Hello, which town should I set as my base of operations? I need a place that has all the crafting facilities - enchanting altar, alchemy lab, blacksmithing forge etc... ideally close to each other, accessible at any part of a day (not locked up at night), and of course I need good number of merchants with lots of gold to sell loot to. Basically I am looking for a town to return to regularly after my dungeon runs, when my bags are full of stuff that i either want to use for crafting, or sell for gold. thanks

Don't know about alchemy lab and enchanting facility, but WhiteRun is right in the middle and the house, Breezeway, is easy to get by just talking ot the Jarl,

Bandit camp?

Whiterun has all of this close together apart from the Enchanting table. Breezehome has an Alchemy table, and is right across the street from a shop that is open all night and next door to a Blacksmith (crafting stations are all outdoors). The Enchanter is up in Dragonsreach, though, which is a bit of a walk, but a rather short one. There's a mod that will add an Enchanter to Breezehome, though, if you're on PC.

Another good one is Riften. It's near the city entrance (and has its own entrance from outside the city, which is a plus), you get your own Alchemy and Enchanting tables (and a Tanning Rack out on the back porch), and the Blacksmith (again, all stations are outdoors) is not far away (but unlike Adrianne, Balimund doesn't have a smelter). The nearby open-all-night shop is the Alchemist, which in my experience is less useful than the Drunken Huntsman unless you have that Speech perk that lets you sell anything to anybody.

I've bought every house except for Windhelm, but I just keep on using Breezehome in Whiterun... not that convenient for enchanting (though there's a mod for that on PC), but there's a full open smithy next door, a 24/7 weapon and armor (and arrow) dealer across the way, a grand total of 4 places to dump weapons and armor during the hours of 8 AM to 6 PM.

Other houses are good for permanent storage/trophy display, but Whiterun for me is the best town for the day-to-day stuff.

Vlindrel Hall is pretty decent... at least the alchemy/enchant stations have convenient storage.

I personally love Vlindrel Hall, and in my game the Blacksmith inside the keep is usually up all night...but a lot of people find Markarth an annoying place to get around in, so I don't mention it.

If you don't mind the cold then the WIndhelm house has a secret room with Alchemy and Enchanting, but it's a little pricey and the quest to get it is apparently horribly bugged, but I've never had trouble. Also the nearest blacksmith is a bit of a hike, but he has a smelter with his forge.

the whiterun house is the best.

cheapest, you only have to come up with the money to buy and decorate it.

an inn, a tavern, an alchemy shop, a traders, a shrine, a blacksmith with smelter next door etc.

and Lydia has a separate room which lets you have some magik in the bedroom.