Lörrach is a city in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. This is the second time we visited Lörrach, while we took different routes both times, the purpose was the same – shopping.
#1 – Getting there (from Basel) – Tram #6 and then bus 16 which drops you in the heart of the Alter market. So if you do decide to take the longer route, take tram #6 to the last stop – Riehen Grenze and then walk a little to the bus stop. Here, do make sure that you carry euros with yourself as the tickets for the bus can be purchased from the driver directly. The machines at the stops are rather complicated, even for the locals.
The other route, the easier and the faster one is to take train S6 from SBB or badischer bahnhof which takes not even 10 minutes to reach the centre. A couple of minutes, 6 to be precise you are in the heart of the market.
#2 – Things to do – The streets are filled with a lot of life – the usual hustle and bustle of the weekend as one might call it. There are numerous shops, cafe’s, restaurants, pubs across the place in probably all possible directions. With the sale and concert season, the market gets fairly busy, lively and colourful.
What I did? – Ordered a cocktail – no offence but beer is the way to go over here, had panini’s and sandwiches. We also encountered some street singing with people dressed as pirates – what was more impressive than the music was the outfits. It was hot, so we also indulged in ice creams.
#3 – Shopping and other spoils– If you are a swiss or surrounding area resident, then it makes all the sense to plan weekly or fortnightly visits to the border. You can visit Mueller for all your toiletries, beauty essentials and fragrances. You can visit REWE for the usual grocery shopping to stock up the kitchen. You can even visit the general stores like – H&M, Zara, Vero Moda etc. to buy clothes. Why? – Things are cheaper in Germany and you get a 19% rebate the next time you visit if you’re smart enough to submit your bills at the border.
Finding the border office – If you go by train, you can’t miss it as it right inside the station when you exit and if you take the tram, the border checkpoint is huge and again cannot be missed.
Apart from retail therapy, you can also indulge in spa therapies. I still have to try this, however, the nail bars are the most “in-thing” for all the ladies out here.
Hence, where you’re here – EAT. DRINK. SHOP. INDULGE. What more can a girl ask for?
#4 – Concert season – The Stimmen concert is on till the end of the month, and is worth checking out. The stage set up and sound checks itself were impressive enough for us to stay back – but a cranky child, heavy bags and tired feet do not spell out CONCERT. What caught my attention was, the bars/restaurants selling alcohol in plastic cups had emerged almost out of nowhere. Trucks and busses had converted into mobile bars, with chairs, music and alcohol. This fascination will definitely draw me over there over the next weekend.
Hope you guys are enjoying my posts on my brand new life. Not everyday, does someone get a chance to press the re-start button – I did and I am glad that I did.