Alsace-Lorraine in 3 days
 

My wife and I will be fortunate enough to be spending 3 days and 4 nights in Alsace, after having spent 1 1/2 days and two nights in Strasbourg.
We have rented a car for when we leave Strasbourg and will return it there. We wish to explore some of the more colorful villages between Strasbourg and Colmar.
We will follow the wine route, as food and wine and hiking and people , are our passions.

I would love any recommendations on the above and recommendations on where to spend our 3 nights. Since we would prefer not to spend all of our time in
the car, I would even consider spending 2 nights in one great village from which to base ourselves and the third night elsewhere.

There appear to be so many beautiful villages and places that I am having a hard time making any decisions. All feedback greatly appreciated!!
Thank you, Philip

We stayed in Colmar for 4 nights and were able to visit many of the villages in the area with short drives. Colmar to Equisheim 9 min; to Riquewihr 16 min; to Ribeauville 10 min , to Haut Konigsburg 10 min.; to Kaysersberg 10 min. If I were to pick a village to stay instead of doing day trips from Colmar, it would be Equisheim or Kaysersberg. They are all beautiful. Enjoy your trip.

We stayed in a great apartment right in the center of Kayserberg in September of 2018, after spending four days at a chateau in Ancemont (lots of WWI sites nearby for my history buff husband). We loved being in Kayserberg - so many vineyards and wineries to visit, and the village is beyond charming. Easy access to many of the other villages along the wine route.

Philip, what time of the year?

Just follow the Route des vins and you'll be fine. I'm not sure why you mentioned Lorraine in this post since you don't seem to be going there. In any case, you don't really have time in so few days.

There are some very nice villages for hiking in the Vosges, both on the Alsace side and the Lorraine side.

Very soon, Oct. 6-9. Might be too late for the harvest but who know!

Any specific recommendations? At 70 I’d prefer to have some accommodations for sleeping and eating booked ahead of time. As for hiking, please mention any that are 5-10 miles long. Thanks

Is Google not working for you?

We loved Riquewihr! Stayed for several nights, rented a tandem, rode around the villages.
Here is a great rental agency we used. Unfortunately, the apartment we rented is not available on their site anymore. But they are a great agency - when I lost my purse, they quickly went back to the apartment and searched for it (turns out I had been pickpocketed by gypsy girls boarding the Colmar train -- but two different parties returned my stuff!!!).
https://i-love-riquewihr.com/index_EN.html

We spent several days in beautiful Strasbourg and then rented a car to explore the wine villages. We loved staying in Riquewehr too. We stayed at Hotel l’Oriel. We also liked Kayersburg and Eguisheim and will consider them for future stays. The one place we did not like is Colmar and we are not alone feeling that way.

ok
The harvest starts when the vinyard owner wants it but will start soon, often by grape variety it peters out towards the end of Sept. but "late harvest" (Vendarge (Vendange) Tardive) will go into November.

Walking; there are treks in the area with red (Red in Alsace, red and white in other parts of France) flashes on trees but they are part of a cross France network. Each local town's tourist office will have maps of local walks as will most hotels and gites. Walking is big hobby here. There are also "walks" around town and around the vinyards with a local (normally for free) which, if you speak French is interesting or at least, if not, (in the vinyards) you can't get lost ;-) . You can also walk to the next village, eat, and walk back (or there are taxis).

You will find that each towns website is maintained in French "Quelle horreur" and they don't maintain the English section so well, so search around in the French and then google translate.

https://www.tourisme-eguisheim-rouff...viticoles.html is a good place to start for walks.

Hotels, I or friends have stayed in just about all the little hotels in the centre of town. L'Hostellerie, Trois Chateaux, Pape, Nancy and all were absolutely fine for a midde of the road simple place. The village has a large paid for car park for the day trippers, if you ask the hotel you choose they should point out some of the smaller free spaces for you but they are first come first served. A town built in the 1200s is not designed for metal boxes on wheels.

Gites are available around town but you don't get the concierge service you might like, I've only stayed in one and it was lovely. You might also try Chambre d'hotes which are not as exciting as they read at first sight but B&B and not always with the second B.

Villages; I like Eguisheim. Near Colmar, it is also on off ramps for the main north south road and on the Route du Vin. I think nothing beats this little place after the day trippers have gone. The Route du Vin is very useful but with coaches and tractors it can be slow moving, so I tend to use the main road to get about and dodge onto the RdV for local visits.

Cycling is available and the cycle path is normally parallel (as if anything can be said to parallel here) but away from the RdV. Segways and other mechanisms also exist.

Colmar, it depends, if you come in by train at least getting out of it is easy. I'm gald it is there as it absorbs lots of other tourists. There is a little punting but really not worth the time.

Thank you bilboburgler, travelerkaren, and scdreamer four your helpful posts. As for google, mentioned by one other poster, I have also used it but there is nothing like speaking to folks about their own personal experiences!

The main problem here is that the regulars mention the very same towns every single time and ensure that others will go to these overtouristed places. Fine with me.

So Kerouac, what is your solution? Why are you posting at all, if not to try to help fellow travelers? I don’t understand you.

Kerouac you make a good point, my view is that not many people look to Fodors for advice so we are not that influential.

I would recommend Obernai, but it is overrun by German tourists. Each country has its favorite destinations in Alsace. I like Obernai because it is very close to the spectacular site of Mont Sainte Odile, and also close to Le Struthof if one is in a more reflective mood..

Meanwhile, the grape harvest is starting on August 22 in Alsace this year for crémant (sparkling wine) and on September 3 for the other varieties. This is much earlier than usual due to the peculiar weather.

Just to add to your difficulty the Rhine leads from Strasbourg south (well north but....) past but not touching Colmar. Many of the colourful little towns along this flat piece of land and there are a variety of military installations from bygone years along the way to see. Equally to the west of the RdVin are the Vosges which are covered in lovely walks, a variety of military installations and a concentration camp.

This is one of the caldrons of history in Europe where France met Germany so lots to see and enjoy.

Thanks for mentioning Obernai. Unfortunately there are few places one can travel in this world that are not overrun by tourists, certainly many of the recommended areas. They are recommended for different reasons, so I like to get many different points of view. Thanks for the info on the harvest. It was what I expected with all the heat this year. We live in Virginia in wine country as well, so we have seen many harvests.
One question though, will the number of tourists decrease substantially from the summer to the beginning of Oct.? That is certainly our hope.
We used to live in Luxembourg many years ago, so we have been to this area of the world, but did not give enough time, hence our going back now.

Bilboburgler: History is all around us everywhere but you are correct about this particular part of the world. As I mentioned in one of my other responses, we lived in Luxembourg for a while and I remember taking the train to Verdun. It was in the 70's so the scars of the war were still visible, and just as importantly the spirit of the area. Shocking to think of this happening again down in Ukraine and elsewhere.

Shocking, keeps me awake many nights.