Keep in mind that it's almost impossible to get hotel reservations during the Swiss Industries Fair, which attracts about a million visitors every spring. Rooms are also impossible to find at Carnival time, when hotels often raise their prices by as much as 40%. Check with the Basel tourist office for exact dates. Even when hotels aren't raising their prices in Basel, the prices strike many visitors as being extremely high, even when they shouldn't be for what they offer. That's because Basel usually fills up its rooms with business clients and doesn't have to rely primarily on tourists.
