I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip to the Alsace/Switzerland for the beginning of December. With four or possibly five days in the Alsace, what would you do and how would you split up your time? We definitely prefer small towns over cities, aren't museum people, will have a car and plan on basing ourselves out of Riquewihr. While we're coming primarily for the Christmas markets (we spent a week in Bavaria a few years ago and loved them), I'd like to know which towns you all found particularly intriguing, beautiful, interesting. If someone out there visited the area during market time, I'd especially love your thoughts!
Strasbourg and Colmar are definitely worth visiting. They both have several unique Christmas markets, some with unique handmade items. Basel is also a pretty city to visit in Switzerland. Basel also has a unique Christmas market with lots of children’s activities
I'm beginning to hear about some nice ones across the border in Germany. Has anyone been to the ones in Gengenbach or Freiburg? Also are there any good ones further afield in the Black Forest? Agreeably Stuttgart's is awesome, but its too far away.
Gengenbach turns its rathaus into the world’s largest advent calendar. If you go be sure to visit the Narren Museum with its collection of Fastnact ( carnival ) masks