up to 5, each player on their own phone, so a department can be split into groups that play the same route.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- Best started in daylight, so you can see the details the puzzles ask about.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Puzzle route: from the Strassburger Denkmal to the Rhine
10 stops · about 44 min walking · start: Strassburger Denkmal · finish: Rhine in Basel
The opening puzzle stands at the Strassburger Denkmal in the park beside the Elisabethen church, minutes from the main station, followed by the Offene Kirche Elisabethen and the Kunstmuseum Basel. The route then climbs to the Minster and the Natural History Museum on Augustinergasse before dropping to the Town Hall on the Marktplatz. A detour reaches the Spalentor, returns by St Peter's Church and crosses the Mittlere Brücke, and the last puzzle is played on the bank of the Rhine. Rearrange the order in the app, and no puzzle needs an entry ticket.
Open the route map ↗
1Strassburger DenkmalStart
This monument by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, was unveiled in 1895 in the park by the Elisabethen church. It thanks Switzerland for helping the people of Strasbourg during the siege of 1870 in the Franco-Prussian War, when Swiss delegates arranged for civilians to leave the city.
2Offene Kirche Elisabethen
The Elisabethen church was built between 1857 and 1865 to plans by Ferdinand Stadler and paid for by the Basel philanthropist Christoph Merian and his wife, who are buried in its crypt. It is regarded as one of the most important neo-Gothic churches in Switzerland, and since 1994 it has been run as an open church for services, concerts and events.
3Kunstmuseum Basel
Basel's art museum on St Alban-Graben grew out of the Amerbach Cabinet, a private collection the city bought in 1661, and it is often called the oldest public art collection in the world. The main building opened in 1936, and the new building across the street, opened in 2016, has a grey brick façade with a frieze that can display text in light.
4Basel Minster
Built of red sandstone between 1019 and 1500, the Minster mixes Romanesque and Gothic styles and was largely rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1356. On the west front, Saint George fights the dragon and Saint Martin shares his cloak, and the humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam is buried inside. Behind it, the Pfalz terrace looks out over the Rhine.
5Natural History Museum Basel
The Naturhistorisches Museum shares a neoclassical building on Augustinergasse with the Museum der Kulturen, designed by Melchior Berri and completed in 1849. Its collections range from minerals and fossils to dinosaurs and the animals of the Alps, and the street outside runs along the Minster hill high above the Rhine.
6Basel Town Hall
The red Town Hall on the Marktplatz was built between 1504 and 1514, shortly after Basel joined the Swiss Confederation in 1501. Its painted façade, gilded details and clock make it easy to spot, and it is still the seat of the cantonal government and parliament of Basel-Stadt.
7Spalentor
The Spalentor was built around 1400 as the grandest gate of the city wall that Basel raised after the earthquake of 1356. Look for its roof of coloured glazed tiles and the figures of the Virgin Mary and two prophets on the outer side. It is one of only three city gates that survive in Basel.
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8St Peter's Church
The Peterskirche is one of Basel's old parish churches, a Gothic church standing beside Petersplatz on the edge of the university quarter. It became Protestant with the Basel Reformation of 1529. Next to it, the tree-lined Petersplatz hosts a flea market and part of the city's autumn fair, the Herbstmesse.
9Mittlere Brücke
A bridge has stood here since around 1225, making it one of the oldest crossings of the Rhine, and for centuries it was the only bridge in Basel. The present stone bridge was built between 1903 and 1905. In its middle stands the Käppelijoch, a small chapel where, according to tradition, condemned people were once thrown into the river.
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10Rhine in BaselFinish
At Basel the Rhine makes a wide bend to the north, the Rheinknie, and splits the city into Grossbasel and Kleinbasel. In summer many locals swim downstream with a waterproof bag called a Wickelfisch, and small ferries without engines cross the river pulled only by the current along a cable.
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