Alsace solo and without a car

I've only been to Strasbourg so I can't answer for the rest of Alsace, but had no problems getting there by train. You can access a lot of the area by public transport but biking is also a good option. I am a woman in my late 60's and have been traveling solo for the last 30 years and have never had a problem. Just use common sense and keep a phone with you just in case.

Strasbourg is a bit smaller than Florence but not by a large amount. It would make a good base, but then there are a lot of folk here who swear by Colmar. I'm sure you will get some more answers here, but with regards to traveling solo, I think you will be fine.

Late April and early May is a very nice time for traveling to that region - I was there in early May of last year and the weather was beautiful - not to cold or hot, and beautifully sunny most of the time.

When we planned our short stay in the Alsace for November 2019, I received beaucoup information from the region's tourist bureau: https://www.visit.alsace/en/our-brochures/ They provided maps with bike trails and walking paths and booklets on some of the towns.

I would suggest staying in Riquewihr or Ribeauville, both are charming villages and easily walkable from one to another We walked from Ribeauville to Honawihr, where we had lunch at Chez Suzelle. We visited Colmar on our journey toward Luzern, but frankly I was not impressed since it is more of a city than a town.

The main issue for you would be getting to one of those villages, since they are not on a rail line. But once you are settled in, you will be able to explore without a car.

Thank you for the replies. I requested fliers from the website mentioned above. Although I did two solo trips to Italy last year, I'm still new to traveling solo, but I don't want to wait any longer to see as many beautiful places as possible and this area looks lovely, so I appreciate your help!

We have been to Alsace many times. I suggest you stay in Strasbourg if you do not have a car. Easy train transportation to a lot of places. We have flown in to Zurich before as well and then trained to Strasbourg from there. You could fly in to Zurich, then out of Frankfurt which is close to Strasbourg.

Stay in Strasbourg, and train to Colmar for a day trip. You can easily catch a cab from Colmar to Equisheim (about 5 minutes) and back to Colmar for the return train to Strasbourg. Riquewihr and Ribeauville really require a car. They do have bus transport but we found it rather unreliable. Places from Strasbourg that are easy to visit by train would include: Baden Baden Germany, Gengenbach, Germany, Nancy, Freiburg, Obernai, Heidelberg, and many more, even Paris is less that 2-hrs. away by high speed train. There is also a lot to see and do in Strasbourg.

I'll just say that I stayed in Colmar for 3 nights last spring. The taxi situation was dire.

I did get a cab from the station to my hotel but when it came time to get back to the train station the hotel had difficulty getting one for me...and I asked the afternoon before. What wound up happening is that a guy who transports people in his car to the hospital came to pick me up. There was another woman in the cab being taken to the hospital (not an emergency I presume) and she did not seem to mind the diversion to pick me up and drop me off. I think the expense was shared but it wasn't much any way. In talking with the hotel staff while waiting for the pick up it seems as if I was lucky that there was actually a cab waiting when the TGV pulled into the station.

I'm mentioning this because I'm not sure you could depend on a taxi to take you to wherever you wanted to go from the Colmar station even a town just a short distance away. I understood this was an effect of Covid and that a lot of the drivers had moved on to something else. It may get better by the time you visit so just a head's up.

I went out to Colmar April 19 and the weather was cool but perfect. There was also a Spring/Easter Market going on in Colmar which surprised me. Very cute! Apparently they were using the little huts from the Christmas Market but decorated with bunnies, chicks and Easter eggs. I'm not a shopper but it was so fun to see!

Without a car in Alsace, I would stay in Strasbourg. I was there with my husband way back in 2015, and we took a full day "Pearls of Alsace" tour offered by Ophorus. Our group consisted of us, a couple from California, and a single Japanese man. It might have been just our group, but the "single" fit in great, and our guide treated us as a unit - and we all did get along quite well. I am not the expert here, but I think Colmar is too small to use as a base without a car.

I'll admit I haven't been to this area in 25 years, but when I went, one of the nicest aspects was driving between the little villages, seeing the vines (that are outside of the walled towns), and stopping at sights to hike and explore between the towns. I always rent a car when in France, and don't completely understand people's aversion to driving there. But to each their own.

We stayed in Strasbourg and Riquewehr. We enjoyed staying in both places.
We did a day trip to Colmar which we didn’t care for.

To me, Strasbourg, Colmar, or Metz (in Lorraine) would work as bases depending on what you want to see. Some of the other smaller towns are ones I’d take day trips to, from Colmar or Strasbourg.

