Basel is Switzerland 's third most populous city (166,563 inhabitants (2004); 690,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area stretching across the immediate cantonal and national boundaries made Basel Switzerland 's second-largest urban area as of 2003. Located in north-west Switzerland on the river Rhine, Basel functions as a major industrial centre for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

The city borders both Germany and France . The Basel region, culturally extending into German Baden and French Alsace, reflects the heritage of its three states in the modern Latin name: "Regio TriRhena". It has the oldest university of the Swiss Confederation (1460). Basel may be described as a city state is a city without land. And its expansion has been strictly limited by its narrow political boundaries. But for the people who live in Basel , the surrounding countryside expands their horizons – and their recreation possibilities.

The Birseck plain and the Gempen plateau have always been popular with the city-dwellers. In Riehen and Arlesheim, in particular, the magnificent estates a reminders of a glorious age when the merchants of Basle were devotees of nature and art a– are often made accessible to the public for concerts, exhibitions and social events. Baslea's economic is connected with its country-side surrounding very strong, and tens and thousands of people commute to work from outlying districts. Even so, space constraints have compelled many firms to move their operations out of town while others have remained in Basle setting up additional production units across the border in France and West Germany , in other European countries, and overseas.