We are in the early stages of planning a trip that would start in Alsace and end in northern Italy, probably in mid-to-late September. As this is our first trip to France we would appreciate some guidance. Our main interests for this part of the trip would be local scenery, food and wine.
Our current thinking would have us start in Strasbourg with a 3 or 4 night stay. We'd like to then move on to one of the villages for 2-3 nights so that we could rent e-bikes and tour some villages. I'm leaning towards staying in Ribeauville (the wine co-op is a draw) but am open to suggestions for villages that may be better situated or have a better selection of bike rentals. Since our current plans call for moving towards Turin, would Lyon be the logical next step in France? Lodging seems to be a bit more expensive there. Is there an appealing alternative? Are there places between Lyon (or its alternative) and Turin that we should consider for a night or two?
Edited to add: We would prefer to not rent a car.