The Carnival of Basel, locally known as Basler Fasnacht, is the largest carnival in Switzerland and the world's most significant Protestant carnival. Held annually in Basel, it is recognized as a major European festivity and has been inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2017. wikipedia

During the 2025 Carnival, weather conditions were mild with mixed cloudiness. The minimum temperature was 3.0°C on Tuesday, while the maximum reached 14.8°C on the same day. Light precipitation was recorded on all three days, with Wednesday seeing the highest rainfall at 8.5 mm. No snowfall occurred.

The Carnival attracts large numbers of participants and spectators, and pedestrian traffic in Basel is monitored at 38 counting stations across the city. Data from these stations provides a useful proxy for street activity, though it measures movements at specific locations rather than unique visitors. Over the three Carnival days, a total of 349,989 pedestrians were recorded. Monday saw the highest count at 150,051, followed by Tuesday at 112,948 and Wednesday at 86,990. This represents a significant increase compared to the baseline week before, where Monday to Wednesday totals were 74,505, 73,668, and 72,424 respectively. As shown in Table 1, the top five stations with the highest pedestrian volumes all recorded their peaks on Monday, with Elisabethenanlage leading at 20,837 counts. Monday typically records the highest traffic due to the Morgenstraich at 4:00 AM, the official opening event. Figure 1 provides an interactive map of all counting stations.

Analyzing intra-day patterns at the Schifflände station, which connects Grossbasel and Kleinbasel via the Mittlere Brücke, reveals distinct activity peaks corresponding to key Carnival events. As illustrated in Figure 2, a strong peak occurs on Monday morning around 4:00 AM for the Morgenstraich. Further peaks are evident during Monday afternoon for the Cortège, Tuesday afternoon for Kinderfasnacht, and Wednesday afternoon for another Cortège. These patterns indicate concentrated visitor movement aligned with the official schedule of major festivities.