Why I Chose to Visit This Region. . .
I was initially tipped off to Alsace thanks to Instagram. I follow several European travel accounts and one of them frequently featured these little fairytale towns in a place called Alsace. I had never heard of it before, yet upon the first viewing of these pics, I was sold. I absolutely HAD to go there. I’m a big Beauty and the Beast fan and these towns looked exactly like the village that Belle lived with her father. In fact, if you google “Beauty and the Beast Alsace” you’ll find plenty of other articles that talk about the towns in Alsace that inspired the artists for Beauty and the Beast. This is a great article for just such information.
As I was doing my research on Alsace, I quickly found out one of the best fun facts I could ever discover. This region is located on the western banks of the Rhine, right across the river from Germany’s fabled Black Forest! This is the part of Germany where part of my ancestry originated. So, obviously, the Black Forest would be on my Alsace itinerary, too.
After a bunch of reading, research, and planning, I came up with what to me was a perfect itinerary. I found five days to be the perfect amount of time for me, and that included travel days, but I’m also a fast (uh, efficient) traveler. You may need more or less time depending upon how quickly you like to sightsee and how much you want to see in this region.
Day 1
I arrived in the afternoon from Bern, Switzerland at the Colmar train station. My amazing AirBnb host picked me up from the train station and drove me to the apartment. I brought her a Swiss chocolate bar as a thank you since this was such a sweet gesture. We bounced along cobblestone streets in her cute yellow Mini Cruiser through the darling fairytale town of Colmar. It was EXACTLY like the Instagram pictures had suggested. All of the half-timber houses were painted in a crayon-box of colors. Since it was November, the streets were also getting decorated for Christmas. It truly was straight out of a storybook.
I chose this Airbnb specifically for the view from the balcony. Spectacular and totally quiet!
After my host showed me around the apartment and departed, I left to stroll through the streets. This was my main day in Colmar since the other days I planned to be driving around the region. I took tons of pictures and even took a canal boat ride through the town. I ended the day by picking up some hearty French lentil soup and yogurt at a farmer’s market nearby.
Day 2
On the second morning, I walked to the car rental office to pick up my car. See my full story on this rental experience here. Then, I began my tour of Alsace. In case you aren’t familiar with this region, essentially, there are a bunch of little towns (that look similar to Colmar) all up and down the Wine Road. I’m not a wine drinker, but had I been, it would have been fun to check out the numerous wine tastings at the various vineyards.
Even still, I had a wonderful time just driving from village to village. I started out with Eguisheim since it’s the closest to Colmar (about 12 minutes). I parked the car (and made sure I took note of WHERE I parked it!) and then started walking through the narrow roads of the village. There was one particular Instagram spot I really wanted to find. I was about to give up when all of a sudden, I ran right into it. Luckily another couple was there and we exchanged photo responsibilities. And then I was on my way to the next town.
I hit the towns of Kaysersberg-Vignoble, Riquewihr, Rorschwihr. The towns are fairly similar, but each have beautiful little nooks for photo capturing. That’s my favorite memory to bring home with me, so I like to find all of the really unusual spots on a trip. Alsace is a photographer’s dream world!
Then, I drove up to a castle along this beautiful autumn mountain road in Orschwiller. This reminded me exactly of the type of mountain scenery I have in my home area every fall! The castle I went to was called Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg.
Finally, I ended up in Strasbourg. This is the largest of all the Alsace towns. In fact, it’s more of a city than a town. Here, I made double sure that I knew where my car was parked. I took a picture of it so I could use the location stamp in the metadata to find it again if I got lost after sightseeing. I paid my parking fare at a machine located at the corner of the road I parked on. Then, I took a short tour of Strasbourg. The highlight was the stained glass windows near Petite France.
I crossed the river in Strasbourg so I could drive south down the German Autobahn towards Colmar! It was fun, but would have been even better in a sportier car. I had a Renault Clio, which is a fine car, but definitely not a speed demon by any stretch of the imagination.
This picture reveals the proof of about as fast as I went (keep in mind this is km, so not that impressive, folks). It was only about 71 miles per hour. Bleh.
When I got to the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, I drove in a little way, but since it was dark and I figured it would be better to see it in daylight, I turned around and headed back across the river towards Colmar.
