Basel’s Fasnacht, referred to by locals as the “drei scheenschte Dääg” (three most beautiful days), came to an end at 4:00 on Thursday morning. Since the Basler Fasnacht was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017, it has become even more colorful, original, and creative. This year’s edition was considered one of the best in recent years, despite the rainy weather on the last day. The pre-Fasnacht events, consisting of humorous, theatrical, and musical programs, were all sold-out. The magical Morgenstreich took place with double-digit spring-like temperatures, and the atmosphere on the streets was terrific and mostly peaceful on all three days. Around 11,500 participants took part in the two parades (Cortèges), and tens of thousands more came to watch!

The “Sujets” or topics this year ranged from the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, various women’s issues, the Basel police force, dangerous world leaders, the 100th anniversary of Jean Tinguely, and the Dance of Death to the Japanese beetle and, of course, the environment.

Considering what a HUGE event it is, Fasnacht ended up being another mostly peaceful festival with only very few disturbances, as the organizers and public services report.

• The Basel-Stadt rescue service had their hands full, responding to 44 calls during this year’s carnival. The main reasons were excessive alcohol consumption and circulatory problems.
• Groups of youths caused trouble in the Greifengasse, on both the night between Tuesday and Wednesday and the night between Wednesday and Thursday, keeping the police very busy.
• The Basel-Stadt rescue service’s professional fire department responded to a total of five calls, but no one was injured. They report that carnival participants and the public provided exemplary support by immediately clearing a lane for emergency vehicles.
• Before the start of the children’s carnival, the traffic police conducted safety checks on the participating floats. One float was found without the safety all-round cladding and the elastic bracing that is obligatory to protect those eager little candy-seekers from getting hurt by the wagon’s moving parts. Since this defect could not be remedied on site, the float had to be taken out of service.
• The police only had to reunite 15 kids who got separated from their guardians in the crowds, which was a low number compared to the 35 temporarily missing kids last year. The cantonal police attributes these better numbers to the increasing popularity of children’s badges that are available free of charge from any police station.
• More than 190 bicycles needed to be removed from the route to clear the way for the parade; these numbers are also down from previous years.

So, while public services certainly were kept busy, these statistics demonstrate that overall the Basel Fasnacht is a safe and peaceful tradition and an event that you definitely should experience at least once!

Of course, the event was less peaceful for the public works department, whose workers had to work late at night or early in the morning for those three days to clear the roads in the town center from bottles, cups, boxes—and above all, tons and tons of Räppli (confetti) so that by 6:00, the first trams could pass through the town center again. On Thursday morning, after the official “Endstreich” at 4:00, nearly 300 workers with over 100 vehicles were busy with brooms, shovels, large and small street sweepers of all kinds, small trucks, and even snowplows to clear the main streets. Overall, they removed over 350 tons of trash! This comparatively high figure is primarily due to the rainy weather, which makes the Räppli heavier. But despite their best efforts, chances are you will find leftover Räppli in the streets, stuck to your shoes, and in your clothes for several more weeks.

Even though the the main Basel Fasnacht is over for this year, you can still get some more Fasnacht feeling over the next couple of weeks. For one, there are the “Bummelsonntage” on the next the Sundays, when many of the Cliques march through town in the afternoon without their costumes but still playing their music (https://www.basellife.com/event/fasnacht-bummelsonntage-strolling-sundays).

Also, this weekend and even next week, several communities around Basel are still organizing after-Fasnacht (“Cherus”) events/balls or Guggemusik concerts, including Liestal and Gelterkinden. And then it will finally be really, really all over—until the next Morgenstreich on February 23, 2026, at 04:00!

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