I have to be honest, the idea of driving in France, Switzerland and Germany never crossed my mind. I was able to get to everywhere I wanted in Italy by train or bus. When I was in France and Italy with my ex years ago, he drove, but that was his thing. I guess I’d be nervous about finding the car rental, getting gas for it, where to park and any rules that I might not know about until it’s too late. On the other hand, I like the idea of getting off the beaten path. I have no idea how much renting a car costs either.

I have to be honest, the idea of driving in France, Switzerland and Germany never crossed my mind.

Germany has excellent public transportation and you really do not need a car there. I spent 30 days there last year and got everywhere by train or bus or tram with no problem at all. The only time I rented a car was for 4 days in a tiny village where my ancestors came from. Otherwise, I traveled all over by train. Very easy.

Where are you flying into? If it's France, you could train down to Strasbourg, rent a car there while you're in Alsace, then return the car in Strasbourg, take the train to Germany and just use public transportation there. Not only would it be easier, but traveling with a rental car across a border is usually more expensive.

I haven’t made flight arrangements yet. Once I have a better idea of what I want to do and where I want to go, I’ll buy my tickets. I’ll probably fly out of Dulles, although BWI and Reagan are nearby as well. I think I can get direct flights to Paris, Zurich or Frankfurt.

We have flown the Dulles to Zurich flight, and it was a breeze. We then caught the train to Strasbourg, and spend time in the Alsace region and day tripping in to Germany via train. We did one day rent a car and do the wine villages. We then took the bus from Strasbourg to the Frankfurt airport the night before our flight and stayed in the airport Hilton. Flew home from Frankfurt. Very nice trip.

We walked what is called the wine route between Strasbourg and Colmar. There are companies that will take your luggage from place to place so you don't have to. We'd prefer Strasbourg to Colmar as a base. Didn't see much in the way of buses or marked cabs on our way. Lots of great foot and bike paths tho.

I appreciate all the helpful replies. The ability to travel in Europe is so far beyond what I'd ever imagined most of my life, so sometimes it just takes someone recommending something like renting a car for a day or two to make me realize that yes, I can do that.

I'm starting to think it might make sense to fly into one place, maybe Paris where I could stay 2 nights, then taking the train to Strausbourg where I could stay maybe 5 nights which would allow me to see Comar and some of the smaller villages and also maybe do a day trip into Germany, then I think I'd like to go to Annecy and perhaps fly out of Geneva. I could spend 4-5 nights in Annecy and see the surrounding area via day trips, then spend 2 nights in Geneva before flying home. Since this is just a rough idea so far, I'd appreciate ideas and advice. It looks like the train from Strausbourg to Annecy will be a long trip, so I might need to upgrade to a better seat or is there a better way to get from one spot to another?

Strasbourg to Colmar is only an hour by car. Spend a day or two in Strasbourg, rent a car and venture out and stay in a small village in between. I think you might miss the essence of Alsace if you only stay in cities. You could easily take the wine road which has a slower speed limit than the A35, (which is still nothing like a German autoban). Pick a couple of different villages to explore everyday. I like Ribeauville for the Beauville textile shop. You could finish up with a day in Colmar,If you look at visit.alsace/en/, there are many hiking routes that might be of interest. At the end of exploring, return in the car to Strasbourg and on to the next adventure.

The TGV to Strasbourg or Colmar is very easy and quite fast. I love to watch the speedometer they have in the train cars or on the SNCF app so you can see when you are going over 300k/hour, lol!

TBH, my plan was to stay in Colmar (smaller) for 3 nights and take the train to Strasbourg on one of the days. I liked Colmar so much I spent both days there. The Colmar Tourist Information office is quite good and has a brochure of a DIY walking tour thru town. I also found that each stop on the walking tour had a sign with a QR code with more information about it so make sure your smartphone QR code skills are up to date and that you have a data plan to use when you are out and about.

I found the service people in Colmar to be kind, helpful and quite talkative. There seemed to be many German tourists as well. Here is a copy and paste from my TR for this trip last spring:

"FUNNY INTERACTIONS: I had the best moments with people. As I found in October, Europeans are glad tourists are back and were chatty and kind.
1- in Colmar, seated at a table outdoors for lunch.
Waiter – Talks quickly while handing me the menu
Me - Je ne parle pas francais.
Waiter - Well, that was my German not my French. Did you want English?
Me - Yes, please."

Whatever you decide to do you'll have an excellent time!

sometimes it just takes someone recommending something like renting a car for a day or two to make me realize that yes, I can do that.

That happens to me on occasion. I still remember when I bought my first house - I was a single parent and had never bought a house because it never occurred to me that I could do that. One day my sister, who was single then, announced that she was buying a house. And I thought, "Wait a minute! If she is single and can buy one, why can't I?" And I did. :) Sometimes it just takes a push...

