Colmar and surroundings

Actually, I thought Colmar was pretty sweet! I do public transportation only in Europe so Colmar was easy for me to get to from Paris. I did not go to any of the smaller wine towns around. When I visited I stayed for 3 nights and intended to spend 1 full day in Colmar and go to Strasbourg for the other full day. After the full day in Colmar there were still things to see so I just stayed there.

Colmar Tourist Information:

https://www.tourisme-colmar.com/en/

If you'll zoom in on this brochure map there is a purple line for the TI DIY walking tour. If you have a phone with data each location on the walking tour has a QR code sign where you can get more information.

https://reservation.tourisme-colmar.com/medias/documents/documentation/documentation-PLANCOLMAR-UK.pdf

I stayed at the Hotel Saint-Martin which was very nice and right in the pedestrian area.

Is Colmar bigger than you were looking for?

Here was our impression from staying there in 2019. The area is charming! If I was going back, I would also want to see the castle in the area. I would book a full-day tour.

I have a rolling pin from one of the nearby villages that’s carved to roll out Christmas-decor square cookies as you roll across cookie dough. I enjoy using it each year, thinking about the trip!

“ COLMAR: When my husband & I arrived at Colmar we found a quaint town completely filled with tourists. Many of the shops had street displays of trinkets instead of locally made items. Both of us were disappointed because it felt like a fake version of a town, especially since we just came from Nancy which was so authentic and friendly. It wasn’t until later evening after the tourist crowd left and early morning before they arrived that the Colmar we had wanted to see became apparent.

We tried local specialties; I chose Quiche Lorraine since we were in the Lorraine region, and my husband had a traditional meat pie - both excellent. We ate fairly early ~7:00pm both nights and noticed that the outdoor tables were all filled by 7:20pm.

On Sunday, 2300 participants ran in the half and full marathon that went by our hotel, Saint-Martin. We loved that they began the race with three small teams - each grouped around a severely handicapped person in a modified bike. As they ran by our hotel, they were smiling while we cheered them on enthusiastically.

We reserved a village tour with Ophorus Excursions & Tours for the afternoon. Our half-day minivan tour to several small villages outside Colmar was very special. Our friendly guide briefly drove us to sites beyond the tour plan to thoroughly explain the significance of this area during WWII since it’s near the German border. His information, showing us bullet holes in stone building walls, and pointing out the American flag flown high up the hill at a memorial were very meaningful. He also provided lots of details about the wines & origins for this area. The villages were all so cute (he even drove us down to Eguisheim which was my favorite!), and with his time with us, it made an afternoon to be grateful, too.”

We stayed in Strasbourg first and then moved to Riquewehr for several days where we were among the other charming wine villages. We loved it there except for a day trip we took to Colmar. To us it lacked the appeal of the wine villages and Strasbourg. A lot of posters here enjoyed it but we did not.

I would not call Colmar a village. I think of it as a small town, which may be why it wasn’t on the list. I loved it. I suppose it is somewhat touristy, but I found it beautiful and a wonderful place to walk.

We visited some of the wine villages (by bus) and they were very pretty, but there was less to do and less places to eat, so I was glad we stayed in Colmar. I especially loved Ribeauville because there was a great hike to three ruined castles (up hill, so you have to be okay with hills).

Villages and places near Colmar we enjoyed earlier this year include: Ribeauville, Kaysersberg, Hunawihr, Obernai, Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, Eguisheim, and The Three Castles of Eguisheim. We did have a rental car. We enjoyed Colmar more than Strasbourg.

Thank you for all the good responces. Of all those wonderful villages near Colmar, which would be a good place to stay, or Colmar itself? How much time would be needed?

We would be traveling by bus or train.

The public transportation tends to fan out from Colmar, so I think that's likely to be the easiest base for you. It will depend on which small villages you want to visit, however. If you happen to choose two that are on the same bus or train line, either would be OK. You need to decide your target villages and then check SNCF Connect and/or Google for bus schedules.