Day 3
Today, I left Colmar on a misty early morning and drove across the Rhine to the Black Forest. Aww, it was everything I had dreamed and more. The emerald hills were blanketed in dense pines and autumn foliage and dotted with these adorable old German towns with half-timbered houses and quaint steepled churches. It sounds like I’m also describing Alsace, but let me tell you, the two areas couldn’t be more different. Alsace feels like candy-colored Beauty and the Beast villages while the Black Forest feels more dark, mountainous, and rustic like Hansel and Gretel and traditional Grimm Brothers tales. Both definitely have their distinct charms!
I had scoped out some popular drives before I left my Airbnb, so I already had most of my route figured out. Top on my list was the Cuckoo Clock Road, where they have shop after shop of traditionally made (and mass produced commercially made) cuckoo clocks. I, of course, wanted to find something authentic, and I did. I stopped at the House of Black Forest Clocks (aka Haus der Scwarzwalduhren) where 7th generation clock maker Adolf Herr makes and sells his masterpieces. I had such a hard time deciding what to buy. They are expensive, I’m not going to lie, but so worth it. This was the only real souvenir I really wanted from Europe. I knew my parents would like one, too, so I bought one for them, too, and bought a smaller one for my sister. The insides of these clocks are made by hand by Herr out of wood with little paper bellows. It’s really incredible to see the workmanship. And, they guarantee their clocks. If they ever stop working, you can send them back and they’ll fix them for you. They also ship things to the United States for you, which obviously I took advantage of, since I only had a small backpack for my journey.
After I purchased my clocks, I journeyed down the road to get some yummy black forest cake (delicious!) at the famous Adler restaurant and then kept driving north. Everything was so beautiful. I stopped in a variety of places along the way to take pictures. These donkeys came trotting over to the fence as soon as they saw me. So sweet.
I kept driving north until I reached the resort town of Baden Baden. I didn’t see much because it was already getting dark, but at least I can say I’ve been there. And I got to see an absolutely beautiful sunset as I headed west towards the Rhine. That night, I had a delicious meal in Colmar. This is a traditional Alsace meal—a blend of French and German cuisine. The sausages, obviously are the German part. However, the sliced ham would be more French. The sauerkraut was a mix of German and French since it was made with French white wine. The baguette, yes, that would be French, especially since they served it with Dijon mustard. And finally, the potatoes, well, I think that’s a mix between French and German, don’t you? To say the least, it was absolutely fantastic!
Day 4
I was given some advice by other tourists I met in Colmar that if I had time, I should try to go to the Epinal Cemetery in France. This is an American cemetery where soldiers who died fighting in World War II are buried. I could see by looking on the map that it was a little bit of a drive, so I decided I would see how the day worked out to see if I wanted to venture that far.
I started off by going back over the Rhine towards Freiburg im Breisgau. I wanted to see this cute German town in the daylight. I parked my car at a park-n-ride lot and then took the train. I made sure I took a picture of the place that I left my car so that I would know how to get back. This is my electronic version of bread crumbs that I use every time I park a rental car.
The town was adorable. I meandered around the center of town and since it was a Saturday morning, I also went to a cute farmer’s market. I’m a big fan of farmer’s markets so I enjoyed seeing all of the local produce and wares for sale. I even stopped off at a department store and bought some more beanie hats—I have found these to be great fashion accessories for winter travel despite the fact that they keep you warm!
After returning to the car, I drove around a little more in Germany, then decided that I really did have the time to drive out to that cemetery, so westward bound I went.
The drive was beautiful—I even had to pay a toll and go through a super long tunnel in the Vosges mountains. The majority of the drive was along a two-lane highway. It took nearly 2.5 hours one way to drive to the cemetery from where I was in Germany.
The cemetery was totally worth the drive, though. I always feel a special sense of peace at a military cemetery—I noticed that the first time upon visiting Arlington when I was a senior in high school on a CloseUp trip. It’s just this intense feeling of reverence and respect that can’t be duplicated anywhere. You know that all of the people who were laid to rest here died for a very specific cause—they gave the ultimate sacrifice to help ensure the freedom of others. It’s a really beautiful thing and because of that, the feeling at these types of cemeteries are quite special.
It had been the United States Veterans Day only five days before my visit, so many of the flags and flowers were still there. I wondered the grounds for about an hour and then began my drive back to Colmar.
When I returned to Colmar, I dropped off the rental car using the after-hours instructions (see full story here). On my walk back to my AirBnb, I stopped off at a grocery store to pick up some food for dinner and breakfast the next morning.
