Travel guide - 3 magical days in Alsace

I'm sure you too watched Disney cartoons as a kid and probably wondered, like me, if those fairytale villages are real. Well, they are real! In fact the cartoons were inspired by those villages. Some of them can be found right here in Alsace, a picturesque area in the north-east of France.

This area has belonged to both France and Germany at different periods of time, and this can be seen in the rich gastronomic culture of France and the architecture of the German-style houses. Moreover, this area was also part of the Holy Roman Empire in medieval times, and it was then that this area developed the most in an economically and culturally way. In this very easy-to-follow and, I say, well-structured guide, I'll show you how we divided our 3 days here.

When should you come here?

Spring brings pleasant temperatures, fewer tourists and nature in full bloom. Summer is perfect for festivals and cultural events, such as the Alsatian wine festival, and as an area full of vineyards, autumn is the ideal time to come and enjoy the grapes ready for picking. With winter comes gorgeous Christmas decorations and a fairytale atmosphere, including the best-known Christmas markets..

As you might expect, summer and winter are the peak of the tourist season and you should know that there will be a lot of tourists and accommodation prices are over the top. So if you don't mind not seeing the houses decorated for Christmas, you'd be better off going in spring or fall.

We went at the beginning of March and there were plenty of tourists, but we didn't stand in endless queues to take a photo. We got 15-17 degrees and it was perfect. So I recommend this period.

Where to stay?

The fact that we went in March, helped us a lot to choose an accommodation in city center of Colmar, in a medieval house, absolutely beautiful. I don't think this would have been possible if we had come in July or December.

The hotel Saint-Martin is located in the heart of the old center of Colmar, very close to the Petite Venise district. Breakfast is not included in the price per night and to give you an idea, we gave 96 euro/night/2 persons.

How we reach Colmar or Strasbourg?

We landed at the airport in Basel and came out on the French side. From there we took bus 11, the ticket was 2,5 euro/person and in 10 minutes we arrived at the Saint Louis train station. From there we took a train to Strasbourg, but in 30 minutes we got off in Colmar. We paid 16 euro/person for this trip.

From the train station in Colmar to the hotel, we walked around 30 minutes. During city breaks, and not only, we try to travel light, each with just a backpack from CabinZero. For 3 days, these backpacks are roomy, there's even room for lots of souvenirs and they are extremely comfortable. And the fact that there are models specially designed for women is a bonus. If you use the code IOANAFERDOSCHI you will receive a 15% discount on your entire order.

How did we split our days in Alsace?

One rule we keep in mind and maybe it helps you too: if our return flight is in the evening and we have a few hours to visit a place, we always choose to visit the city where we stayed on the last day. Most of the time it's a hotel that can hold our luggage until later, or we look for special lockers for storage, which are usually around the city center or in the train station. This way we don't get stressed about having a lot of transportation to change or a train being late and risking missing our flight.

Prima zi – Strasbourg

For the first day we arrived for a couple of hours in Strasbourg, and the train ride from Colmar took about 30 minutes. Strasbourg is known as the capital of the Alsace region and is a charming city full of history. The first Christmas market was held in 1570, and this makes it one of the oldest Christmas markets in all of Europe.

We visited the Notre-dame de Strasbourg cathedral, a true work of art. We paid extra for a ticket to go up the tower, where we admired the 360 view of the city and could imagine what the city looked like in medieval times.

We like very much to get lost in the winding streets and to stray a lot from the tourist route to get a better feel of the place, and we did so in the neighborhood of La Petite France. We admired each colorful house, strolled along the streets and we put, once again, our imagination to work.

We reached the Vauban dam and the suspension bridges, which date back to medieval times. Overall, we loved the city for the atmosphere it gave us.

Second day - Wine Route, Riquewihr and Eguisheim

The Alsace Wine Route or as it is known Route des Vins d’Alsace is one of the oldest and beautiful routes from France. The entire length of this route is 170 km from Marlenheim to Thann, passing through villages, vineyards and historic sites.

The Wine Route was officially inaugurated in 1953 to promote the area and restore the economy after World War II. This led to a rapid growth in tourism in the area due to the diversity of nature, the historic villages along the way and above all, the uniqueness of the types of wine.

Being in Colmar, it was easier for us to get organized, so we rented two bikes from the rental center at the train station in the city and hit the road. The route we chose was 40 km long: Colmar-Riquewihr-Riquewihr-Eguisheim-Colmar. We left at 9 in the morning and returned at 17. You can find below the map of the route we did by bike.

The bike route is well marked; you'll see signposts everywhere to several nearby castles or villages; it also passes along main roads, as well as through the area's many vineyards. Due to the time of year, there were only the two of us as tourists, the rest were locals working the land or who had come specifically to train on their bikes.

To Riquewihr you'll have to climb a pretty big and slightly steep hill, but it's the only bump on this trip. You need to take plenty of water and food as we didn't find any shops in the area on this route. There are a few wineries located and I read that they are open in season for tastings, but in March there was no one there.

The two villages, Riquewihr and EguisheimI liked them the most of our whole trip. They are much more colorful than Colmar and much smaller. You will feel like in a fairytale here! We spent an hour and a half in Riquewihr and 30 minutes in Eguisheim.

Am mâncat macaroons specifici locului, covrigi nemțești și ne-am pierdut pe fiecare stradă în Riquewihr. Iar în Eguisheim, mi s-a părut ingenios faptul că există un traseu de tip circuit de urmat prin tot satul și astfel nu ratezi nimic. Recomand aceste două locuri, iar dacă mai ai timp să mai adaugi vreun castel sau un alt sat din zonă, cu siguranță nu vei fi dezamăgit.

Third day - Colmar

Because the return flight was in the evening, the last day we stayed in Colmar. I advise you to choose the boat trip which cost us 8 euro/person. In 30 minutes we learned a lot about Colmar and its history. After the boat ride, we resumed our stroll through the streets of the small town for another overview.

Recommended restaurants

Indicative costs

Keep in mind that we traveled in March 2024, so the costs were significantly reduced from high season. To keep track of costs, I use the Travel Spend app.

The cherry on top of these days was the Colmar Carnival, which lasted two days, March 2-3. It was a surprise for us, but maybe you can look for events in the area in advance to better choose when you want to travel.

Final conclusion

Short conclusion: we liked very much this city break, we saw these German-looking towns in France like we didn't expect to find, and the bike trip was one of the best we've done. We made a super choice for my 29th anniversary! I hope this guide was helpful in planning your vacation and please let me know what you think in the comments.