We finally decided to explore the Basel region’s Jura mountains and chose to hike up to the highest point in the canton of Basel Land – Hinteri Egg. It’s close to Basel – just half an hour drive, so you can easily jump in the car and go there – no big planning needed. Here’s a little bit about our small Sunday adventure.

Route description:

The trail can be reached by public transport via Wasserfallenbahn or with a car drive to Waldweid. We came by car and left it on the free parking right by where the walk begins. The circural walk first took us through the forest as we followed the signs to Chellenchöpfli.

After around 20 minutes of walking up, some beautiful views appeared and shortly after we reached the Hinteri Egg barbecue area.

I am the biggest picnic lover and I was super excited about the small picnic we planned. It’s honestly one of the nicest locations to have your lunch break at. You can use the grill facility and eat your meal right there by the table at the barbecue area, or spread your blanket on the green grass behind it and enjoy your food with a view over the slopes of Basel Land. (just like we did!)

The highest point, the Hinteri Egg (1169m to be precise), is right above the barbecue area – there are some steps leading up to the top, and it’s easy to miss it (We did, hence no photo from the exact top).

After our picnic, we continued walking further, and just a few minutes later we were already at Chellenchöpfli, that rewarded us with a fantastic panorama of Jura mountains and Solothurn. On a clear day, you can see the Alpine summits from there (Mont Blanc, Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau).  Chellenchöpfli marks the halfway of the walk from the starting point. Without breaks it would take just 30 minutes to get there, but we didn’t hurry and enjoyed the idyllic settings – it took us waaaay longer 🙂

Views from Chellenchöpfli

And one happy explorer (actually two :))

After Chellenchöpfli, we started following the signs to Waldweid. You can go to Passwang or Wasserfallen from there, but since we came by car, it was easier to go back where we parked it. We walked down for another 30 minutes and I swear, I couldn’t stop taking pictures. It all looked like a painting, with the sun shining and clear blue skies 🖼

Here’s the small map of the circular walk we did (the green lines). We parked on the white road in-between the lines. You can put “Waldweid” as a destination in Google Maps if you go there by car and you’ll easily find it.

Also some more info:

–  The hike can also be done from Wasserfallen, the route is just an half a hour longer and you have to take the cable car.

–  The hiking path is not suitable for strollers – bumpy and narrow at times. But it’s definitely walk-able for kids in preschool age

– Hiking boots are not really required. I wore sneakers and it was just fine.

– There’s no water source along the way – so make sure you have a bottle with you.