3 Days in Alsace: What to Visit ?

The Alsace region is one of these top destinations in France where you can visit a lot of must-see locations in just a few days and assist to cultural and sport related activities that are organized throughout the year.

The geographical area is relatively small; therefore it will be easy for you to visit most of the villages, cities, hiking sites, mountains without driving long distances.

Although the weather varies quite often in Alsace, the climate is generally pretty pleasant from Spring to Autumn (e.g. April to November).

Here is an itinerary in 3 days that we propose thanks to which you will be able to visit most of the top sightseeing locations in the region. Based on this, you can adapt your road map with additional places you fancy to go to.

DAY 1: Strasbourg

With 300 000 inhabitants (city center + suburb area), Strasbourg is one of the largest cities in France well known for its quality of life, cleanliness, its richness of culture and historical sites. Almost everything can be visited by walk thanks to the pedestrian areas that the city has promoted and developed for the past few years.

The Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg is definitely one of the priority spots that you want to have a look at, including the astronomical clock dating back to mid 19th century. Best is to visit around noon so you can see the animated figures coming out and starting to move at 12:30 precisely.

Do not miss also to visit the old quarters such as the « Place du Marché Gayot » where you can find a lot of restaurants and outdoor terraces in summer, the « Place Saint-Etienne » as well as the following streets where you can do some shopping: rue des Hallebardes, rue des Juifs, rue du Dôme.

Another great area to wander in is « La Petite France » which is the historical quarter located on the western side of the Grande Ile, a very charming area full of typical half-timbered houses and several canals and waterways flowing through and around the area. Nice streets to see in this neighborhood: la rue des Dentelles, la rue des Moulins et les ponts couverts.

You can find there a large number of typical and international restaurants (Chinese, Japanese, etc). The heart of the city center, the place Kleber and the street « rue des Grandes Arcades » are less typical but full of shops and nice to walk into as these are all pedestrian areas.

You can also take a pleasant walk onto les Berges de l’Ill, along the river l’Ill, from La Petite France area to the quai des Bateliers.

As the capital of Europe, Strasbourg concentrates several international institutions that you can visit. There are located a bit out of the city center, in front of l’Orangerie, which is a beautiful park, very popular and known as the town’s oldest park.

For those of you who like museums, you may want to go to the « Musée Alsacien » ou the « Musée de l’Oeuvre notre Dame » which is dedicated to the Cathedral.

If you decided to visit Strasbourg, the best way is to first stop at one of the « Relais-Tram » parking lots where you can leave you car during the entire day for few bucks and reach the city center quickly by tramway.

Day 2: Colmar

Colmar is a beautiful town of 100 000 inhabitants and very well knower for its preserved historic center. You can easily spend hours wandering randomly in the streets to admire all these old and very colorful houses typically from the region.

Among the must-see places you should go to: la Maison des Têtes, la Petite Venise where you can enjoy some little boat rides, the Bartholdi museum (Frédéric Bartholdi, originally from Colmar, is the one that designed the Statue of Liberty) as well as the Unterlinden Museum that has been recently renovated, where you can find one of its famous masterpiece: the Isenheim Altarpiece.

You will be also able to find lots of shopping streets and great places to eat local food and snacks.

Best way to visit Colmar is to park your car at the underground parking « RAPP » which is only a few minutes walks to the historic center.

Day 3: The Wine Route and its typical villages

The Wine Route starts on the west side of Strasbourg and ends onto the south of the Haut-Rhin department, but the best area to visit is located from Mittelbergheim to Eguisheim, the villages around this portion being simply wonderful: Mittelbergheim, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg (native village of Albert Schweizer) and of course Eguisheim.

Best way is to take the car and go to one village to another, driving passing the vineyards and why not stop by one wine domain and taste some wine. Alsace is known worldwide for its broad variety of white wine, the most famous to name a few: Crémant, Riesling, Sylvaner, Gewurztraminer.