Colmar to bruge

It's definitely worth taking the good way. Whatever you do, don't take the bad way.

Assuming you mean Bruges, Belgium, and not France? You could drive or take the train. Either would be 6 hours or more. Drive time doesn't include stops for gas, bathrooms or meals. Train would require 3 changes. Whether it's worth it depends on how much time you've got and what you want to do there.

ETA- I wouldn't advise driving unless you are returning to France or are prepared for a very hefty drop charge.

Clearly different people have different travel goals.

I felt Bruge(s) is a little over-rated. I think Ghent is more scenic, Brussels have a similar but larger city center if you can steer around the seedier areas of town, and there is also Oostend with a nice beach (which was featured on the map in the first few minutes of the Dunkirk movie), and Liege too. All along a single train line essentially.

And compared to what? Strasbourg is an hour from Colmar and much more fascinating than Bruges - including canals, restaurants, history, EU parliament, cathedral, etc. Paris is another two hours and clearly it has many reasons to go. From Colmar you can also go south to Mulhouse and Basel Switzerland, and on into Switzerland. I would argue thats a much better alternative to Bruges.

Never been to Ghent, but went to Bruges this past fall. It was incredible. The architecture, the age of the buildings...we took the train and walked in, about a 20-30 minute casual walk. We loved, loved, loved Bruges, Belgium.

Most rail connections go through Paris and require a station change from Gare de l'Est to Gare du Nord. There is one route in the late morning with only 2 connections, but takes 8 hours mainly due to almost 1 hour change time in Luxembourg and 25 minute in Brussels. There is also a late afternoon route with 2 connections in 6 hours and no Paris station change if you don't mind arriving in Bruges at 10 pm.

To address your original question, Train is probably the logical mode of transport, not a short day, no direct trains.

You basically have several routes. From Colmar, a short train ride gets you to Strasbourg. From there, it is either fast train to Paris, then to Brussels, and on to Bruges. The other is after Strasbourg, head to Mannheim, then up through Cologne, then Aachen, Brussels and into Bruges, or a middle route through Western France, and Belgium. None are fast, going through Paris is fastest, but longer distance at 6-7 hours, but otherwise 8 or 9 hours.

Is either city worth it? They are both nice towns, was just in Colmar for the second time a week ago. Been to Bruges four times I can recall. Enjoyed myself, but there are any number of towns between that are just as good.

Myself, I would not travel that far just to hit two towns you "heard of" especially if you are just devoting a couple days to. Near Colmar are great towns to visit, and within 4 hours a great many more.

I've looked at this route a lot as we are sort of doing the opposite in December. The fastest routes by train are mostly through Paris on Eurostar and TGV, but you have to change train stations in Paris. You can also do it a bit slower through Germany and then either through Basel or Strassburg. We decided to split up our trip with a night in Cologne. I originally was planning on splitting it up by spending a night in Metz France, however I think there is major construction going on at the Luxembourg train station so that would require a bus and take too long.

Not sure what you mean by "worth it". Are you asking if Bruges is worth 8 hours on a train? That's very subjective. I suppose it depends on where you would be going after...so how much out of the way is it? I personally love both Bruges and Colmar.

Setting aside trains, planes, or cars, the distance is similar to Cleveland (where I once lived) to Chicago. Would you visit Chicago while seeing relatives in Cleveland? Realistically, is this the only trip you will make to Europe in your entire life?

With the possible exceptions of Amsterdam and Brussels (where my wife was sometimes sent on business), Bruges is a bit out of the way, especially for a "must-see" destination. So you would even ask whether it "should" be added to a trip that includes Lille, France, or Keukenhof (a popular tulip season destination in the Netherlands.)

Is it worth it? It's pretty common for cocktail party guests to ask, "Did you see Bruges". But despite how attractive Colmar is, people never ask, "Did you see Colmar?" I know Rick gives Colmar high ratings, and we did enjoy it. But that was a whole two weeks starting in Strasbourg (TGV from CDG), ending up in Avignon (TGV to Paris). That is one narrow slice of France. We had many planned sleeping stops, like Besançon and Pèrouges, and a Michelin 3-star in Valence. But we didn't have time for the scenic gorges along the way.