Strasbourg Travel Forum

We are hoping to holiday in September. We will arrive and leave from into Basle airport. Can anyone suggest a route which will show us the most interesting and prettiest places to visit. Perhaps suggest how many days to stay at each place. This is a lot to ask but I would be very grateful for your ideas.

How much time do you have? What do you find interesting? I'll make a few suggestions of things we've enjoyed.

A few things on the way:
Visit the Ecomusee de Haute Alsace near Pulversheim.
Visit Colmar and spend some time there and also visiting the surrounding wine villages. Almost all are beautiful and lots of fun. Ribeauville is lovely and further north we thoroughly enjoyed Obernai and Barr. Honestly, they are nearly all lovely.

There is the castle of Haut Koenigsbourg that is very interesting and the views from the castle are just spectacular.

Mont Ste. Odile is an abbey on a mountaintop with spectacular views all around and there are several attractive walking trails there.

You will also want to spend some time in Strasbourg. There is a nice Old Town, a superb cathedral, the Orangerie (park) with a stork preserve and many other things. You might enjoy taking the boat tour around Strasbourg to get your bearings. Facing the cathedral, walk down the hill to the right to the boat dock. It's quite inexpensive and there are commentaries in several languages.

You can get distances and maps at http://www.viamichelin.com/
Info on Mont Ste. Odile at http://www.mont-sainte-odile.com/index.php?lang=en
Info on Strasbourg at http://www.strasbourg.com/
Info on the general area at http://www.visit-alsace.com/home_ang.html

When you find a place that interests you, type the village or city name into the VT Search Window above to see the VT Travel Pages that have been written about it. There will be suggestions for hotels, restaurants, things to do, etc. It's a great resource.

You can also click on the name of anyone here who answers you, and go to their Home Page. Click on their Travel Pages for the area you want to see to get lots of photos and tips people have posted from their trips to these places and also from people who live there and are kind enough to give us information about their home towns. A great resource!

I fully agree with Beausejour. Nearly every town or village is nice in the Alsace.
My preference goes to Colmar. Smaller than Strasbourg (and safer).
From Colmar you can visit Strasbourg in one day and all the so picturesque wine villages on the nearby hills.
Food, wine and beer are very good in the Alsace.

From Basel to Colmar : 65 Km by the highway A35-E25.
From Colmar to Strasbourg : 75 Km by the same A35.

Have a look at the VT pages about Alsace: 2000 tips.
Strasbourg: 1000 tips, Colmar 200 tips. You will find there all details.

Bon voyage.

I agree with BEAUSOLEIL.
The Alsace is excellent for a "beauséjour".

Ah yes, Beausoleil always enjoys a beausejour in Alsace. 8^)

We've never felt unsafe in either Strasbourg or Colmar but I must admit taking the trolley past a demonstration in Strasbourg one day and being happy to be safely on the trolley and not walking down the street. Strasbourg is much more political than Colmar.

We always stay in one of the little wine villages; it's very relaxing and we take day trips into the cities . . . the best of both worlds.

To be honest Strasbourg is the city of France where they started burning cars on New Years Eve. This was in the "banlieue" not the historical centre. Since then the "banlieue" of Paris did better.
The wine villages and Colmar are safe.