Alsace & Lyon Trip

It really depends on the pace you like and the sights you want to see.

We spent 5 nights in Strasbourg in 2024 and could have easily spent another night or two with another visit to the wine villages and perhaps another day trip. We visited the wine villages as part of our trip. You can see what we were able to accomplish with 4 active days in my trip report here:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-alsace-wengen-murren-lucerne

Earlier the same year we included two nights in Lyon. I wouldn't have minded one more night to see more museums, but I wasn't unhappy with just two nights. What we were able to see is described in this report:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-paris-lyon-dordogne-lot-toulouse

Are you flying home from Frankfurt? I'm not sure if it makes sense to loop back to the Alsace area, so I'll leave that to someone else. I assume you have looked at the train times for your current plan vs putting all of the Alsace portion at the beginning or end of your trip.

Thanks so much for the reply! Yes, will be flying back out of Frankfurt, so our thought was we would return to Alsace as our last leg to get a little closer to Frankfurt and to have the more laid back part of the trip at the end

Sounds like a nice plan. We covered that ground in September.

1. We were just in Strasbourg for two nights. Two full days there (plus a day trip) does not sound like too much, at all. The Notre Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral is magnificent, as is its 1000 year history and evolution. We did not get to any museums, but we did visit other churches, the Petite France area and more. Dined well in Strasbourg! As to a day trip to the BF, you will get more thoughtful answers if you post in Germany, perhaps. We spent one night in the BF, then two nights in Freiburg, before we went to Strasbourg.
2. Lyon. Given your interest in WWII history, the Centre de l’Histoire de la Resistance et de la Deportation will be a must-see. We got a 48 hour Lyon Pass, which was great. Used it for all metro and bus trips, the Centre de l’Histoire, Musee des Beaux Artes, Lugdunum (Roman History site and museum), silk industry history walking tour and a cruise down the Saone. Our two days in Lyon was insufficient for us to get to the Lumiere Museum and the Musee des Confluence. We did enjoy Les Halles Paul Bocluse.
3. Alsace Route de Vin. Were I to base in one village somewhere in Alsace and rely on public transport, I’d need to know more about the regional bus network. We e-biked from Strasbourg to Colmar with one night stands in Obernai and Ribeauville and then did a Colmar-based loop. 4 nights, not counting our nights in Strasbourg. It’s all pretty flat, unless you take the detour that we took to go to Haute Koenigsburg. Self guided touring is available; the operator supplies the bikes, books the hotels and arranges the luggage transfers. All you do is bike along the way, stop in to visit towns, churches, boulangeries, patisseries and wineries and get to your next lodging in time for a shower, a walk through town and dinner. If that is not your cup of tea, I would suggest that you consider Ribeauville and Kaysersberg, in addition to Riquewihr and Obernai as more or less centrally located. Check out the bus network. Maybe Colmar is better for transportation reasons, as well as museums and dining options; I can’t say.

Our Trip Reports might be of some benefit to you. Unfortunately there are three. One that includes Alsace, one that includes Lyon and one that includes Freiburg and the Black Forest, here. Those reports do mention some restaurants, particularly in Strasbourg, Ribeauville and Colmar.

If this reply and our TRs have piqued your interest in self-guided cycling through Alsatian villages, look at this link in general, then this link for self-guided tours in Alsace and then this link for the 4 days of cycling, 5 night tour we took though Velo Voyageur. FYI they are flexible in adjusting their tours. You could reverse it, or drop the Colmar loop day. They will work with you.

Hopefully this is useful to you.

We stayed in Hotel Des Celestins last year in Lyon and it was great. Enormous room full of character with big windows and a funny hot pink and black bathroom, if I recall correctly. The owner was kind and accommodating and the location was excellent. We enjoyed a lovely outdoor dinner at Bouchon Thomas, which was about a 15 mins walk from the hotel. Don't miss the amphitheatre you can reach via the funicular....it is free to enter and we had it practically to ourselves.

We stayed in Colmar and Strasbourg during a visit to Alsace a few years ago (Hotel Turenne and Hotel Tandem, respectively) and did day trips from there. I loved Kaysersberg and wouldn't hesitate to stay there. Eguisheim, not so much. But Colmar was great, in my opinion, although I know not everyone feels the same way. We had a beautiful, unforgettable meal at L'Arpege. Enjoy your trip!

Where to base in Alsace would depend on how to plan to get around. To visit the wine villages of Alsace without a car you can bike, walk, taxi or take local buses and sometimes a train.

I spent a week in Colmar October 2022 without a car. I visited the villages of Riquewihr, Ribeauville, Eguisheim, Turckheim, Kaysersberg and Niedermorschwir via local bus, the Kutzig wine route bus and a day tour with L' Alsaciette that include a visit to the Haut Konigsberg.

