Basel schools close for two weeks around Easter, Mar 20 to Apr 4 in 2027, and late March can bring sun one day and sleet the next. We picked outings that work either way: animals to visit, gardens and greenhouses coming into bloom, castle ruins and Roman streets to explore. Here's what we checked, from the penguins at the Zolli to the paper vats at the Basel Paper Mill.
Switzerland's oldest zoo, opened in 1874, holds over 500 species in the Birsig stream valley, a short walk from Basel SBB station. Kids can watch king and gentoo penguins in the Vivarium aquarium, gorillas and orangutans in the monkey house, lions and cheetahs in the Etosha area, and Indian rhinos sharing their ponds with otters. Locals call it the Zolli.
Augusta Raurica is the excavated Roman town at Augst, with more than twenty monuments to view, walk on or touch. Kids can sit in the best-preserved Roman theater north of the Alps, stand inside a Roman sewer channel and explore a furnished Roman house modeled on a Pompeii villa.
The museum puts some finds at kid eye level, and the animal park keeps breeds similar to Roman farm animals.
A 25-hectare zoo and botanical garden in the Rebberg district, at the edge of the Tannenwald forest, with about 1,200 animals. Polar bears, musk oxen and arctic foxes live in the Grand Nord area by the entrance, near the lions and tigers. Further in are red pandas, zebras, a sea lion pool, and a mini farm with a playground. Horizon Afrique, opened in 2025, adds giraffes, pygmy hippos and crocodiles.
Vogelpark Steinen is a bird and animal park in the southern Black Forest. Eagles, falcons and owls fly in an open-air falconry arena seating about 600, and kids can walk through the Barbary macaque enclosure at feeding time and feed parakeets in a covered free-flight aviary.
There are also kangaroos, a bird house on local species, a labyrinth with an eagle owl search game, several playgrounds and a water-treading pool.
A wildlife park in the Lange Erlen riverside woods along the Wiese, run by the Erlen-Verein since 1871. It keeps native animals across about 20 hectares: European bison, red and fallow deer, chamois, lynx, wildcats and foxes, plus owls in aviaries and waterbirds on the ponds.
Rare Swiss farm breeds such as Valais sheep and woolly pigs round it out.
Merian Gardens covers 18 hectares of gardens and organic farmland run by the Christoph Merian Foundation. Kids can visit the sheep, chickens and rabbits in the stables, spot frogs and dragonflies at the pond along the shady canal path, and look for beaver tooth marks on trees.
There is also a mill museum, an orchard with 300 fruit varieties, a historic iris collection and a rhododendron valley that blooms in spring.
One of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1589 and next to the Spalentor since 1898. More than 7,500 plant species grow in the outdoor beds and greenhouses.
Kids can find cocoa, bananas and coffee in the Tropical Greenhouse, giant water lily pads in the Victoria house, century-old golden barrel cacti in the Succulent House, and tiny frogs hiding among the tropical plants.
Ermitage Arlesheim is a landscape garden opened in 1785 across 40 hectares of wooded valley. Paths wind past ponds, an old mill, a rock gate and a string of grottoes, up to a hermit's hut and the Schloss Birseck castle ruin with its Knight's Hall.
A riddle booklet written for kids turns the walk into a hunt for clues at each numbered station.
Rötteln is one of the largest castle ruins in southern Baden, stretching about 300 meters along a hilltop spur above Lörrach. Kids can climb both keeps for views over the corner where Germany, Switzerland and France meet, roam the walls and courtyards, and see the small castle museum with its fairy-tale organ and weapons display. Behind the castle, a grill area has a well-known climbing root.
A gondola climbs from Reigoldswil to the Wasserfallen in about 10 minutes, with six-person cabins that run continuously, so there is no timetable to learn. At the top station, families pick up kick scooters and helmets and ride a 4 km forest track back down to the valley in 20 to 30 minutes. An adventure playground with a giant wooden sled and climbing tower sits beside the top station.
Switzerland's most-visited museum covers rail, road, air, water and space travel. Kids can see original locomotives, two Swissair planes, rockets and Mars rovers, a submarine, and a 31.5-meter model of the Gotthard railway. A walk-in cube makes the floor turn into a wall.
Outside, younger kids ride scooters, climb into play buses and take the miniature garden railway. A planetarium, a film theater and a chocolate ride share the site.
The Swiss Museum of Paper, Writing and Printing sits in a late medieval mill beside a rushing mill stream, where the mill wheel turns and the stamping mill hammers away. Kids scoop their own sheet of paper, write with a goose quill, try a typewriter, typeset their name and make marbled paper. Craftspeople work the historic machines on site, so families watch printing and bookbinding done the old way.
