I was just looking for a bit of info from people who have been recently ie in the last couple of years.

We've never been before but my OH will be away at a conference that weekend and I was thinking of going along with my son.

When is the best time to go? Bearing in mind that I will be dragging an 11 year old along it won't be a late night of drunken debauchery (which is how my OH described it).

Is there anybody planning on going along who fancies meeting up?

If there are people interested maybe I'll post it as an event.

I have been the last two years, but I'm afraid I went for a night of drunken debauchery. I think you're pretty safe to take him during the day, I would try and catch the Guggenmusik.

Here is the link to the main site and here is the programme. I reckon Saturday at 17h30 is going to be great.

Yeah I'd already looked at the programme and thought maybe Saturday afternoon would be the best time to go with him so I think I'll do that.

I was thinking about the cortege on Sunday but saw the prices for places and what looked like limited opportunities for watching for free and decided it probably wasn't worth it. That's why I was looking for info from people who've been recently. OH is next to useless for info as like you he onlywent for the drunken bits.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons are the most civilised times to go with children. There's usually a childrens' parade on Saturday afternoon, though an 11-year-old might be looking for something more adult. The parade on Sunday afternoon is worth the price of a standing ticket I would say, but not worth paying for a seat.

The Guggenmusik parade on Friday evening is worth seeing if you haven't seen anything like it before.

Saturday evening is best avoided...

Yes I agree with Stephen Saturday night is very crowded and even a 11 year old could be intimidated by being swept along with the crowd as happens regularly in the main thoroughfares from about nine on.

The Saturday afternoon parade is good for kids and I still think an eleven year old would find this interesting. There is often a massive confetti fight afterwards beside the town hall.


There is also the traditional funfare whuich has all the usual helter skelter rides - great for projectile vomiting .


This is also to be avoided late on Saturday evening as all the kids who participated in the prade earlier are queing with their free tickets!


Regards

John

Thanks for the info guys. Basically sums up what OH told me and that's to avoid Saturday night at all costs .He met colleagues last year on the Saturday evening and said it was a bit of a nigtmare. He reckoned I should give the whole weekend a miss based on these observations so your opinions have reassured me somewhat.

I'll probably get a standing ticket for the parade for me since he'll be free anyway and we'll maybe pop along on Saturday afternoon as well. If we don't like it we can always just hop on the bus back home.


Edit: What's the deal with the badge? It doen't give many details on the website. It says it's valid for travel between Friday evening and Sunday evening so is it like a weekend abonnement thing? It doen't say how much it costs either.

Was it here you were looking? It says it's 10CHF. What it doesn't say is whether or not these extra buses/funis etc are covered under the regular Onde Verte abonnement. I should bloody well hope so, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they decided to charge us 10CHF on top of the amount we already pay for our passes.

Last time I did the Saturday night at the Fete de Vendanges was in ...
69, I think. Can't remember much- but I shudder to think that my first English BF borrowed a Vespa and we somehow got home
Remember dancing to Procol Harum's 'Whiter shade of pale' - those were the days.

Will they actually have any of those thugs checking tickets I wonder

No I just saw it on the Fete de Vendanges site. Didn't think to look there Doh An old guy has been selling them outrside Manor for the last couple of weeks but I didn't really know what they were.
Doesn't seem like much of a bargain to me unless you're going to spend all weekend riding around on public transport.
T has an onde verte and a junior card so I have no intention of buying anything for him. I'll just get a ticket with my half price card for the couple of trips I'll be making on the bus.



I expect they'll bring in reinforcements to catch out all the people without the special badge. Got to be a good moneyspinner with all the extra people around.

The best time is on Friday evening.
All is still clean, nice, lovely, people are enjoying a drink, take a walk.

Saturday, especially in the evening and throughout the night, the Swiss Germans come in and all they do is being totally silly and getting drunk rotten.

Sunday, it gets really packed because of the cortège but the afternoon can be quite pleasant.

For the badge, one is indeed for taking busses from here to there but only for a limited time,
the other badge is an entry badge for the cortège.

Yes they are. No point in buying a badge if you have already got an Onde Verte.

I think it also gets you into the Sunday afternoon parade for free (the badge, not the Onde verte...)

No, they're separate. They're mentionning that on their website.

Does anyone know if you can get tickets for the parade on that Sunday morning? Also, is it walking distance from the train station? I will be taking the train down from Basel on Sunday.

You can walk down to town is about 10 mins - but there is also a funicular from inside the station down to town.

You can get tickets for the parade up to 11.30 from the tourist office and after that either at Place Pury or at the entrances to the parade route. if you take the funiculaire down from the station you will arrive right next to the parade area and will be able to get your ticket there.

The children's parade this afternoon was lovely and my son thoroughly enjoyed it. It will probably take me weeks to get rid of all the confetti though.
There were way to many people for my liking so we came home and are now sitting in the garden with a nice cool drink watching the 'Patrouille Suisse' fly over.

That was a very long firework display this evening... 35 minutes from start to finish ! Right opposite my balcony as well, very convenient.

Good job our dog doesn't live there!

Are you sure it wasn't 37 minutes. That's what all the pposters said it would be.

They even woke our cat up and we're miles away. They must have been quite impressive in town methinks.

Kamarate? Are you alive ?? (just checking)