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 with no snowfall. The overall minimum temperature was 3.1°C, recorded on Wednesday, while the maximum was 17.3°C on Tuesday. Monday and Wednesday saw no precipitation, but Tuesday experienced a small amount of rainfall at 0.5 mm.

The Carnival attracts large crowds, and pedestrian traffic data from 38 counting stations across the city offers a proxy indicator of street activity. Over the three Carnival days, a total of 472,615 pedestrians were recorded. Monday saw the highest count at 166,983, followed by Wednesday at 155,981 and Tuesday at 149,651. These figures represent a substantial increase compared to the baseline week before, where Monday to Wednesday totals were 59,754, 64,500, and 56,177 respectively. As shown in Table 1, the top five stations with the highest pedestrian volumes all recorded their peaks on Monday, led by Gerbergasse with 37,219 counts. This aligns with the typical pattern where Monday traffic is highest due to the Morgenstraich, the official 4:00 AM opening event. The locations of all counting stations are detailed in Figure 1.

Analyzing intra-day patterns at the Schifflände station, a key bridge connecting Grossbasel and Kleinbasel, reveals distinct activity peaks tied to Carnival events. Figure 2 shows a pronounced spike around 4:00 AM on Monday for the Morgenstraich. Further peaks are visible on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, corresponding to the Cortège parades, and on Tuesday afternoon for the Kinderfasnacht. This pattern indicates that visitor movement is strongly synchronized with the official schedule of major Carnival activities.