Coach Hire Across Switzerland

EuroAirport coach transfers: the Swiss exit, the customs road and Basel

EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg stands on French soil, with a French sector and a Swiss sector in one building. For a group heading into Switzerland, one choice decides the transfer: which exit the travellers take after baggage claim.

Use the Swiss exit

After baggage claim, arriving passengers choose the exit for France or the exit for Switzerland. Both are clearly marked. Put the Swiss exit in the joining instructions and repeat it on the day. That is the side the coach reaches from Basel over the customs road, and where it waits.

A vehicle cannot drive between the two sectors on the airport site. A driver who arrives at the French forecourt must exit and loop back via the customs zone. In the navigation system, 'Flughafen Basel-Mulhouse' leads to the Swiss sector and 'Aéroport Bâle-Mulhouse' to the French one.

Mercedes-Benz Tourismo 49-seat coach, exterior
Mercedes-Benz Tourismo 49-seat coach, exterior

No coach rules are published

Unlike Zurich or Geneva, EuroAirport publishes no coach pick-up point, coach park or registration for group coaches. On the Swiss side only buses, taxis and authorised vehicles may use the levels in front of the terminal. The car parks admit only vehicles under 3.5 t, so a coach cannot wait in them.

The operator therefore agrees the meeting point and the coach's stopping place before the day. Limousines have reserved spaces in the Swiss-side Express car park, which suits a car with driver.

Where the coach collects the group

  • Groups going to Basel or elsewhere in Switzerland should leave the baggage hall by the exit for Switzerland (Swiss sector), and the vehicle must wait on the Swiss side. The Swiss sector is reached from Basel by the customs road (Route douanière), which joins Basel's Flughafenstrasse; a vehicle cannot drive from one sector to the other on the airport site, so a vehicle that arrives on the French side has to leave and come round through the customs zone. The airport publishes no coach pick-up point, coach park or registration procedure for group coaches. On the Swiss side, since December 2019 private cars may no longer use the departures and arrivals levels in front of the terminal; only buses, taxis and vehicles with an authorisation may, and the airport bus (line 50) leaves from the Swiss-sector terminal forecourt, Arrivals zone. Cars with driver can use the Swiss-sector Express car park right in front of the terminal, which opened in 2019 with 15 of its spaces set aside for limousines. Agree the meeting point and the coach's stopping place with the operator when booking.

Coach parking and waiting

  • No coach rules are published. The airport's car parks admit only light vehicles under 3.5 t, so coaches cannot use them; S1 (Swiss side) and F1 (French side), next to the terminal, have a 1.90 m height limit, which also excludes many high-roof minibuses. The Express car parks in both sectors allow a free short stay for dropping off and picking up, with a maximum stay of 4 hours: the airport's help pages give 20 minutes free, while the 2026 Swiss-sector tariff sheet shows 10 minutes free, limited to 5 passes per vehicle per day. Under the 1949 Franco-Swiss treaty, French law applies to the airport car parks.

By coach to the centre

  • about 7 km by road from the Swiss sector to the Marktplatz, in the centre of Basel, about 15 min by coach in light traffic, via the customs road; longer at peak times

Late flights and travellers on the wrong side

There is no railway station at the airport. From 04:30 to midnight, bus line 50 shuttles between the Swiss forecourt and Basel SBB station, a ride of about 20 minutes. A traveller on a later flight can follow the group into town that way.

Anyone who comes out on the French side by mistake can cross on foot through the border passage on the departures floor, level 3. Bring a passport or identity card; the passage opens at 04:00 and closes about 00:30.

Into Basel and further on

The Marktplatz is about 7 km away, about 15 minutes by coach in light traffic. Messe Basel is about 9 km, also about 15 minutes; coach parking for fair visitors there is reserved in advance online. In the car-free core of Grossbasel a coach needs a short-term access permit to set a group down, so ask the operator to arrange it.

Zürich is about 1 h 30 min by coach, Luzern about 1 h 45 min and Interlaken about 2 h 30 min.

What organisers ask us

Is EuroAirport on Swiss soil?

No, it is in France. It has a Swiss sector with its own forecourt, car parks and road access from Basel, and that is the side groups bound for Switzerland use.

How long may the vehicle stop in front of the terminal?

The airport's own documents give different free times, so we do not quote one. Plan for the coach to pull in when the group is through, at the place agreed beforehand.

Can a minibus use the airport car parks?

Only if it weighs under 3.5 t and fits under the height limits. S1 and F1, next to the terminal, allow 1.90 m, which many high-roof minibuses exceed.

Destinations

Vehicles, each with a driver