Confiserie Schiesser

Confiserie Schiesser has stood on Basel's Marktplatz since 1870, long enough to be described as Switzerland's oldest coffeehouse, and for generations it operated as a family business through five generations of Schiessers. Its Basler Läckerli — the dense, spiced honey-and-almond biscuit that is a defining Basel specialty — along with handmade pralines and chocolate produced in an in-house manufactory, built the shop's reputation, backed by a bakery turning out the cakes sold at the counter.

The business hit a real crisis in 2026: longtime owner Stephan Schiesser died in April, and the confiserie went into bankruptcy that June. It didn't stay closed. Rudolph Schiesser, Stephan's brother and a former hotel director at Basel's Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, bought the business out of bankruptcy, keeping it in family hands and resuming operations under the Schiesser name.

The shop's first-floor tea room, overlooking the Marktplatz, remains the place to experience it as intended: a cup of the house's own hot chocolate, a butter croissant, and a view down onto Basel's central market square, in a room that has watched that square operate for over 150 years. For anyone tracking Basel's historic confiseries, Schiesser's survival through 2026 makes a visit now feel like witnessing a genuine second chapter rather than just an old address.