car rental in Colmar - parking concerns

The villages (where i would stay if I had a car instead of Colmar, much as I like it) have very tight twisty ancient roads in the centres - more like narrow lanes, really, and have a car park just outside the walls (or where the walls used to be) which are pretty flat and reasonable size with fairly reasonable sized spaces. That's where to park, and nowhere in the village will be more than 5 or 10 minutes of walking away.

These little towns have tourist economies and hence are set up for people driving (public transport is lousy); they have parking lots for tourists. They will be outside the town centers.

There are plenty of parking lots just a few minutes from the main area of each town. From what I remember, it was free parking but always check for a parking machine just in case. I would also agree that you should stay outside of Colmar in one of the local towns. I stayed in a quaint farm B&B in the hills above Orbey. Quiet, serene with views of the surrounding hills and overlooking the valley. Enjoy your trip!

I stayed in Eguisheim 3 nights at a B&B and loved it. With a week, I would probably split between two villages or one village for up to 5 nights and 2-3 nights in Colmar without a car. Eguisheim and a couple other villages are very close to the main roads. It will save you time and frustration not to drive through the traffic of big-city Colmar every day. I visited in late June and had no trouble finding parking, often (maybe always?) free, anywhere - but I did have to pay for public parking in Colmar. Even tiny Equisheim had a handful of good restaurants that I walked to from the B&B, so I had no problem drinking with dinner.

I was on a hiatus from the RS forums, so I missed your other posts. I just saw the most recent one about Dijon. Heading there now to opine.

I agree with the others. The parking is easy, driving is easy, the only difficultly will be using Colmar as a home base and planning to drive in and out of the city to visit the villages. You can do it ok, we drove into Colmar for the day, but getting in and out was more stress than was worth for me. To do it daily - no thank you. Why not stay in one of the many adorable villages?

Colmar is a wonderful place to stay with more shopping and restaurant choices than the villages. With a GPS, it is no problem getting in and out of town. Without a GPS, it will be more stressful but you can follow signs in and out of the center. Parking at de la Vieille Ville is free and close to everything. We had no problems finding spaces in September, returning in the late afternoon from touring. As mentioned above, the villages have plenty of pay parking outside the walls at a reasonable cost. Have coins to buy the timed ticket for your dashboard.