Alsace base possibilities?

We stayed in Colmar for a night and Eguisheim for 3 nights. Colmar is a pretty city, but too big, I think to be considered a wine village, though there is at least one winery in town. We liked Eguisheim, seemed less busy than the other villages, we enjoyed the restaurants in town, recommend reservations. Eguisheim is not central to the other wine villages. We loved it, and also loved driving between the wine villages. We stayed at a working winery, Le Hameau d'Eguisheim, and were very pleased.

I agree that Strasbourg is too far and while a very pretty town to visit, its not an Alsace wine village.

Also, parking in Strasbourg is very pricey. Better to not stay there.

I spent a week in Colmar in 2022 and loved it. But, I was traveling alone and without a car.

With the luxury of a car I would definitely choose to base in one of the wine villages. Find a place that can promise you convenient parking. If you plan to have dinner out, choose a village that has several restaurants in your budget so you can walk to dinner and enjoy some wine.

If the timing works, you might want to leave the car parked one day and use the Kutzig Bus to visit a couple villages with no need for a designated driver. This year they started weekend service on April 18. I used Kutzig on 2 days of my Colmar stay to visit 2 villages each day.

One advantage of basing in Riquewihr is you could take the bus to Colmar, Ribeauville or Hunawihr and give your driver a day or two off.

If you base in Turckheim you could take the bus or train into Colmar for dinner.

If you're not going to stay in Strasbourg, you should at least visit. As beautiful a city as I've ever seen. Between Strasbourg and Prague I don't know how I'd choose.

Thanks for all of the responses :)

Jules, The winery lodging looks lovely, but I think it's a bit higher than we want to pay. We would LOVE to stay somewhere like that though!

Judy and jpsbucks, Strasbourg seems out of our league to stay in expense-wise, maybe visit, but not stay.

Jean, I've been putting "parking" into my requirements when searching for lodgings. We don't want to have to pay for it if at all possible plus we hope for the convenience of having our car close. The Kutzig bus could be a great way to visit and not have to drive. I wasn't aware of the bus in Turckheim, thanks for that info.

I have our bases pretty well pared down in the Loire (somewhere near Amboise) and Burgundy (somewhere near Semur-en-Auxois) areas, but Alsace has me a bit stymied.

We're hoping to find a lovely town that's centrally located with enough restaurant variety for our budget as well as be a nice place to try some different wines in the evening while strolling around. The central location is also important I think, as we want to go both north and south of the center of Alsace in our 4 nights.

Joby, I understand. If you are willing to stay in Colmar, we stayed at Domaine Martin Jund. Quirky place, good price and included breakfast. It is a working winery. The location in Colmar was great. There is a lot to do In Colmar with a wide range of restaurants, and you can likely get tours or buses to the wine villages from there.

Joby, here are the links to the Winery and B&B rooms and Gites at Domaine Martin Jund that jules m referenced. Great location in Colmar. I don't know what the parking situation is.

Domaine Martin Junc

At Myriam, Cecile and Caroline's

If you want to share the locations of the places you've found, we might be able to help you rule some in or out.

Thanks jules and Jean!

I "think" we've ruled out the larger towns now--Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse (it's too far south anyway).

We'd like a happy medium place that we could eat on a budget (whether it be lunch or dinner), be within driving distance of both north and south in Alsace and have a way to visit some tastings without a tour but letting my husband have the day off driving occasionally.

We will be there at the end of April and want to make sure it's a big enough place that restaurants and tasting places will all be open.

The Kutzig bus looks fun, but it may or may not be going in late April from what I've read. In 2025, it started on April 18. We'll be there Thursday-Monday, so that may help with it being a weekend.

We're also debating staying right in a town or outside in a more rural area. It would be fun maybe to stay in a winery and could taste, lodge plus a big bonus might be a table d'hote. We really like the idea of a working winery too.

I'd love some more suggestions :)

Joby, the wineries in Alsace are mostly in towns, not out in the vineyards like Napa or Sonoma. I would stay in one of the wine villages. While they can be overrun with tourists during the day, at night they can be very peaceful.

Consider staying in Turckheim. It's a bit less touristy than some of the other wine villages, but still lively with half timbered houses and it's 3 fortified town gates and a few wineries.

Here are a couple hotels in your budget that get good reviews and are a few minutes from public parking and train station.

Berceau du Vigneron

Hotel des Deux Clefs

Another plus is Turckheim is only 10 minutes from Colmar by train. Go on Friday or Saturday night when the town is beautifully illuminated (and have the best Tarte Flambée at La Soi. Very popular, so book ahead.)

I hope you find something that works for you!

It's interesting to see Joby's remark about Strasbourg being maybe too expensive. We've totted up our costs and found Strasbourg has been our least expensive city this summer, less than Bordeaux, Tours, Reims, Geneva (duh) or Carcassonne. We're not staying in hotels, though, which undoubtedly affects things. AirBnBs have a very different cost picture from hotels.

Hi Jean, Thanks so much for that info! I'm looking into that village too now :)

jphbucks, Cost isn't the only worry about Strasbourg. The traffic and parking are another worry plus the Crit'air sticker problem. Strasbourg does have the advantage of restaurants, sites and just walkability.

While searching around I also found an interesting Chambre d'hote that is located near Orbey. It's a small family run fromagerie and B&B. It's 30 minutes west of Colmar and 11 minutes from Kayserberg.

Would that be a workable location at all considering what we want to do? It's definitely more rural and not city located, but the setting is bucolic, it's a small working farm (my husband would like that), it gets great reviews, and includes breakfast. My one hesitation is the location.

Thoughts??

While Orbey looks lovely, IMO, it's too far. Alsace is all about the "wine villages". Maybe do your "country" stay in Burgundy where things are more spread out.

That said, it's your trip. Do what makes you happy!

Joby, if you're renting a car in France it'll have the necessary Crit'Air sticker. So don't be too concerned about entering cities that require one.

jphbucks, Knowing our luck, we would get the only car on the lot without a sticker ;/

Jean, The location isn't our favorite, but we love everything else about it. I think I'll keep it on the "maybe" list and continue looking too.

I agree, Orbey is a bit far out, but appears to be in the mountains/foothills, I bet the area is pretty. I don't feel its any less convenient than Eguisheim was for us. (We'd stay in Eguisheim again, but its certainly not central.) Orbey is really not all that inconvenient for visiting the wine villages. Kaiserburg, in particular, is quite close.

We had a car and stayed in Riquewihr for a few weeks, just outside the village walls in an apartment (free parking). Best Western and Riquewihr Hotel are also just outside the village walls, don't know about the parking sitaution.

Bus to Colmar. Drive to Selestat, park and train into Strasbourg. Lovely walk to Hunawihr and Ribeauville. Couple of nice walks to Kaysersberg. Many good restaurants in Riquewihr, and many wineries in and around the centre which offer tastings.

I have a soft spot for Bergheim, would probably stay there if I returned to Alsace. Uncrowded, trail around the walls, very pretty streets. There's probably only six or seven restaurants, which would be enough for me: you'll be out and about during the day. Couple of hotels, large, free (was) public parking lot.

https://www.ville-bergheim.fr/bouger-et-decouvrir/tourisme/

Hi all,

I think we've decided on Alsace lodging. We've found a rental in Bergheim that looks to be a really good fit for us.
Thanks so much for all of the help and posts!!