Okay, I get it. Switzerland is expensive. And we pay more for the same product.
But seriously, Basel airport's parking rates are taking the piss. This is essentially the same product, serving the same customers, at the same location. But at the same prices? NEVER!
Seven days parking in the S5 long-stay car park on the Swiss side? That's CHF85- to you, sir, and please wipe your feet on the way in.
The same seven days parking in the F3 long-stay car park on the French side, admittedly a full 50 meters further from the terminal? A comparatively cheap EUR45 , or about CHF58- at today's rates.
Sure, it takes ten extra minutes to drive to the Swiss side. But for CHF27- (or the price of dinner at a Swiss McDonalds, if you prefer to think of it that way), I think I'll make the extra effort!
On the other hand 7 days' parking at Luton 'Mid Term' parking will set you back the equivalent of CHF189 (£126). Short-term and Heathrow is naturally more...
I actually have never lived in a country where there are so many places to park for free & car parks are so cheap. I also don't have the luxury of always having the car to myself (whilst I'm away) with it waiting for me at the airport when I get back. I think around 10chf a day at an airport is cheap so not sure what the rant is about really.
Sorry, but this really does not qualify as being Switzerlanded. I pay some 150 CHF in Zurich for the same time ( when I choose the CHEAP one, otherwise it is above 200 ), in any other EU country I am aware of is parking at an airport very expensive.
I think I posted this before: I always avoid paying for the parking at German airports at all by using the airport service from Audi:
Do they still have the circular bar in the airport?
I mean the one with half in France where you pay cheaper prices than when you stand at the half in Switzerland. same barman, same bottles of booze, hilarious.
Sorry, just to be clear, I'm not complaining that it's expensive to park at Basel airport. It's expensive to park at any airport.
I'm irked at the fact that the airport charges anyone on the Swiss side of the airport 45% more than anyone on the French side of the airport.
For those that aren't aware, Basel airport has two entrances, one that leads into Switzerland and one that leads into France. Here's a map of the airport:
As you can see, the Swiss carpark 'S5' and the French carpark 'F3' are about 500m from one another, and about 150m and 200m from the terminal, respectively. They are both more-or-less equivalent car parks, in terms of convenience, run by the same airport operator, and both are designated as long-term car parks.
Yet a week of parking on the 'Swiss' side costs 45% more than a week of parking on the 'French' side.
If that isn't rip-off Switzerland, I don't know what is?
I was comparing two equivalent car parks run by the same operator at the same airport, one side catering to French customers and the other side catering to Swiss customers, with a massive difference in price for exactly the same product at almost exactly the same location.
welcome to Basel. And it's not just the parking. I moved a few km over the border to France last year, 5,4 km to be exact. House is half the price. Health insurance is 1/3 and much better coverage. Shoe repair that costs 70 fr in Basel is just 10 EUR. And so on. Yup, Switzerlanded.
Another handy Castro tip, when you arrive at Basel airport avoid the long queues at Swiss immigration and instead pass through French immigration. What many people don't realise is that both emerge into the same luggage reclaim area
and when we are already talking about Basel airport, you can get different prices when searching for plane tickets depending on what airport code you use, EAP, BSL or MLH. All the same airport, of course.
We realised this a few years ago when we drove to the french side by accident, and when my husband mentioned it to colleagues, he was told it was "well known" so its clearly not an exchange rate anomaly. A few weeks after this, I dropped a visitor off at depatures and used the short stay meter parking, where it was 2 Chf for something like 15 mins, or 1 euro for 15 mins at exactly the same parking meter (it was a while back, might not have remembered the figures right) I checked the exchange rate and thought it was 20% or so cheaper to pay by euros at the same meter
Haven't checked regarding the price of coffee mind you ...
Hire car prices were, a few years back, also cheaper on the French side, but we have not hired a car from the airport for quite a few years now, so I do not know if it is still true.