Hi Folks!

Today I’ve decided to put together a list of some nice and/or cool restaurants, bars and cafés in Basel which are either great places to be or even truly LGBT friendly places. Unfortunately I haven’t tried them all yet, so I’ll just mention those that I have tried as we go along and I’ll especially point out (with a ♥) those that have this little “je ne sais quoi” that makes them special to me. Have you been to any of these places? Then leave a comment and tell us about it!

Basel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bars & Cafés

• Roter Engel – ♥ been there, love it
• Mitte – nice place to meet or study
• Fumare Non Fumare – decent for a more one-on-one discussion evening
• Baragraph – ideal if you’re an afficionado of Orange Clockwork or Austin Powers design style
• Agora – ♥ been there, totally alternative
• Hirscheneck – even more alternative, hosts LGBT evenings
• Paddy Reilly’s – THE irish venue
• Alpenblick – calm and nice
• Des Art’s, Groundfloor – artsy eccentric patchwork style, not sure if its bad taste or a genially funny and ironic style
• Des Art’s, First Floor – ♥, great bar, with a few real barman, like they almost don’t make them anymore, great choice of spirits and digestives, long list of cocktails
• Cargo Bar – ♥, for the grungy ones
• Samstag – For coffee and breakfast during the week, nice and independent
• Nasobem – ♥ For the bookworms, who like a book with their tea or coffee
• Harmonie – I find the german word “gutbürgerlich” to be quite suited here
• Eo Ipso – ♥, industrial style
• Grenzwert – also good style and good music, discrete if you want to be
• Bar Rouge
• Ca’puccino
• Noohn – liked the bar, the sushi…not so
• Café Schiesser – Grand’Ma style, for the afternoon pastry afficionado
• Bar du Nord – the place to be for football fans during world cups and such…
• KaBar – ♥, on Tuesdays its name changes to Ziischbar and it’s LGBT night!
• Zum Kuss – ♥, excellent cocktails, one of the largest choices of spirits in Basel, almost always open (every day of the week open from 08:00 or 10:00 til 00:00 or 01:00 depending on the day)
• Atlantis – Very nice complex of bar/restaurant/club – somewhat more on the classy side, the food is excellent.
• Balz – One of the main bars where you’ll find young students or even late highschoolers. Good cocktails.
• Volkshaus – Again a complex composed of a Bar, a Biergarten (super nice in the summer), a restaurant & a club/concerthall, quite trendy.
• Casanova – New bar in town, Italian style, but the classy type. Good drinks, good pastry, nice interior design.

Restaurants

• Nooch
• Namamen – ♥ excellent concept, a ramen noodles bar
• Atlantis – ♥ for the nicer occasions, classy and smart
• Yoko Sushi – ♥ really like it, the classic after work sushi bar
• ONO – ♥ been there, upper class but still cool
• Valentino’s – Great burgers, totally uncomplicated crowd
• Kohlmanns – Well designed modern brasserie, unfortunately the service is tad slow
• Acqua – ♥ italian modern cuisine, style and music too
• Eo Ipso
• Minamoto
• Noohn – liked the bar, the sushi…not so
• Latini – ♥ a good italian restaurant with style
• Tibits – for the vegi do-it-yourself fans
• Les Gareçons – ♥ amazing for sunday brunch!
• Atlantis – Very nice complex of bar/restaurant/club – somewhat more on the classy side, the food is excellent.