By the north-eastern border of France, separated by the Rhine, is Alsace as a lush waterline between Vogeserne and Schwarzwald in Germany. Alsace is famous for its small and cosy towns with colourful timber framing houses, canals and flower decorated balconies and streets surrounded by fields of vine.
Alsace offers relaxing holiday in town or in the countryside, cultural holiday or nature holiday.

The landscape of Alsace

Alsace is a small region with great diversity in the landscape. Here, you will find everything from forests and valleys to plains and mountains. Alsace comprises various small micro regions that each has its own special features as for landscape, climate and culture.

Large cities in Alsace: Strasbourg and Colmar

Strasbourg is the capital of Alsace, a cosmopolitan city with a city centre dating back to the 16th century. The romanticism and the modern live side by side in Strasbourg. Strasbourg is an old culture city and today also the headquarters of the EU Parliament.
A nice way of experiencing the old part of town is to take a boat trip on the canals around the old part of town. On the trip, you pass by roofed bridges connected by medieval guard towers and the idyllic Petite France, the former tanners' quarter with mills and bridges going everywhere.

Colmar is the best kept city of Alsace and is the wine capital of Alsace. The city is also called little Venice. The colourful, flowery city has century-old and well-kept timber framing houses and streets with history and beautiful museums. The picturesque canal quarter, Little Venice, is best enjoyed from a boat trip with a view of the flower-decorated balconies and quays.

Tourist attractions in Alsace

One of the most beautiful view-point routes of the region, the wine route ”Route des Vins”, passes through historic cities with paved streets, timber framing houses from medieval times and renaissance fountains. Among the best kept villages on the wine route are Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr, which you should not miss.

The area also offers interesting architecture and exciting castles from the Pastiche timber framing of Haut-Koenigsbourg to the fortress ruins of Saverne. 

In Alsace, there are many galleries and museums, such as the World’s largest automobile museum and Europe’s largest train museum of Mulhouse, which is certainly worth a visit when you are on holiday in Alsace.

Sports activities in Alsace

A holiday in Alsace offers many trekking routes, for instance to the many vine fields, castles and vineyards of the area. You can also experience the beautiful forests of the region along the vine fields by horseback or by bike for which there are almost 2000 km of cycling routes where you pass through picturesque villages and less visited areas of Alsace.
There are also four adventure parks in the area. 

Gastronomic characteristics of Alsace

The Alsace cuisine is characterised by rich, powerful food. The specialty is boiled meat, most famous is probably sauerkraut with pork and sausages. Rich cake and pie are also popular, especially the cake, kougelhopf. The best known cheeses from this region are Brie de Meaux and Münster which are eaten with a good piece of farm bread.
The region has 28 chefs with a Michelin star, ready to surprise and seduce.

In Alsace, there are six large French white wines with AOC status: Sylvaner, Riesling, Muscat d’Alsace, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Klevner. The region is also known for its beer, the two most famous ones are Heineken and Kronenbourg.

The climate of Alsace

The climate of Alsace is characterised by pleasant weather with lots of sunshine from June to August, mild spring, Indian summer in the autumn and rough winters.
The region has less rain than the surrounding regions as it is sheltered by the Vogese.

Some of the photos are kindly lent out from Maison de la France. Photographers: Jean-François Tripelon and P. Thebault.