Help with Alsace planning

We went there Sept of 2013. Most of our vacation time was spent elsewhere w/ other family members and 3 of us had 3-4 days free and we went to the Alsace region. We took a train to Strasbourg, rented a car and drove the wine route to the Munster area for our hotel. We then did day trips for two (or 3?) solid days and took the train back from Colmar (returning the car there) to Paris.

1) I'd never go there w/o a car
2) I love driving and I love hills and curves and the region is full of them. The Ballons des Vosges is a beautiful region to drive through. Hiking paths to vistas. We ate a picnic lunch at the top of a ski lift where bikers were truly mountain biking downhill. (Lac-Blanc Bike Park)
3) We don't drink much wine either but we pulled over to appreciate the vistas of the vineyards.
4) Obernai is at the north end of the region and the beauty and quaintness picked up further south. (Except I'd have been happy to spend more than the few hours we did in Strasbourg

We stayed at http://www.hotel-panorama-alsace.com/en/
near Munster. It was a winding drive up / down but I would do it again (in a hearbeat. hey, see you there!)
We ate in Munster but didn't do anything else there.

FYI we arrive in Strasbourg around supper time and walked the town some.
Walked the town a bit in the AM and got the car.
We drove to Obernai and visited a vintner.
Drove to the hotel. Drive time total is a few hours. With the vintner we had already spent much of the day.
Therefore, you lose a lot of time having fun.

A day trip driving in a circle around the Vosges with some small towns (Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr).
Last day was Colmar.

Too short a time. I'd hike more and find smaller towns to eat in / lounge in.

Those driving in a wine area, and planning to sample the local wines during a day, should remember that European drinking & driving laws are more strict than the US, 2 glasses of wine would probably put some people over the European limit, depending on body weight and other factors.
Designated driver would be perfect!
Or trains.
Just a heads up, since the blood alcohol limit is lower than here and it would be a horrendous thing to happen on your vacation.

Colmar is a wonderful base in the Alsace region. There was a wine festival in town the week we were in Colmar. Check out the Colmar Tourism web site for events. My husband and I usually take public transportation when we travel. While in Colmar, we enjoyed the 10 min. train ride to the village of Turckheim. Also, we took a shuttle bus from the train station to Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg and visited the Monkey Mountain on the way back where you can hand feed Barbary macaques. Another day we took a bus to the town Riquewihr. The TI in Colmar helped us with all of the schedules. We had a wonderful time.

This is all great info, thank you! One odd question that I have - in looking at some different websites, people were praising the Alsatian food, I realized that my husband and I may have a challenge in that we haven't eaten meat in over 20 years. We do eat fish, eggs and cheese, so we're not real vegetarians, but we usually end up having dinner in whatever place we are based. So I'll need a town big enough to have a variety of restaurants and menu items. Will we do OK if we stay in Colmar?

Colmar has a lot of restaurant choices and there is also a great market hall. The delicious Munster cheese is not to be missed in this region. They serve it grilled on big salads or on a thin crust pizza called tarte flambee. Be sure to drink the wonderful white Alsatian wines and the sparkling Cremant d'Alsace.

Colmar is a delightful base to see Alsace and offers a wide variety of restaurants and accommodations. RS guidebook explain the limitations of public transportation for the Alsace. A car will give you the flexibility to see the area on your own schedule. The wine villages are easily accessible and are charming even without consuming their product. Strasbourg is a nice day trip, the Elsau P+R in the guidebook provides easy parking and tram connection to the historic center. It would not be necessary to stay in Strasbourg unless you have special interest in multiple attractions in the city.

I would definitely have a car. We stayed in Ribeauville for a week and could have easily stayed another week! There is lots to see and do. We traveled through the Vosges Mountains, visited castles (Chateau de Hauts-Koeningburg), went for walks through the countryside, explored little villages, and ate fabulous food. There's lots of history, both recent and centuries old, throughout the area. Neuf-Brisach is an interesting fortified town; Natzweiler-struthof is a concentration camp west of Strasbourg - sad, but necessary look at more recent history; Le Ligne, a WW1 battle and fortification site/museum in the Vosges - very interesting. All the villages we either walked or drove through were amazing.

We did this last week- you need a car. Absolutely, 100%.

We stayed 3 days in Eguisheim and drove to all the towns nearby. Colmar is nice but it's very busy, and drive there during 5pm and forgetaboutit! Stay in a small town, drive, hike and enjoy the towns. And remember, now matter how busy a town appears, the tour buses will leave and only you will remain.