This was my last evening in Colmar. I meandered the streets a little, taking in all of the storybook grandeur and Christmas festivities before I returned to my apartment.
Day 5
This can’t actually be considered a “day” in Alsace/Black Forest, because I left here on this day. However, I did want to mention my route from Colmar if you wanted to repeat it. Colmar is actually a day trip for people who are visiting Paris because it’s only a 2.5 hour (roughly) express train away from the city. That’s just good for a person to know if they are visiting Paris and have an extra day that they’d like to see another part of France. You can EASILY do Colmar in just a few hours. That gives you plenty of time to meander around the old part of the city, grab a lunch, and even take a canal tour. In fact, all of the people in my canal boat were daytrippers from Paris.
I say all of that to explain where I went next. I actually took the morning train from Colmar to Paris that left at 8am. I discovered this in Basil when I boarded a French train that one thing that separates the French and the Germans/Swiss/Austrians, from my experience, is scheduling. The Germanic peoples are EXTREMELY punctual. Every train I have taken in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland seriously went like clockwork. They left exactly when they said they were going to leave and arrived at their designated arrival time. Of course, there can be exceptions to this, but generally this is what you’ll find with a train run by Germanic peoples. The French are more laid back. Their schedules are definitely more of “guidelines.” I say that so you’ll realize that you should 100 percent make sure you are at the station well before your scheduled departure. However, you can also just plan on the fact that there may be a delay and you won’t leave at your scheduled time. This will naturally also affect your arrival time, so knowing this helps you to be more flexible in your expectations!
The trip from Colmar to Paris was easy. It was fun being on a high-speed train—I took the TGV train. The scenery literally zips by. You can also watch the speed of the train on a digital speedometer placed in certain cars. If you’re not familiar with the km to miles conversion, you can do a quick calculation on the internet to see just how fast you’re going! I believe we topped out at 320 km/hr which is about 200 mph! Definitely faster than my Clio went on the autobahn!
Overall I had an amazing trip in the Alsace/Black Forest region and I would highly recommend it for anyone!
FAQ: Exploring Alsace and the Black Forest - Travel Tips and Experiences
Q1: How did you discover Alsace as a travel destination?I was introduced to Alsace through European travel accounts on Instagram. The picturesque fairytale towns featured in the posts captivated me, reminiscent of the village from "Beauty and the Beast." A quick Google search for "Beauty and the Beast Alsace" reveals articles about the towns that inspired the artists behind the movie.
Q2: What is the geographical significance of Alsace?Alsace is located on the western banks of the Rhine River, directly across from Germany's renowned Black Forest region. This connection intrigued me, especially since part of my ancestry comes from the Black Forest area.
Q3: How did you plan your travel itinerary for Alsace?After thorough research and planning, I devised a five-day itinerary for my Alsace trip. This duration included travel days, factoring in my efficient travel style. Depending on your pace and interests, you might adjust the time accordingly.
Q4: Can you share highlights from your first day in Colmar?Upon arriving in Colmar, I was greeted by charming cobblestone streets and vibrantly colored half-timber houses, just like in the Instagram photos. The town was getting dressed up for Christmas, providing a storybook-like atmosphere.
Q5: What did your second day in Alsace entail?I picked up my rental car and explored various towns along the Alsace Wine Road, including Eguisheim, Kaysersberg-Vignoble, Riquewihr, and Rorschwihr. Each town offered unique photo opportunities and a quaint ambiance.
Q6: Tell us about your visit to the Black Forest in Germany.I embarked on a drive through the Black Forest, exploring the Cuckoo Clock Road and discovering authentic, handcrafted cuckoo clocks. The region's dark, rustic charm contrasted with Alsace's candy-colored villages.
Q7: How did you spend your third day?I drove back to the Black Forest and visited Freiburg im Breisgau, taking in its sights and a bustling farmers' market. I experienced the peacefulness of the Epinal Cemetery, a somber but deeply meaningful stop.
Q8: What were the highlights of your final days in Alsace?My time in Alsace wrapped up with a return to Colmar and a scenic train journey to Paris. This efficient travel option allowed me to experience Colmar within a few hours and observe the distinct scheduling differences between the French and Germanic cultures.
Q9: Would you recommend exploring Alsace and the Black Forest?Absolutely! Both regions offer unique charms, from Alsace's fairytale towns to the Black Forest's rustic allure. The experiences I had and the memories I created during this trip were truly exceptional.