This blog discusses some attractive places in Alsace that have rail service. I don't know that the info is totally up to date, so you'd need to go to the SNCF Connect website to verify service still exits and find current schedules. Some of the most popular places are notable by their omission. Ribeauville has a train station, but it's 2 miles from the village.

https://www.getalsaced.com/villages-alsace-accessible-train.html

I'll add to the list of folks who really liked Colmar. It is gorgeous and as a result gets heavy tourist traffic. As is often the case, that traffic is concentrated in a fairly small area, so you can find quieter areas. And the Unterlinden Museum is very good; the Isenheim Altarpiece is magnificent.

We stayed a week in Colmar a few years ago and enjoyed it very much. A full-day wine road tour took us to some of the smaller villages and provided a nice overview to the Alsace. We used buses and taxis to explore other locations. Bus service is a bit spotty so finding taxis a reasonably priced alternative, we made good use of them. Beats renting a car!!

I too, think of it as a city. Of course this impression may have been reinforced by our hiking into town at the end of a week long wine trail trek. Once hitting the city line it went on and on til we got to the more interesting center. I think next time we'd 'cheat' and take the train in from the suburbs.

In Colmar, we stayed at Colmar Hotel right by the train/bus station and it worked out well. If you did happen to have a rental car, the hotel does have free parking. Also, Colmar’s free navette bus starts its circuit around the city at the train station. It runs about every 20 minutes.

We stayed in Colmar for 4 nights in June. We fell in love with it. It’s definitely not a village. It has a charming old town area, but beyond that it is a decent size town of over 70,000 people.

We visited several surrounding villages: Eguisheim, Kaysersberg, Requiwihr and Turckheim. We had a car, which is really helpful for the villages. Only Turckheim has a train station. But these villages are no more than 20 minutes drive from Colmar. You could take a bus, or even bike to them.

Some of the villages are very, very small, like Eguisheim. It is super cute, but would be too small for my liking as a base. Kaysersberg is a bit larger, with a river running through it and a castle ruins up above. My husband and I both thought it would be a good base for a few days if we wanted to stay in one of the villages. Lots of shops and restaurants to explore. By the time we got to Requiwihr, we were on cuteness overload.

They are all very similar. Eguisheim is very compact and the tiny streets are in circles around a tiny main square. I almost felt a little claustrophobic there. We were there early in the day and there were no crowds. It would be uncomfortable later in the day. Kaysersberg is flat and more spread out. Requiwihr is on a slight slope, so walking through the town involves an uphill climb, in case that is important.

My stays in Colmar (at least 3 times) and this area were always in the summer. As such it was expected that the tourists would also be there as I was. It is definitely a town, no village at all. a lovely and interesting town.

If you have the time, I suggest visiting Obernai, was there once as a day trip from Strasbourg, took the regional train.

Thank you for all your ideas.

Are there restaurants and cafes in Equisheim? And what is Obernai like?

Yes there are restaurants in Eguisheim, not a lot, but there are some. Their hours vary as do the days of the week they are open. The issue we ran into in May were tourist groups that booked an entire restaurant.

In Eguisheim, we stayed at Le Hameau d'Eguisheim and highly recommend it. In addition to a free wine tasting it also has a washer and dryer for guests to use for free. It even supplied the detergent.

We stopped by Equisheim last year when we based in Colmar with a car. I thought it was a cute small town. I don’t recall too many restaurants. I know we went into a very small place to get something hot to drink because it was really cold out. We spent maybe 2 hours there at most, including our drink stop.

Obernai is very cute, more of a small town than a village so it is quite lively, but it has the downside of not being car-free in the narrow streets of the center. It is not a lot of traffic by any means, but I did find it a bit distracting.

We stayed in Colmar and did day trips out to several villages. Colmar will, in our opinion, be the best place to stay as it has a lot to see, do, and has a greater variety of places to eat.