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Cycling in Alsace

Posted by (Canada) on

My husband and I ( early 50s, reasonably fit) are hoping to spend 3 days in Alsace next spring (late May/early June) and do some road cycling while there.

We are tentatively planning to base ourselves in Colmar (after taking the train from Paris) and rent a care when we get there. Still planning the next leg of the trip, but thinking we will drive to Provence.

As it will be early in the year and we live in Canada, our cardio and bike legs will not be what they will be by August, so thinking a 30km round trip on mostly flat terrain would be best. We loved the ride that we did along the Rhine from Bacharach to Rudesheim in Germany a few years ago and are looking for something similar.

I am undecided about whether or not to do the Route des Vins by bike or car, but we plan to visit Bergheim, Ribeauville,Riquewihr, Kayserberg and Euguisheim.

If anyone here can recommend some routes, trail maps or bike tour companies (day trips only) in and around Colmar I would be grateful.

Posted by
2950 posts

According to Google maps, it’ll take 3h and 15m to travel this route by bike and 1h 45m by car. Of course, that does not allow time for stops. If you remove Euguisheim, it'll take 2h 45m by bike and 1h 30m by car. Euguisheim is a 30m bike ride from Colmar and 15m by car.

Posted by
2916 posts

For biking purposes, I would recommend staying somewhere other than Colmar. The area surrounding Colmar is not overly attractive nor overly conducive to bicycling. I'd suggest almost anywhere on or around the Route du Vin. The only issue I see is where can you get bikes and/or bike tours from there.

Posted by
1550 posts

If you have a car, I second Robert's suggestion of staying in one of the wine villages instead of Colmar. We stayed in Riquewihr. "Rick, we're here," my wife shouted each time we drove back into the village, and she never tired of it. There's a bus between Riquewihr and Colmar, which we took one day. Many other villages are served by bus to Colmar. I particularly liked Bergheim, a less touristy vlllage with a few restaurants, attractive streets and buildings.

I'm more of hiker myself and any cycling is usually done on a trail. I bumped into a few cyclers in my Riquewihr local, La Brasserie du Vignoble, which had unusual opening hours. They were all from some part of England, and some found the going tough: speed or gradient, I don't recall. Quite a bit west of Riquewihr or Colmar it gets hilly, the wine route itself, or close to it, not so much. For flat cycling there is a canal route, closer to the German border, but I can't vouch for the scenery.

Posted by
508 posts

You may want to check out the Euro Velo bicycle route system covering most every country in Europe. The developed routes are well-signed, and one in France goes right through Colmar. Maps and guides are available for download, and some may still be available in print form.

https://en.eurovelo.com/ev5/france

Posted by
354 posts

Thanks, everyone, for the replies.

As I said, I am not married to the idea of staying in Colmar. I do like the idea, however, of staying at either the top or the bottom of the route des vins, but that's just me being a bit OCD since we will have a car. Seems that, other than the canal route there, access to bike routes from there isn't ideal.

Will check out the EV routes in the area. 5,6 and 15 I believe.

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