I'm not sure why, since you're flying into Frankfurt and want to see Roman and WWII sites, you're going to bypass the best of those and drive further south into the Alsace. For your itinerary flying into Zurich makes more sense.

The best Roman sites are in the areas around Trier, Metz, and Mainz. Trier was the largest Roman city in the empire, excluding Rome itself, until 400 ad. It has extensive ruins and the best preserved mosaics outside of Italy. Metz was also a very large city, with extensive buildings and a major aqueduct, and Mainz has a fantastic Temple of Isis and what's turning out to be one of the largest theater's ever built. There are dozens of preserved Roman villas in and around these cities. Many more than in the areas you're planning to explore,

And the major military monuments and ruins are also further north. Yes, there was some fighting in and around Strasbourg itself, and the front line was fairly static for months in that region, but the extensive fortifications run from Aachen to Hagenau mainly, following the Maginot line. There's almost nothing easy to find in the Vosage without a car and detailed maps.

I suggest you look for a place to stay somewhere in the vicinity of Bad Bergzabern / Wissembourg, two towns right on the border where the French Wine Road begins and the German one ends. They are attractive, there's a good WWII bunker museum, you'd be on a good train route for both countries, and there's a really good chance you can find a place with a balcony to stay in.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to start in Alsace, go on to Lyon, then return to Alsace.

Can't you fly into Paris, or Lyon itself, then when you have finished in Lyon, head to Strasbourg and either day trip to Alsace villages, which is what we did, or have a few days in one.

It is then an easy trip to Frankfurt airport to fly home.

I too have trip reports if you are interested, although we did Lyon as part of a London, Paris, Lyon, Avignon, Barcelona trip and did Strasbourg as part of a simple London, Paris, Strasbourg, Frankfurt journey.

All those places were terrific, with the exception of Frankfurt, which I really felt was a waste of time and money.

KGC is “spot on” about Trier and Roman history. The Porta Nigra, Constantine’s Church and the Archaeology Museum were all great. Particularly the Museum from my point of view. Maybe a good alternative to a day trip to BF, except that it may be too a long drive and a longer train trip. Alternatively, perhaps you simply take the train (or train/bus combo) directly from the FRA airport to Trier, then spend one night in Trier and head to Strasbourg in the afternoon, the following day. That gives you a nice morning and lunch in Trier.

Given your stated interests, Trier could be a better fit for your trip plan than the Black Forest.

But every other day you add to visit sights/sites in Germany will be at the expense of your days in Alsace & Lyon. Your trip, your interests, your choices.

I also recommend Trier if you are interested in Roman history. It also has the advantage of being right next door to Luxembourg which has a number of excellent WWII sites related to the Battle of the Bulge including the National Military Museim in Diekirch, the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial just east of Luxembourg city (which is also includes Patton's grave), and the German WWII Cemetery (Cimetiere militaire allemand de Sandweiler). In 2018 we met elderly villagers at the Diekirch museum who survived the battle and its trauma. We used Ettlebruck, a lovely small town with good restaurants, as a center for our exploration of these WWII sites and Luxembourg City. Short train rides get you to all the sites of interest but evenings in Ettlebruck were much quieter than in Luxembourg City. Public transportation was inexpensive then but is now free throught Luxembourg.
https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/about-luxembourg-american-cemetery/
https://kriegsgraeberstaetten.volksbund.de/friedhof/sandweiler

I am currently living in Strasbourg and love it here. A great thing about this city, is easy train connections to just about anywhere. I can't answer about WWII sites, etc - but thought another consideration could be adding an extra night to Strasbourg and then spend your last 3 nights in Gengenbach, Germany to enjoy the Black Forest region (I stayed in Gengenbach about 7 years ago). From Strasbourg, you can easily train to Obernai and Colmar, and from Colmar take buses to other smaller villages. My favorites are Eguisheim and Kaysersberg. Obernai and Colmar are only about 30 minutes away by train - so very easy to spend a day or two visiting the Alsace villages with Strasbourg as your base. From Gengenbach, you can ride local trains throughout Black Forest and most lodging provides the Konus card for free regional transport. You can visit Vogtsbauernhof, an open-air Black Forest living history museum that I thought was wonderful - with buildings from 1600's and demonstrations on way of life. You can easily go to Triberg, the cuckoo clock capital of the Black Forest (some say), and other small BF towns. Look up Black Forest Railway for more ideas. Gengenbach is about 2 hours by train from Strasbourg. You'll find lots of references to Gengenbach in the Germany forum. That's my suggestion!