Basel to Laufen via Birsig Valley

Leave Basle by Oberwiler Strasse. Near the zoo take the Hohestrasse towards Allschwil (3km/2.5mi). Near the parish church of St Peter and Paul are several half-timbered buildings including a local museum.

The local museum in Allschwil contains material on the town.

First an artist's house, then a pin factory, this building now houses a collection covering handicrafts.

From Allschwil, returning to the zoo take the main road heading south for 2km/1mi to Binningen (alt. 285 m/935ft) where there is a restaurant in Schloss Binningen, a former moated castle which is first mentioned in 1229 and also the smaller Schloss Holee with a stepped gable and tower (lookout terrace). The Monteverdi Car Collection in Oberwilerstrasse is interesting, a car museum of unique Swiss cars (100 cars and Europe's largest collection - 8,000 - of model cars).

Bottmingen (295 m/968ft), 2km/1mi to the north of Binningen, has a medieval moated castle. The only castle with a lake in northwest Switzerland it dates back to the 14th C., but was renovated in the 18th and 20th C. (restaurant). There are interesting Baroque statues in the hall and a ceiling painted by Isaak Merian (18th C.).

The 17th-century building houses artifacts and tools of local craftspeople from the 18 to 20th centuries.

10.5km/6.5mi from Bottmingen, via Oberwil (alt. 515 m/1,690ft), Therwil (alt. 309 m/1,014ft) with a fine church and Ettingen, we reach Flüh (alt. 381 m/1,250ft), just on the French frontier, with a chalybeate spring. On a hill beyond the frontier is the ruined castle of Landskron (546 m/1,791ft). Beyond Flüh the road climbs sharply. 2.5km/2mi: Mariastein (alt. 515 m/1,690ft) has a Benedictine abbey on a steep-sided crag which was founded in 1645, dissolved in 1874, and reoccupied by Benedictines in 1941; there is also a pilgrimage church (1648-55) and the cave of Maria im Stein.

From Flüh the road runs up on to the western slopes of Blauen and then descends steeply to (9km/6mi) Laufen (alt. 358 m/1,175ft), a little town of 3,500 inhabitants on the south side of the hill. Two town gates belonging to the old fortifications, the Baslertor and the Obertor; St Catherine's church (1698); palace of the Prince-Bishops, now the Prefecture. Laufen is also the site of a large limestone quarry.