Alsace: Strasbourg, Colmar and the Wine Route

1. Day 1: Arrive in Strasbourg

   Paris Gare de l'Est by TGV, or Strasbourg Airport, to your hotel in Strasbourg

   • By train
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Strasbourg
   Day 1 details

   Come in by train or by air. If you fly into Paris, we reserve your seat on a direct TGV from Gare de l'Est, about 1 hour 50 to Strasbourg, and a driver meets you on the platform; if you fly into Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport, about 15 km west of the city, the driver meets you in arrivals. Your hotel is on or beside the Grande Île, the island in the river Ill that holds the old town, listed by UNESCO in 1988. Plan to arrive by about 5 pm. Early in the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing and an easy first walk: along the quays, past the timber-framed Maison Kammerzell and out into the cathedral square as the lights come on. Then we sit down together in a winstub, the small wood-panelled wine taverns of Strasbourg, to choucroute or tarte flambée and a glass of Alsace Riesling; tell us about any diet and there is always a vegetarian dish.

   Included

   • Reserved TGV seat from Paris Gare de l'Est, or pick-up at Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport (SXB)
   • Welcome briefing and evening walk with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in a Strasbourg winstub

   Free time: Free until the early evening briefing

   Activity: Arrive by about 5 pm to join the walk and dinner; later arrivals are met and join the group at dinner.

2. Day 2: The cathedral, Petite France and the Ill

   A day on foot in Strasbourg

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Strasbourg
   Day 2 details

   We are at the cathedral when it opens to visitors at about 8:30, before the tour groups arrive. Notre-Dame de Strasbourg is built of pink Vosges sandstone, and its single spire made it the tallest building in the world for over two centuries. Inside, your guide walks you through the rose window, the Pillar of Angels and the stained glass; those who want a view climb 332 steps to the platform, 66 m up, for the roofs of the old town and, on a clear day, the Black Forest. Late morning is the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame next door, with the original facade statues. The nave closes to sightseeing around midday, and at about 12:30 we go back in with timed tickets for the show of the astronomical clock, when the apostles file past Christ. After lunch on your own we walk to Petite France, the old tanners' and millers' quarter, and look down on the Ponts Couverts from the Vauban Dam terrace. In the late afternoon a Batorama boat takes us around the Grande Île. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Strasbourg Cathedral at opening with your guide
   • Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame
   • The astronomical clock's 12:30 show (timed ticket included)
   • Petite France, the Ponts Couverts and the Vauban Dam terrace
   • Batorama boat trip on the Ill around the Grande Île

   Easier option: Skip the platform climb and take a coffee on the cathedral square while the others climb; the clock show and the afternoon are on flat ground.

   More active option: Climb the 332 steps to the cathedral platform before the clock show.

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

   Activity: About 6 km on foot on flat streets and cobbles, plus the optional 332-step climb. The clock show starts at about 12:30 and needs a timed ticket, which we buy ahead; we confirm times for your dates.

   

3. Day 3: Over the Rhine to the Black Forest

   Strasbourg to Gengenbach and Triberg in Germany, and back

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Strasbourg
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast we cross the Rhine at Kehl into Germany and drive about 45 minutes up the Kinzig valley to Gengenbach, a small walled town of half-timbered houses at the edge of the Black Forest, quiet in the morning before the shops fill. Your guide walks you through the gates, the market square and up to the vineyards above the town. From there the road climbs through forest and farm valleys to Triberg, about an hour on. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town, with Black Forest cake to finish. In the afternoon we walk the path beside the Triberg waterfalls, where the Gutach drops about 160 m in seven cascades through the fir trees; it is a steady climb, and you can turn back at any viewpoint. We drive back to Strasbourg by late afternoon, about an hour and a half, which leaves the evening free on the Grande Île.

   Included

   • Gengenbach old town walk with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Triberg
   • Triberg waterfalls entry and walk

   Easier option: Stay in Strasbourg for a free day, or walk only the lower section of the waterfalls path and wait in a café in Triberg.

   More active option: Walk the full waterfalls path to the top of the falls and back down by the far bank.

   Free time: Evening free in Strasbourg

   Activity: About 3 hours of driving in three stretches. The waterfalls path is steep and can be wet or icy in winter. Carry your passport.