Hello Irene,

My husband and I just spent the entire month of May in Colmar and have a completely different opinion than the other posts with regard to needing a car but I do understand their perspective. The train/bus systems are outstanding if you are willing to spend just a little bit of time to figure out where you want to go and how. Being able to sit back, enjoy the ride and watch the sites rather than worrying about parking and directions was invaluable. Parking in Colmar, in particular, is a pain. We used the train to travel to larger cities and were able to take the bus to some of the smaller towns. During our time there we utilized public transportation to take day trips throughout the Alsace, with ease: Strasbourg (train), Haut Koenigsbourgh (train and bus), Kaysergsberg (bus), Eguisheim (bus), Ribeauville (bus), Riquewihr (bus) and Turkheim (bus) and although not in the Alsace, we took day-trips via train to Zurich and Bern, Switzerland.

With regard to food- yes, it is very hard to find veggie or mostly veggie meals in Alsase. I am a healthy eater and was constantly on the search for non-meat options during our stay in Colmar. The best dinner we had by far, both for quality of service and food, was l'Arpege. They offer vegetarian and organic options. Also, our favorite place to eat luch was at the covered market- there is a restaurant stand there (with tables and chairs so you can dine in) named Legumes-Moi, run by the sweetest couple. They offer a differet vegetable soup every day, very nice salads and other vegetable options at a very reasonable price. They wil also do a fresh veggie or fruit juice, if you ask. We ate there so often that they sent us on our way with a nice jar of homemade preserves when I told them that it would be our last visit. Whether you are at Legumes-Moi or another restaurant, your best bet for ordering a salad is to order the "crudités" salad, as it is all veggies. Most "mixed" salads are served with meat. Beware, very few restaurants offer menus in English and very few servers understand Enlgish so make sure you are able to state your requirements in French (my #1 requirement was "sauce au par" for salad dressing on the side)!

Happy Travels!

I also think you can use Colmar as the home base without a car, as described in the last post, and Rick's France book will also help you to do that. Obernai looks less well connected, or at least you have to connect trains in Strasbourg to get between Obernai and Colmar; you can also check Obernai bus options. Even without drinking much, you'll enjoy the Route du Vin villages for their architecture, ambiance, and walking/biking opportunities.

From hcamp00 above: "Beware, very few restaurants offer menus in English and very few servers understand Enlgish so make sure you are able to state your requirements in French (my #1 requirement was "sauce au par" for salad dressing on the side)!"

I'd add that, particularly with some of the older residents, German proved useful. I don't speak any French, but was able to rely on German a number of times. (Perhaps a wholly irrelevant observation, but just in case your language skills, like mine, skew Germanic rather than Romance!)

We based out of Eguisheim for a couple of nights and had a great time without a car. We spent the days hiking to neighboring towns.

Hi,

I'll comment on Obernai. It's a small place quaint worth going to, did a day trip there from Strasbourg, very close. You'll see menus in French and German. The service people I encountered were bilingual in French and German (at least in Obernai).

Thanks for all of this info! Fortunately, my husband and I can get by in both French and German so reading menus won't be a problem and will be kind of fun. I think we are now leaning toward getting a car in Germany and then driving to Alsace and basing in Colmar.

The whole car rental thing confuses me right now - since we're coming from the Black Forest I think we have to pick up a car in Freiburg - are there any issues taking a car across international borders? Anything else we need to watch out for in terms of insurance or other logistics?

I love the idea of basing in a small town as some of you suggest, but at the end of the day we will need to eat dinner someplace that has healthy/veggie or fish options so I think a place like Colmar will have more food choices. Maybe the day we visit Strasbourg we should take the train? But drive the other days? We want to end up in Mainz before flying home from Frankfurt, and the train from Colmar to Mainz has multiple changes and looks cumbersome versus a 3 hour drive. That being said, does anyone know if it's a good road and not a winding little mountain road?

What city are you flying into? I believe you said you're going to Alsace from the Black Forest, right? In May, I did this route and it worked well. If you want to know where I stayed in the Black Forest, send me a personal message.

In reference to where to stay in the Alsace region, it is a large region. I stayed in a village outside of Colmar which I love to do considering I drive and have that flexibility. I spent one day in Colmar which, to me, was enough. Then drove between the other villages which kept us busy. We did not go to Strasbourg but went to the Hoenigsburg Castle.

Hi,
We are flying to Munich, spending a few days there, then going to Heidelberg then to Black Forest and then to Alsace. Flying home from FRA, but stopping in Mainz first. I currently have a reservation in Colmar for 4 nights, figuring we can take day trips from there. I'm sure we can make changes to hotels as we're a few months out, but i wanted to have something in place. I'm trying to minimize hotel changes as I feel that they waste a lot of time. Where did you stay outside Colmar?