Viking Skirnir: 70 departures, and a Swiss airport located in France
Measured on 25 August 2026: 31 departures from Basel to Nuremberg and 25 from Nuremberg to Basel, out of 70 in total.
Basel, three countries at one street corner
The city touches Germany and France in its own suburbs. North of the Rhine port, a marker shows the exact point where the three borders meet, and you can walk around it in a few minutes.
The airport deserves a word, because it surprises everyone. It is called EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, it serves three countries, and it sits physically on French soil. There are two separate exits: one into France, the other into Switzerland, linked by a customs road. Take the wrong one and you end up on the wrong side of a border, going the long way round.
Say it plainly to your driver or to the representative meeting you: Swiss exit. It saves three quarters of an hour of detour after eight hours in the air.
What Basel is worth for a day
The city holds close to forty museums for about 170,000 inhabitants. The Fondation Beyeler, fifteen minutes from the centre, is one of the most visited modern art museums in Switzerland. The Kunstmuseum holds the oldest public art collection in the world, assembled by the city from 1661.
If you arrive the day before boarding, it is one of the few departure cities where the extra day justifies itself.
A 135-metre hull, like the other forty-nine
The ship holds 95 staterooms for 190 guests and 53 crew. The split is fixed from one Longship to the next: 25 Standard, 22 French Balcony, 39 Veranda, 7 Veranda Suites and 2 Explorer Suites.
The ratio of 3.58 guests per crew member belongs to this class. On Viking's Nile ships it falls to 1.71, and two of them carry more crew than travellers.
Viking Modi runs the same route with 70 departures, and Viking Herja leaves Basel for Trier with 125.
Skírnir, the messenger who threatens
Freyr catches sight of the giantess Gerðr and falls ill with love. He sends his servant Skírnir to ask for her hand. She refuses the golden apples, she refuses the ring, and Skírnir ends by threatening her with a curse so complete that she yields. It is one of the most disturbing poems in the Edda, and it is never presented as a happy love story.
Getting there from Montreal
A connection through Zurich, Frankfurt or Paris. Viking Hild offers the other main exit from Basel, towards the Moselle.
What happens when you book with us
First a fact you can verify in 30 seconds: from a Quebec address, Viking's reservations site does not answer and sends you to a page inviting you to contact an agent. The agency is not an added intermediary, it is the only route open.
Then a method. A Viking River Cruises advisor confirms in writing the exact fare, what the package covers and what it does not, before any deposit. That is what Quebec consumer protection rules require, and we participate in the compensation fund for travel agency customers.
