Open Data Insight of the Day

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 2026 Carnival, weather conditions were mild. The overall minimum temperature was 3.1°C, recorded on Wednesday, while the overall maximum was 17.3°C, recorded on Tuesday. Monday was a rainy day, and Tuesday saw 0.5 mm of precipitation. There was no snowfall.

The Carnival attracts large numbers of participants and spectators each year. Pedestrian traffic in Basel is monitored at 38 counting stations across the city, and data collected during the three Carnival days provides a useful indication of how the event affects movement patterns and street activity. These counts represent a proxy indicator of street presence rather than an exact measure of unique visitors, as individuals may be recorded multiple times. A total of 36,958 pedestrians were recorded across the three Carnival days, with Monday seeing 13,369, Tuesday 12,498, and Wednesday 11,091. This represents a significant increase compared to normal weekday traffic one week prior, which totaled 201,148 pedestrians from Monday to Wednesday. According to Table 1, the top five stations with the highest pedestrian volumes all recorded their counts on Monday, led by the station for the direction "nach Frankreich" with 4,643 pedestrians. Monday typically records the highest traffic due to the Morgenstraich at 4:00 AM, the official opening event. Figure 1 shows the locations of all counting stations.

Hourly pedestrian patterns at the Schifflände station, which connects Grossbasel and Kleinbasel via the Mittlere Brücke, reveal distinct activity peaks tied to Carnival events. As shown in Figure 2, a strong peak occurred on Monday morning around 4:00 AM, coinciding with the start of the Carnival. Additional peaks were observed during Monday afternoon for the Cortège, Wednesday afternoon for another Cortège, and Tuesday afternoon for Kinderfasnacht. These patterns indicate concentrated visitor movement corresponding to the schedule of major public festivities.