agantman

I am planning a trip for my family to France for early September. This time we would like to explore the regions of Lorraine and Alsace. We'll be renting a car for a week and have to start and finish in Paris. We will be traveling with our 3-year-old son, so we would like to limit driving time to about 1-2 hours between major stops. Also, in addition to sightseeing we want to rest on our vacation (radical thought, I realize), so we don't want to change hotels every night. Given the above, what itineraries and hotels can you recommend? I was thinking Reims, Nancy, Strusbourg, Colmar, and Route des Vins -- setting up in countryside hotels for 2 or 3 nights each and taking day trips into the cities. If anyone has ever stayed at the Moulin de Connelles in Normandy, that would be our notion of an ideal hotel for this type of a trip.

Thanks.
-Alex

Michael

Sounds good. North of Strasbourg there are some lovely villages with chambres d'hôte that might be a good base, or a similar stay in one of the villages on the route des vins which is no more than an hour from Strasbourg.

A radical alternative is to take a self-drive barge trip that starts or ends in Strasbourg and goes over the Vosges. I know that Rives de France had such an itinerary. It's less sight-seeing but more relaxing.

cigalechanta

Nancy has an art nouveau Brasserie called the " Excelsior"and the shpo Lefevre-Lemoine that is famous for its Bergamottes de Nancy( herbal candies)
In Commercy, we stopped at the F. Grojean shop to buy the oval wooden box full of their famous Madeleines made well known by Proust. In Colmar we stayed at the Marachel overlooking a canal.

cigalechanta

P.S. those herbal candies come in the same tin box( if you have seen the film) that Amelie finds in the wall.

klondike

Michael's idea of a canal boat would normally be an excellent one--we did ours through Locaboat starting at Lutzelbourg--but with a 3 year old, I think you would have to be constantly on the alert for him going overboard..not exactly relaxing.

We loved the Route des Vins, basing out of Obernai which is one of the larger villages with lots to do/hotels & restaurants to choose from/great shopping. There also are great squares and pedistrian-only streets which would be easier with a child than being in a large city with busy auto thoroughfares. We enjoyed the horse-drawn carriage tour, which would be a nice family activity. You'll have a wonderful time no matter what you choose, though there will still be plenty of tourists as a lot of Germans take their vacation in this area at that time of year.

SalB

Hi. We spent a week at the Moulin de Connelles in Normandy and loved it. In Alsace we found a neat Logis de France you might enjoy. I tried to get the URL for it but they seem to be down for their weekly update. You can get to it via http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm
and typing Barr in the Search Engine. (It's the Du Château D?Andlau with the Restaurant la Maison du Champagne at
113, Vallée St. Ulrich
67140 Barr, FRANCE)

Barr is one of the lovely wine villages and the hotel is more a chalet than a chateau but it is lovely as are the people who work there and they LOVE children. It's in the country above town (and below the "real" chateau) and has a little stream running through it. There is a nice grassy lawn for play time!

You can easily drive the area including trips to Strasbourg, Colmar and the wine villages. We also took a day trip into the Black Forest of Germany and drove along the Rhine coming home.

Don't miss either Strasbourg or Colmar. They are wonderful.

There are two little parks across from the Petite France section of Strasbourg you reach by foot bridges. Your 3-yr-old would love playing with all the French children and parents there. There is free parking at Place de l?Etoile. You can get tram tickets and take the tram all over town. It's much easier than trying to park downtown. If you want to drive out to a park called the Orangerie in Strasbourg, there is a stork breeding program and they have other animals too. You hear the storks clicking their bills before you actually see them. I'm sure your son would love it. It's a huge park with ducks, lots of grass and plenty of room to run. You might enjoy taking a picnic if it's a warm day. It's true fun! Oh yes, in the Place Gutenberg there was a 2-story high carousel. If it's still there, your son would love it.

We visited Colmar on a weekend and had no trouble driving in or parking. Don't know what it's like during the week, but there seemed to be plenty of well marked parking. It is a beautiful city and has lots of parks too. If you can, visit the Musée d?Unterlinden even if you only see the Issenheim Altarpiece. It's worth the visit. It's a pretty casual museum and not terribly large so I think your son would be okay. We found a neat little restaurant nearby (behind the Dominican Church) called Les Dominicains and got a tarte flambé. It was like a woodfired pizza with a cream sauce, ham and cheese. It was delicious and I suspect a small child would cheerfully think he was eating pizza! There is a little canal that runs between the street and the outdoor seating that was fun, but you would have to watch your son there.

This is getting too long so I'll stop. We love Alsace and hope you do too. Have a wonderful trip.

agantman

Any recommendations for/against specific hotels in Obernai? What about a base for exploring Lorraine?

klondike

We stayed at the **Hotel Sainte Odile, 9 rue du Marche (pedestrian zone) in the heart of Obernai. Tel 03-88-95-48-88 /fax 03-88-49-91-54. It was as nice or nicer than any of the 3 starred hotels we stayed in: larger than average room size, beautiful marble bathroom with heated towel rack etc. We stayed in room #22 for 69 euros/full bkf 7euros and the room had a lovely sitting area with a modern couch (certainly big enough for a 3 year old if he doesn't roll around too much). I suppose the only draw back is it doesn't have an elevator if you need one, but with only 20 rooms you really don't have lots of floors (I think maybe 4?). Their restaurant, which we can recommend, is called the Santa Maria and when we were there in late Sept, Mussels and the wood fire baked flammenkuchen seemed to be the favorites. Their tartes are to die for. If you would like some photos I would be glad to Email them to you. Obernai does NOT lack for accomodations/restaurants to choose from!

Should you choose to stay in Riquewihr, I can heartily recommend the Hotel de la Couronne** (www.hoteldelacouronne.com) which has 40 rooms offering modern amenities but still having the old-world charm of beams showing in walls/ceilings, old fashioned bathtubs etc with the plus of a private parking for your car--all within the walled city.

Have a great time!

Budman

Here's a link to hotels in the Alsace region.

http://www.visit-alsace.com/hotels/hotels_ang_3e.html

We stayed at the following hotel very near Obernai (a couple miles down the road). Obernai has great restaurants & shopping.
http://www.amifritz.com/ in Ottrott.

There are 3 sites worth seeing in addition to all the small towns along the wine route -- Hohneck at the top of the mountain with views for miles, Haut Koenigsbourg Castle, and Mont Ste Odile.