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Sights & Attractions in Alsace-Lorraine

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Alsace-Lorraine Sights

These two regions of eastern France border three countries. Alsace, the smaller region, occupies a narrow strip of territory between the Vosges mountains and Germany, across the Rhine River. The capital of Alsace, Strasbourg, is the largest city in the region and one of the most attractive in France. It's a place of such historic and cultural importance that it's worth exploring in depth. Heading southward you can travel Alsace's fabled and photogenic Route du Vin (Wine Road), which links a series of storybook villages and leads down to the historic town of Colmar, home to Grünewald's world-famous altar retable. To the west of Alsace, across the Vosges and sharing a northern frontier with Germany and Luxembourg, is Lorraine. The largest city here, Nancy, also has considerable charm. Westward lies Joan of Arc country, including the much-visted site of her birth in Domrémy-la-Pucelle; eastward is Épinal, home to an historic Vieille Ville (Old Town) as well as the Musée Départemental d'Art Ancien et Contemporain, a renovated 17th-century structure that is hung with some noted art treasures, including Job Lectured by his Wifepainted by that muse of Lorraine, Georges de la Tour. Most visitors begin exploring this region to the west—nearest Paris—beginning with Nancy (set 145 km west of Strasbourg).