   

4. Day 4: Down the Route des Vins to Colmar

   Strasbourg to Haut-Koenigsbourg, then Ribeauvillé, Hunawihr, Riquewihr and Colmar

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Colmar
   Day 4 details

   We leave Strasbourg at about 8:15 and drive south for an hour, straight to Haut-Koenigsbourg, a sandstone castle on a spur 757 m above the plain, rebuilt for Kaiser Wilhelm II in the early 1900s. We are at the gate when it opens, at about 9:15 in summer, and your guide takes you through the keep, the armoury and the ramparts with the view over the Rhine plain to the Black Forest before the tour coaches fill the courtyards. Then down onto the Route des Vins to Ribeauvillé, below its three ruined castles, for a walk along the Grand'Rue and a sit-down lunch. In the early afternoon we stop in Hunawihr, where a fortified church stands in the vines, then walk or ride the short way to Riquewihr, reaching it after about 4 pm, when the day-trip coaches start to leave. We walk its main street inside the walls to the Dolder gate tower. Colmar is fifteen minutes on, where we stay two nights.

   Included

   • Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle entry at opening, with your guide
   • Ribeauvillé walk and a sit-down lunch
   • Hunawihr and its fortified church
   • Riquewihr in the late afternoon

   Easier option: Stay in the castle courtyard and lower rooms instead of climbing to the keep and the upper ramparts.

   More active option: Walk the vineyard path from Hunawihr to Riquewihr with your guide, about 2 km, and meet the van there.

   Free time: Evening free in Colmar

   Activity: Castle ramps and stairs, and steep cobbles in Riquewihr; about 5 km on foot in all. Haut-Koenigsbourg opens later and closes earlier from November to February, so December departures arrive at about 9:30 and see Riquewihr's market in the afternoon; we confirm hours for your dates.

   

5. Day 5: Colmar, the Unterlinden and Eguisheim

   Colmar on foot, then Eguisheim and back

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Colmar
   Day 5 details

   We start at the Musée Unterlinden as it opens at 9 am, in a former convent by the old town. Its centre is the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted by Matthias Grünewald for a hospital monastery between about 1512 and 1516, and the rooms are quiet enough at this hour to stand in front of it. Then your guide takes you through the old town: the Koïfhus customs house, the Maison des Têtes with its carved faces, the covered market and the canal houses of the Petite Venise. Lunch is your choice in Colmar. In the afternoon we drive ten minutes to Eguisheim, a village built in rings of streets around its castle, and walk them slowly before a tasting at a family domaine: Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and a Crémant d'Alsace, with the winemaker or the family explaining the grand cru slopes above the village. We finish with a farewell dinner in Colmar.

   Included

   • Musée Unterlinden at opening, with the Isenheim Altarpiece
   • Colmar old town and the Petite Venise with your guide
   • Eguisheim walk
   • Wine tasting at a family domaine in or near Eguisheim
   • Farewell dinner in Colmar

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel after lunch and rejoin the group for the tasting in Eguisheim.

   More active option: Walk up through the vines above Eguisheim to the three ruined towers of the castles on the ridge, about 1.5 hours, before the tasting.

   Free time: Lunch free in Colmar

   Activity: About 5 km on foot on flat cobbles. Departures avoid Tuesdays, when the Musée Unterlinden is closed.

   

6. Day 6: Kaysersberg and back to Strasbourg

   Colmar to Kaysersberg, then Strasbourg station or Strasbourg Airport

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 6 details

   A last morning in the vineyards. We drive about fifteen minutes west to Kaysersberg, in the valley mouth below a ruined castle, and walk across its fortified bridge over the Weiss and along the main street of painted houses while it is still quiet. Albert Schweitzer was born here in 1875, and the house is marked in the town. Then we take the road back north to Strasbourg, about an hour and a quarter, so about an hour and a half of driving in all, and your guide sees you to Strasbourg station for your TGV seat to Paris, or to Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport, by about 1 pm. If you are flying home from Paris, book a flight after about 6 pm at Charles de Gaulle, allowing for the train into Paris and across the city. If you would rather stay on in Strasbourg or fly from Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport, tell us when you book and we will plan your drop-off accordingly.

   Included

   • Kaysersberg walk with your guide
   • Drop-off at Strasbourg station or Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport (SXB)
   • Reserved TGV seat to Paris Gare de l'Est for guests flying from Paris

   Activity: Book a flight from Strasbourg after about 3 pm, or from Paris after about 6 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: Alsace is one of the drier corners of France, sheltered by the Vosges. Summer days can pass 30 C, the vineyards turn gold in October, and December is cold and often grey, with short days that make the lit markets the centre of the evening.

• Strasbourg3 nights
• Colmar2 nights