Alsace or Normandy
 

I have 4 days, 3 nights to travel before a work trip in Paris in mid April. I am trying to choose between Alsace and Normandy. Here are my thoughts on both:
Alsace - Pros

• Cute towns
• Easy to bike around to explore
• Wine route
• Can stay relatively close to a home base (probably Colmar)

Alsace - Cons

• Will there be anything on the vineyard vines in April?
• Will the hills still be green and picturesque?
• Will it be warm enough to bike the wine route?

Normandy - Pros

• Many different types of places to visit on the road trip
• Will be traveling with a group so easier to rent a car vs traveling solo

Normandy - Cons

• Is it too much to drive in 4 days? Ideal places to visit: Mont St Michael, Rouen, Etretat/Fecamp, Honfleur, Le Harve
• Since it is on the coast, will it be chilly? Is it more ideal to visit in the warmer months instead?

Thanks!

April weather. I suggest use google to check monthly climate. Normandy weather will be more variable day to day.

I'd stay along the bike route du vin (not the route du vin), the main route is busy with tractors and buses, the bike path is just to one side. You can also use minor roads and through the vine roads. Colmar is a good train base but harder to get to by bike on very safe roads

Alsace: stay in Strasbourg or in one of the charming wine villages such as Riquewehr. We were there once in early to mid April and, yes, the vineyards were all twigs! Not attractive. Wine villages with thatched roofs are charming but not the vineyards!
Normandy: You left out Bayeux, near the D-Day beaches, a lovely town to visit. You can do a day trip from Bayeux to Mont- St- Michel.
We prefer the food in Normandy to Alsace which has more German style cooking which we do not particularly like. Normandy features seafood, shellfish and lamb, apple desserts, all favorites of ours.

You check day-by-day weather records for April 2022 at timeanddate.com.

Normandy if you want to see the ocean. Alsace if you want to see beauty.

I understand how to check the weather.. I was more so asking will it be unpleasant/gross from past experiences of people who traveled there. I was totally all in on Alsace until I realized the vines could very well be all bare, which would be half the reason we go there - for the vineyards and to bike the wine route.

Photos of vineyards near Andlau (halfway between Colmar and Strasbourg) taken in late April 2019...

https://backinalsace.com/stories/hello-spring/

A series of photos taken somewhere in Alsace in April 2013...

TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES - : Rolling Vineyards along the Alsace Wine Route

We have vacationed for 2 months in France almost every year since 1999 (except Covid years). Just before Covid, we spent 2 weeks in Normandy close to Rouen, and we were there for 1 week about 8 years ago in the Pays d'Auge. Just after Covid, (last year) we were in Alsace for 2 weeks. We enjoyed Alsace a lot more than Normandy.

Stu Dudley