Alsace 5 Day Itinerary: Strasbourg, Colmar and the Wine Route

It is a 10 minute walk from the main station. After check in, climb to the free terrace on the roof of this 17th century dam: you look down on La Petite France, with the towers of the Ponts Couverts in front and the cathedral spire behind. Twenty minutes is enough.

Walk down and cross the bridges right in front. The wooden roofs that gave them their name disappeared in the 18th century, but the 13th century wall towers remain. The best photo is from the terrace you just left, with the towers lined up in the water.

Across the bridges starts the old quarter of fishermen, millers and tanners, with 16th and 17th century half-timbered houses leaning over the canals. Give it an hour and a half on Rue du Bain-aux-Plantes and Place Benjamin Zix, and watch the swing bridge open when a boat goes through.

Stay until dark: with the lights on the water, it is the prettiest view in town, and in December the whole quarter is decorated for Christmas.

Start at 9.30am on the largest square in town, with the statue of General Kléber, born in Strasbourg. From late November to Christmas it holds the lit fir tree of about 30 metres that is the symbol of the market; come back at night to see it lit. The cathedral is a 10 minute walk away along Rue des Grandes Arcades.

At 10am, climb to the platform, 66 metres up, about 330 steps, €10 and no booking: on a clear day you see the Black Forest and the Vosges. Entry to the nave is free; look for the medieval stained glass and the Pillar of Angels.

At 12.30pm the astronomical clock parades the apostles and the rooster crows. The ticket to watch up close costs a few euros, goes on sale late in the morning and sells out in December, when the biggest Christmas market fills the cathedral square. Its 142 metre spire made it the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874.

On the corner of the square stands the most ornate house in the city: a stone ground floor from 1467 and wooden upper floors carved in the late 16th century, with biblical scenes and zodiac signs. Today it is a restaurant known for its three fish choucroute. Have lunch here or just look at the carvings up close.

200 metres away is the baroque palace of the prince bishops, from 1742, with three museums. If you only have time for one, pick the cardinals' apartments in the Decorative Arts Museum. City museums close on Mondays.

Batorama boats leave from the quay opposite the palace. The loop of about 70 minutes passes La Petite France, the locks and the European quarter, and costs €16.20. In December, book online.

Cross the Ill to the north and the city changes. After 1871, when Alsace became German, Berlin built an imperial capital here, with the Palais du Rhin, the National Library and the National Theatre around this garden. The Neustadt joined the UNESCO list in 2017.

One hour covers the square and Avenue de la Liberté up to the Palais Universitaire.

Pick up the rental car at Strasbourg station and drive 35 km southwest. Obernai is the first half-timbered town on the way and the liveliest, with real shops. Park outside the walls and walk to Place du Marché, with the 13th century Kapellturm, the old town hall and the six bucket well from 1579. An hour and a half.

Another 30 minutes south on the Wine Route. Dambach-la-Ville keeps three gates of its medieval wall and a Renaissance square with hardly any tourists. Walk in through the Ebersheim gate, loop around the square and have lunch here before driving on to Colmar, 25 minutes away.

Check in in Colmar and head out on foot. The old market gardeners' quarter along the Lauch river is the postcard of Alsace: bright houses and flower boxes over the water. The best views are from the Rue des Écoles and Rue de Turenne bridges. Stay for the evening lights.

Five minutes north, through the tall houses of the Quartier des Tanneurs, where hides dried in open attics, you reach the Koïfhus, the 1480 customs house with its glazed tile roof. In December the square around it is one of Colmar's six Christmas markets.

Three minutes away on Rue des Marchands, the 1537 house has a wooden gallery, a corner oriel and frescoes on its facade. It is the last stop of the day; St Martin's Collegiate Church is on the next street.

Leave Colmar at 9am: it is 30 minutes to the castle, which opens at 9.30am (10.30am on Mondays). In November and December it closes from noon to 1pm, which is why it comes first. Entry is €12 and the visit takes an hour and a half; it is free on the first Sunday of the month from November to March.

Ruined in the Thirty Years' War, it was rebuilt from 1900 to 1908 by Emperor Wilhelm II, with furnished rooms and an armoury. From the walls you see the Rhine plain all the way to the Black Forest.

15 minutes on, Ribeauvillé stretches along a Grand'Rue of almost a kilometre, cut in half by the 13th century Butchers' Tower. Above the town are the ruins of the three castles of the lords of Ribeaupierre. Have lunch here: it is the village with the most choice of the day.

Five minutes south, the 15th century Saint-Jacques church stands inside the wall of its fortified cemetery, alone above the vineyards. Catholics and Protestants have shared it since the Reformation. Fifteen minutes for the photo and a walk around the wall.

Three kilometres away, Riquewihr escaped the wars and kept its walls and 15th to 17th century houses almost intact. Walk up the main street to the Dolder, the 1291 gate tower, and come back through the side lanes. An hour and a half; in December its Christmas market is the busiest of the villages.

The last village of the day, 10 minutes away, voted France's favourite village in 2017. The fortified bridge over the Weiss river, with its little oratory, is the classic photo; from there a 15 minute path climbs to the castle ruins. Colmar is 20 minutes away.

At 9am, inside a 13th century Dominican convent, is the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted by Matthias Grünewald from 1512 to 1516, with one of the most powerful crucifixions in European art. Entry is €14 and two hours are enough.

The museum closes on Tuesdays. If your Day 5 is a Tuesday, visit at 3pm on Day 3 and leave Little Venice for the evening.

Two minutes away, this 1609 house has over a hundred faces and masks carved on its facade. On top stands a cooper by Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, who was born in Colmar.

A 10 minute drive south, Eguisheim was built in rings around the counts' castle, where Pope Leo IX was born. Walk the full loop of Rue du Rempart, which follows the old wall, and have lunch on the central square.

From here it is 50 minutes to Basel-Mulhouse airport; if you go back by TGV, Colmar station is 15 minutes away.