We pick up a rental car in Belfort France on June 2, 2017 for one week. I want to spend one or two days in Buix Switzerland to see the village where my ancestors came from and hopefully visit their church and talk to the person that has access to the old church records. We want to spend the rest of the week in the Black Forest region and the Burgundy region. Is there a good place to use as a home base for these two areas? I would like to find one or two places to stay so we are not doing any one night stays.
We like to keep our hotels under $100. if possible but we also want a room with our own bath and either a queen/king bed or two beds. I would love to stay in a historic place if it is not too expensive.
Thanks
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
May i suggest you only have 2 locations for your one wk trip.
Buix and burgundy with a base in Colmar. $100 for lodging u can ck accor hotel ibis budget brand has parking in Colmar. A lovely canal village with alot of interest and a terrific museum. Hopefully u can find a b& b in Buix.
Posted by
OP
59 posts
I have been checking for hotels in Colmar. Buix is too small to have anything but Porrentrey is just down the road. Is Colmar a good location for also visiting the Black Forest?
Posted by
8068 posts
Consider, Strasbourg, France.
Posted by
New York City, NY
301 posts
I visited Porrentruy a while back because it's where my ancestors came from. (Always wondered why they left - my great-grandfather was an accomplished cabinetmaker. Hard to believe that Switzerland was a poor country then.) Porrentruy is a very pretty small medieval city and I was able to locate a church cemetery with 4 women with my last name - it was very cool to see. We stayed in Porrentruy a few nights - don't remember the name of the hotel - but it was reasonable. I've stayed in Baden-Baden at Hotel am Markt, an excellent small hotel recommended by Rick Steves. It was about $100/night and included a wonderful buffet breakfast in a lovely room. The baths are nearby and are a great experience.
Good luck in getting information on your forebears!
Posted by
Columbus, USA
342 posts
One tip that I would add is make sure you try to set up an appointment with the church/city before you leave. We tried the just showing up approach and the make an appointment approach. The appointment approach was much more successful than the show up approach. A lot got lost in translation when we just showed up. When we made the appointment, it gave the lady at the city hall time to do some research and we even ended up with the blueprints to my great great grandfather's sawmill. I know that the lady went above and beyond in helping us, but it was awesome nonetheless.
Good luck!
Posted by
OP
59 posts
Susan,
Thank you for the suggestion. I have sent an email to my contact at the church. I will have to try and find contact information for a city office. The village Buix is no longer a village but is now part of a new town made up of three former villages.
Posted by
OP
59 posts
I found a page on facebook advertising for a wine festival in Buix and the committee names were listed. half of the members were Courbats so they are my relatives. One of them had their email listed so of course I sent off an email asking to meet them.
Excited to visit the village!!