Hehe Tom ... it is young speak for “at the moment”. I’m learning too ...

Yes, do keep in mind that Basel is really not a big city, so living "near" your workplace actually means a much bigger part of the city that you might expect.

But I do have a soft spot for the Matthaüs neighborhood, which would be quite close to your workplace. I have lots of friends who live or have lived there, and it's very nice. Lots of old but beautiful apartments, not too expensive, near some of the best areas of the shoreline, central, but still not very far from the Bad Bhf.

I'd recommend looking for apartments "on the other side of the tracks", behind (east of) the Badischer Bahnhof as well, especially with a dog. Hirzbrunnen etc. You'd be close to the Lange Erlen and still close to work. Essentially between Allmendstrasse/Fasanenstrasse and the train tracks. Area between Bäumlihofstrasse and Riehenstrasse would be the nicest.

Sorry guys, this is a very Australian thing to do... we abbreviate anything that can be abbreviated (and some things that can't)

This is a helpful reminder, thanks folks! I have a bad habit of looking at maps through an Aussie lens, and thinking that everything is a lot bigger / further away than reality! I did the same thing here in Scotland once, loaded up my ipad with movies for a big bus trip to a destination that was actually only 20 mins away

Good shout, I hadn't really thought to look on that side - thanks for the recommendations!

East of the tracks is a nice area indeed and especially with a dog lots of nice place to go out for walks. But although it would keep you close to work, it would push you far from a lot of things, so that's something to keep in mind. I've had a lot of friends moving from abroad to do grad school where I went, and always recommend this "rule of three": place pin at your work or study place, one at the center of Mittlere Brücke an one at a French or German border crossing. The ideal location for your flat is within or as close as possible to the triangle thus formed.

The advantages of being near enough to the center of town are obvious. The advantages of being near a border crossing is not always so obvious for a new prospective resident : you can save a tremendous amount of money by doing all your grocery shopping in Weil or St-Louis, or both save money and improve your life quality with fresh produce and meat, and freshly hunted game, by regularly going to the farmer's markets in St Louis and Huningue.

We were at Clara for 2 years, Kleinbasel is not as bad as people make out, but I'd say perhaps avoid Lower Kleinbasel. My OH did airbnb there for the first month he was here and said it didn't feel a safe area to walk round after dark or late at night. He's a Londoner so well used to being in a really big city and very streetwise. There are a lot of problems with drug dealers around the recreation ground at Dreirosen and complaints about open drug dealing along the likes of Klybeckstrasse and surrounding turnings.
We're now in the Breite district, only a few mins walk from the Rheinweg at St Alban, Gellert is a stone's throw and also Birsköpfli Park, the Birs and Birsfelden in BL. When we decided to move we were after St Alban or Gellert and couldn't get anything, but this is in the middle and very friendly with a kind of village feel to it.
It's about 5 mins to get to Bad Banhof on the bus from here and culture wise the Cartoon Museum, Papiermuhle Museum, Gegenwart and Kunstmuseum are all walking distance. Munsterplatz is not much further on and you can walk to Kleinbasel easily - I go back to Clara for shopping every couple of weeks or so because I miss the buzz, but it got too noisy during the night due to the red light area (we were opposite the corner of it).

"mo" is used extensively in British English. "I'll do it in a mo".

We lived in Claraplatz for 9 years. It's a super area for a single or a couple without kids. We had a top-floor apartment with a big terrace opposite the big MMMigros and No. 8 tram right outsuide the door; and trams 6, 14, 15, 17 plus several buses on the corner. The river is 150m away plus plenty of bars and restaurants. The "centre" of Basel is 10mins walk.

We never really had any issues with crime or violence - though the kiosk was once robbed by someone with an air pistol. The red light area is literally a couple of streets, and if you blink you will miss it. I'd echo the message about Klybeck, but I'd say compared to anywhere I've lived in the UK it is still quite tame.

The main noise is from trams and general bustle of as - but we got used to that. The other thing to be aware of is Fasnacht - only 3 days of the year and I used to be in a clique, but maybe not everyone's cup of tea. The positive side of that was when I told our neighbour to knock if my piccolo playing got too much, he said he wouldn't live in that part of Basel if he didn't like Fasnacht.

As the others have said, OP it doesn't matter too much where you live, as Basel is a tiny place and public transport is a doddle. One thing I would recommend you do is get yourself a U-Abo (travel card - unlimited use of trams, trains, buses) which covers a fairly big area in the Basel region right up to Frick and into the neighbouring parts of Germany and France as this will make it easy to explore the area.

Cheers,
Nick

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How long ago was that? I had two friends who lived right at Claraplatz and it was indeed quite nice for awhile there, but I would say not so much in the past 3-4 years. They had to move due to increased violence in the red light area which has expanded significantly along with drug deals/late night violence.

As a single woman, I really would not recommend it ... Switzerland isn't the Disneyland many seem to think it is. There are several neighbourhoods within a stones throw that would be ideal to live in. Wettstein towards Roche or across the bridge in St Alban are two examples...

We were at Untere Rebgasse from 2016 - 2018. It was fine for the first year, then the red light area had a big influx of girls from E Europe and some very dodgy pimps (there was one particular lady who appeared to be running most of the girls). Around about the same time a nightclub at Clara closed and the drug dealers who hung around there moved round to the kebab place opposite our building as it had a licence to 5.30 or 6 in the morning. It got to the stage that we often had anything street dealers there every night and it was impossible to sleep for the racket. During the day the girls would sometimes encroach over the broken lines that are supposed to keep them within the zone. I've watched from my balcony and have seen guys being grabbed by the crotch whilst innocently walking past; also girls putting there arms around old guys attempting to get their wallets. Some of them were very aggressive operators (their pimps sat outside watching them).

The girls on Webergasse also started fighting over punters (by undercutting each other), so we'd get screaming and shouting during the night; there was an increase in muggings and a few stabbings.

The management company for our building went as far as contacting the police because people were complaining to them about it then moving out. Residents were given a number to ring in emergency, it had nothing to do with the police and was just a message taking service for them, so useless!

The back of the building overlooked Claramatte Park and neighbours said it was just as bad because the street girls were taking punters in there late at night and they could see what was going on (BJs ).

This might sound OTT but I'm not joking about any of this - the caretaker was my next door neighbour, shortly after we moved out she filmed what was happening in the early hours on Untere Rebgasse from her apartment and sent it to Basler Zeitung and 20 Minutes. She told me she'd resorted to sleeping tablets by that point
It was a shame as we had a lovely apartment and really nice neighbours there, but i believe a lot of them have now moved on.

Yep ... exactly what I have witnessed and been told. I really feel Basel has changed a lot in recent years ... it is still a nice place to live OP, don’t worry.