I rented a car for 7 days on my first trip to Europe (solo) back in the 90's. Not only was I driving in Europe for the first time, but on a different side of the road. It worked out fine and I loved the freedom of exploring the tiny towns and villages, and stopping wherever I wanted to. I think you will, too.

One thing - trains are generally pretty comfortable, even in 2nd class, which most people ride in. You can upgrade to first class but you'll pay a lot more. That is a long distance by train, though - if it were me, I would drive from Strasbourg to Annecy and then return the rental car there before heading to Geneva. It's only 4 1/2 hours by car vs. 9+ by train, even on the ICE trains.

Pam, I love that story!

I do like the idea of driving between regions. I could probably even take the train to Colmar (or stay there for part or all of my Alcase stay) and rent a car there to wander through the country side to Annecy. Then I could make stops along the way if I wanted. That would be a one way rental though, which may not be the best plan. If I did that, would I need to reserve a car far in advance to make sure one was available?

I narrowed down my time frame. To work around other obligations, I could go sometime between April 19 and May 10 and I'm thinking of going for 2 weeks. I guess I need to run it past my kids to make sure I haven't overlooked anything I can't miss, then start looking at flight options in the area. I was thinking of renting an Airbnb for the 4-5 day stays in Alcase and Annecy so I can do laundry (I'm a carry on only traveler), but hotels would work better for one or two nights for the cities I'll fly to and from.

If I did that, would I need to reserve a car far in advance to make sure one was available?

Yes, especially if you want an automatic transmission. I've mostly used AutoEurope, which acts as a broker for car rental agencies and have always been happy with them.

If you want to rent an automatic, then reserve early. Most rentals in Europe are still manual shift. To the best of my knowledge all rental car reservations can be canceled without penalty. I’ll suggest making a reservation as soon as you know the dates you’ll need the car. Then, check prices every couple weeks to see if they go down. If they do, cancel the one after making the one with the new lower price. I did that prior to a Scotland trip last September and ultimately paid 1/2 the price of my original reservation. For an upcoming France trip, the price difference between manual and automatic transmission vehicles through Enterprise was only $30.

I have been to Alsace a number of times - and it's one of my favorite places. Strasbourg, Colmar, and many other places are nice. In fact, there are no bad places in the area.

The Most Important Point I wanted to share is that there is a train line that runs souths from Strasbourg parallel to the Rhine to the east, and the Vosges mountains to the west, and most of the cities lie along this train route. So you can stay anywhere along that line. The last time we stayed in Selestat and paid half the hotel prices of Strasbourg - and then it was 20 minutes to Strasbourg and only 10 minutes to Colmar, and another 10 minutes to Mulhouse if I recall. So we were up and down that train line several times a day. With those fast regional trains, it's like one big city in terms of commuting distance.

Strasbourg is probably the most expensive, but you can probably stay very close to the train station. It's a wonderful place with a nice variety of things to do, and places to see. I did have one ugly pickpocketing experience there a few years back where two women targeted me, but in general, I have not seen any trouble or worrisome things.

Colmar has an older and more cozy feeling. And you can take the same TGV from Paris to Strasbourg and stay on to Colmar ... but the train station is a 15 minute walk to the main area. Colmar is very easy to get lost without a map too by the way. I rented a car one time, and found that I had to park a fair distance away from the city center.

There are other places too : Mulhouse, Selestat, etc or even Obernai on a different line. All of them are good. They all have nice Christmas markets - but Colmar is the best of that, despite Strasbourg's claims of being the best with their highly polished Xmas market.

The "plus belle villages" like Riquewihr, Hunawihr, Ribeauville, Eguisheim, etc ... are all cute and small. Some are more touristy and some are more quiet and nothing to do. But public transpiration is a problem. No trains at all. There is sporadic bus transpiration, but it's every few hours, and there are different routes that hit different cities. I found it impossible to see more than 2 a day. You pretty much have to rent a car and then you can hit all of them easily. Unless you have a car, I would never consider one of these as any kind of base. And even with a car, there is not a huge amount to do, or big selection of restaurants in these places compared to Colmar or Strasbourg, or Mulhouse.

I would not stay in Metz - thats near Nancy and is quite a distance away. Thats not even Alsace. Thats Lorraine.

I've been thinking more about the idea of driving from Alsace to Annecy. I think I read somewhere that I cannot drive into Switzerland, but it looks like most routes weave through Switzerland. Does anyone know anything about that? Thank you!

The most direct route would be through Switzerland, but you could make the drive entirely in France and it wouldn’t be significantly longer. There should be no reason you couldn’t drive in Switzerland. You would need to buy a vignette at the border to drive on the roads. It costs about 42€.

Remember if you do decide to rent a car, get an international driving permit at AAA before going over. It costs $20, plus 2 passport photos.