Basel schools close for two weeks around Easter, Mar 20 to Apr 4 in 2027, and late March can bring sun one day and sleet the next. We picked outings that work either way: animals to visit, gardens and greenhouses coming into bloom, castle ruins and Roman streets to explore. Here's what we checked, from the penguins at the Zolli to the paper vats at the Basel Paper Mill.
Switzerland's oldest zoo, opened in 1874, holds over 500 species in the Birsig stream valley, a short walk from Basel SBB station. Kids can watch king and gentoo penguins in the Vivarium aquarium, gorillas and orangutans in the monkey house, lions and cheetahs in the Etosha area, and Indian rhinos sharing their ponds with otters. Locals call it the Zolli.
Augusta Raurica is the excavated Roman town at Augst, with more than twenty monuments to view, walk on or touch. Kids can sit in the best-preserved Roman theater north of the Alps, stand inside a Roman sewer channel and explore a furnished Roman house modeled on a Pompeii villa.
The museum puts some finds at kid eye level, and the animal park keeps breeds similar to Roman farm animals.
A 25-hectare zoo and botanical garden in the Rebberg district, at the edge of the Tannenwald forest, with about 1,200 animals. Polar bears, musk oxen and arctic foxes live in the Grand Nord area by the entrance, near the lions and tigers. Further in are red pandas, zebras, a sea lion pool, and a mini farm with a playground. Horizon Afrique, opened in 2025, adds giraffes, pygmy hippos and crocodiles.
Vogelpark Steinen is a bird and animal park in the southern Black Forest. Eagles, falcons and owls fly in an open-air falconry arena seating about 600, and kids can walk through the Barbary macaque enclosure at feeding time and feed parakeets in a covered free-flight aviary.
There are also kangaroos, a bird house on local species, a labyrinth with an eagle owl search game, several playgrounds and a water-treading pool.
A wildlife park in the Lange Erlen riverside woods along the Wiese, run by the Erlen-Verein since 1871. It keeps native animals across about 20 hectares: European bison, red and fallow deer, chamois, lynx, wildcats and foxes, plus owls in aviaries and waterbirds on the ponds.
Rare Swiss farm breeds such as Valais sheep and woolly pigs round it out.
Merian Gardens covers 18 hectares of gardens and organic farmland run by the Christoph Merian Foundation. Kids can visit the sheep, chickens and rabbits in the stables, spot frogs and dragonflies at the pond along the shady canal path, and look for beaver tooth marks on trees.
There is also a mill museum, an orchard with 300 fruit varieties, a historic iris collection and a rhododendron valley that blooms in spring.
One of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, founded in 1589 and next to the Spalentor since 1898. More than 7,500 plant species grow in the outdoor beds and greenhouses.
Kids can find cocoa, bananas and coffee in the Tropical Greenhouse, giant water lily pads in the Victoria house, century-old golden barrel cacti in the Succulent House, and tiny frogs hiding among the tropical plants.
Ermitage Arlesheim is a landscape garden opened in 1785 across 40 hectares of wooded valley. Paths wind past ponds, an old mill, a rock gate and a string of grottoes, up to a hermit's hut and the Schloss Birseck castle ruin with its Knight's Hall.
A riddle booklet written for kids turns the walk into a hunt for clues at each numbered station.
Rötteln is one of the largest castle ruins in southern Baden, stretching about 300 meters along a hilltop spur above Lörrach. Kids can climb both keeps for views over the corner where Germany, Switzerland and France meet, roam the walls and courtyards, and see the small castle museum with its fairy-tale organ and weapons display. Behind the castle, a grill area has a well-known climbing root.
A gondola climbs from Reigoldswil to the Wasserfallen in about 10 minutes, with six-person cabins that run continuously, so there is no timetable to learn. At the top station, families pick up kick scooters and helmets and ride a 4 km forest track back down to the valley in 20 to 30 minutes. An adventure playground with a giant wooden sled and climbing tower sits beside the top station.
Switzerland's most-visited museum covers rail, road, air, water and space travel. Kids can see original locomotives, two Swissair planes, rockets and Mars rovers, a submarine, and a 31.5-meter model of the Gotthard railway. A walk-in cube makes the floor turn into a wall.
Outside, younger kids ride scooters, climb into play buses and take the miniature garden railway. A planetarium, a film theater and a chocolate ride share the site.
The Swiss Museum of Paper, Writing and Printing sits in a late medieval mill beside a rushing mill stream, where the mill wheel turns and the stamping mill hammers away. Kids scoop their own sheet of paper, write with a goose quill, try a typewriter, typeset their name and make marbled paper. Craftspeople work the historic machines on site, so families watch printing and bookbinding done the old way.
