Could someone recommend a centrally located base in the Alsace Lorraine region.

Pls also recommend a gite or gites in the area.

Thank you!

S

swagman we need a bit of help A and L seperated by Vosges mountains only a few good passes.

Time summer, winter spring..

Interests Museums, Wine, Wandering, Ski, Canals?

I am really planning way ahead here so nothing in detail as yet.

However, most likely April or May. Will be travelling with toddler, so slow going and mainly sight seeing, food and wine will be the focus.

Would love to see Colmar and surrounding areas.

S

In Alsace the best place to stay is Strasbourg. Beautiful old town area with one of the most impressive Cathedrals in Europe. Feels half French and half German of course because it is right on the border and has a mutual history.

Lovely river scenes, lots of shops, and wine stubes everywhere. And, world class cheeze.

Don't know about gites but you can easily rent a nice hotel room for under $90. Easy access to anywhere in Alsace by train. 4 hours from Paris.

Stu Dudly stays in gites. Maybe he'll help you with some information.

Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg are all excellent cities. But if you want a gite, look in the Vosges.

Strasbourgh to me is one of Europe's hugely underrated cities. Comar is a gem too, but rather small - Strasbourg offers the usual trappings of a large cosmopolitan city along with being smashingly gorgeous.

In a six week trip to France and Germany, I stumbled upon Colmar and fell in love with the city. I ended up staying there for six days. It is called 'Le Petit Venice' because of the many small canals running through the city. I was fortunate enough to find what is now a Mercure hotel in Colmar. This hotel is in the middle of a medium sized park, with no other building around it. Great views from all four sides of the hotel. If you want to go to Strausbourg, it is a one hour train ride north.

Hi S,

We will be staying in Kientzheim at http://perso.orange.fr/schwendi/index.htm
for our visit to Alsace before heading for Nancy, where we will stay at www.hoteldeguise.com/

Also check out Kaysersberg.

When in Nancy, be sure to dine at the beautiful Art Nouveau brasserie Excelsior. It's classified as a National Monument. Everything was created by the great artists of that time from staircase to Chandeliers.
Stop at Levevre-Lemoine for a red tin box of the Bergamottes of Nancy. If you saw the film Amelie, the box is what she found hidden in the wall.
On the way to Nancy, we visited Commercy to shop at E. Grojean who sells the madelaines of Commercy that are in their signature oval wooden boxes

>be sure to dine at the beautiful Art Nouveau brasserie Excelsior.<

Thanks, cigal. Stu Dudley also recommend the Excelsior.

I shall be sure to make reservations.

Are they open for dinner?

YES!!!

Thank you all for your input.

I have tentatively narrowed my bases down to Strasbourg, Obernai and Colmar.

Currently researching on suitable accommodation. Suggestions will be appreciated. B&Bs or hotels, 3***.

s

You don't say how long your are staying for, but we really enjoy towns over large cities and had a wonderful time in Obernai.

We stayed at the Hotel St. Odile though if memory serves me, not in a gite.

I have currently allocated 2 weeks to Alsace, driving in from Metz/Nancy - 1 week around Strasbourg and 1 week further south, say Colmar. We'll be driving into the southern part of Germany after this.

s

Suggest Gooling Alsace Wine Route. We just returned from a river cruise and stopped in Strausburg and Colmar. Both were beautiful. Then we were bussed through several small towns, some following the Wine Route signs.

French family is from Riquewihr - great in the evening, but a day trip for many tourists.
M

We lunched in Riquewihr. What a delight. Wished we would have had several more hours there.

bookmarking

If you stay in Riqueqwihr, we enjoyed our stay at Hotel de la Couronne - don't know if it is still a member of Relais & Chateaux, though. Weekends in autumn were crowded but Monday was a delight. Town is small enough to walk from one end to the other and out into the vinyards that line the hills.

However, a week in this gingerbread-style town might be a little boring, even with little day trips.