Tentative Alsace plans

It looks pretty good to me. I'm also a solo female traveler.

In case you don't have a hotel yet, when I was in Colmar a few years ago I stayed at Hotel Saint-Martin which is right in the old city area and just charming. It's in the pedestrian area so if you take a taxi from the station they have to drop you a short distance away. I was there in an April and they had a "Spring/Easter Market" in the areas where they usually have Christmas market stalls. My opinion is they used the little chalets from the Christmas Market and just decorated them with eggs, chicks and bunnies, lol. It was so cute and I am NOT a shopper.

There was also a good DIY walking tour from the Colmar Tourist Information office and at that time each stop had a QR code where you could access more information about the site. I stopped by and picked up a paper map but here is an online link.

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

I had 3 nights there and just stayed in Colmar I liked it so much so no advice about seeing the area.

Time for a funny story? I sat down for lunch at one of the terrace cafes near the Unterlinden Museum. The waiter came up with a menu and started talking rapidly. I said, uh....Je ne parle pas Francais. He laughed and said...well, that was my German but I can do French if you wish or would you like English. Haha.....He was very sweet after that! In his initial firehose of language I had caught what I thought was "trinken" (drink) but it did not compute that it was German as a first tourist language. Or since it was just after Covid maybe most of their tourists were from just across the line. Anyway, gives me a funny interaction to remember in this delightful town!

Your plan sounds great!

I spent a week solo in Colmar October 2022.

I did a wonderful one day small group tour with L'Alsaciette that included 2 private wine tastings and lunch. While the website only allows booking for a minimum of 2 persons, I contacted them by email about a month prior and asked if I could be added to a tour as a solo, giving several dates and my preferred tour choice. About a week prior, they confirmed my tour. We were a group of 3 and had a lovely day.

I also used the Kutzig bus on 2 days. In 2022 reservations were not offered and the buses were crowded. While some riders seemed to be hitting most of the villages in a day, I chose 2 villages to explore and enjoyed a leisurely lunch each day.

I also took the local bus to nearby Turckheim one day. It's a lovely walled village about a 20 minute ride away.

We arrived in Colmar hot and jet lagged about a week ago during a major heatwave. We had large suitcases and hoped to get a taxi at the train station. There was one taxi and a customer ahead of us. Taxi said someone would be by soon. Soon never came and we walked. We lived but it wasn’t ideal given the circumstances. But it was a safe walk through a park into the city center. (I wouldn’t do the walk at night with luggage etc just because I wouldn’t.)

Later during our visit we took a food and wine tour with Arnaud from L’Alsaciette. He can do private tours, group tours, and help you in lots of different transport ways. Reach out to him on the website. He also told me that now Uber has come to Colmar and that sometimes the car may be a taxi. Sure enough on our departure, it worked! So have your Uber app ready.

Also, we ate at La Soi based on many recommendations on the forum. Reservations are a must. Though a solo person came in without one, and they set him up at the counter.

We just got back from France. Our Rick Steves tour ended in Paris and the next day we took the train to Strasbourg (recommend reserving that in advance). We put our luggage in a locker at the train station and then set out to explore Strasbourg. We had a lovely lunch of tarte flambee at Bierstub L'Ami Schutz which was right by the canal (there were much busier restaurants right across the canal).

We bought our round trip train tickets to Colmar at the train station. All they needed was the return date as we could catch any train on that date to get back to Strasbourg. We then spent 4 nights in Colmar at Hotel Turenne. It is just a short walk from Little Venice. We felt very safe and it was quiet.

I had reserved a tour through Ophorus Tours. Maximum 8 passengers for the van tour. Our tour guide was Thierry and he was extremely knowledgeable. We toured Haut-Koenigsbourg castle first, then went to Riquewihr for a walk through and lunch (he recommended several restaurants to us). We then went to a winery in Turkheim for an excellent tour of the cellars and tasting. Finally, he took us on a walking tour of Eguisheim. For not having a car, I felt that this was a great way to see many sights plus our guide was so personable and knowledgeable. Ophorus Tours also has other itineraries. I know that the day after our tour, Thierry was taking a group to just tour wineries.

We took the train ourselves to Turkheim a second day. We bought a round trip ticket in Colmar and it was only a 10 minute ride. We went to the World War 2 museum there and learned about the hard battle fought in the Colmar area.

Would definitely recommend the Unterlinden museum and well as the Bartholdi museum in Colmar.

Roberta, Thank you for a very informative report of your visit to Alsace. I am sure it will be helpful to many visitors there.

I think your itinerary looks good. I enjoyed the area very much a few years ago.

In Colmar, we had a good stay at the Hotel Turenne (not a tonne of character but very clean with a good bathroom) and liked its location. We took days trips by bus to Eguisheim (not my favourite) and Kaysersberg (loved it) as well as a quick and easy train ride to Turckheim (lovely). We had great meals at L'Arpege (outstanding food with super friendly staff) and Wistub de la Petite Venise (fantastic pork knuckle IMO) and really enjoyed the wine tasting and meat and cheese platter at Le Cercle des Aromes. Strasbourg is also fantastic.

Have a wonderful trip!