Hello Everyone,

I was just bale to change my return date on an upcoming trip and now have 4 days to spend in Alsace, which I am so excited about. I am arriving at 3pm to the Basel airport. I need to be back in paris for my last night before flying out of CDG. Does this itinerary look okay or are there other suggestions? It seems this area is really small and I wouldn't mind just staying in one village and making daytrips. My question is...which village would be best or does the itinerary below look better?

1) Arrive Basel and pick up car rental from AutoEurope.
Drive to Colmar and spend one night.
Stay the next two nights in one of the smaller villages ( Riqueweher?)
Drop car rental off in Strasbourg and spend one night.
Take TGV to Paris and spend my last night.

Strasbourg deserves a full day, so you might want to take a night off the smaller villages. You would be picking up the car most likely from Europcar, not Autoeurope, the latter being just the broker.

You don't pick up a car from AutoEurope - that is just the broker, so you need to know which local France company they've hooked you up with. Could be any of a number of companies, but probably Europcar. It will say on your voucher.

With only four days and what seems to be your predilection for being in "villages," personally I'd skip Colmar and spend one full day and night in Strasbourg, which has a wealth of offerings, and then venture out on the Route du Vin and maybe base yourself in Obernai for the next nights and trip around from there, visiting Colmar if you like for a half-day or whatever.

It really depedns on wha tyou like. Although the wne villages are charming they are VERY small. Colmar is a izable town and has a brialliant museum - but Strasbourg has IMHO more to see then all of the rest put together. I would spend 2 nights there - and the other 2 in one of the tiny towns if you want.

We stayed in Obernai for 3 nights and liked the location very much. It was very easy to day trip to the smaller surrounding villages. We really enjoyed our visit to Haut Konigsberg. It was a foggy day and it just added to the atmosphere of the castle. We also had a fantastic hot lunch at the castle restaurant. Highly recommend it.

http://www.vinsalsace.com/IMG/pdf/Sc...nts_2011-9.pdf

You might be interested in taking in a wine fest. There are several noted on pp 4 & 5 of the above list. Enquisheim and Ribeauville are both very nice little towns, but be forewarned if you overnight in those villages that the crowds will be noisy and it might take a little work to find a hotel...but if you really wanted to experience one, check the site out.

Also might want to check out the weather forecast for those days. A very small village under drenching rain is much less appealing; in that case I would definitely choose Colmar.

I'm another fan for 2 nights in Strasbourg...it is a wonderful city, in any weahter.

Hi K,

I would
Pi k up car and drive to http://schwendi.pagesperso-orange.fr/

From there you can
visit Colmar as a daytrip by car or bus
walk to Kaysersberg and Riquewihr
drive the Route des Vins

Driving up to Strasbourg for a night before training to Paris for a night is a good idea.

You might find these helpful:

Ira Returns From 22 Loverly Days in Europe - Sep, 2009
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-europe.cfm

Ira Visits Zurich, The Bodensee, Alsace and Paris – May 2008
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=35136218

Ira Visits Europe – May, 2007 (Salzburg, Fuessen, Bodensee, Burgundy, Alsace)
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...2&tid=35014078

Thank you everyone for your advice. Ira, I always really enjoy reading your trip reports along with Stu Dudley's! I have had a bit of a hard time booking rooms...many of my first and 2nd choices were fully booked. This is what I have decided on:

1) First night Colmar: I have not booked yet, I am waiting for a response from Maison De Tetes and my second cloice is Le Marechal.
2) Day two and Three: Hotel De La Couronne in Riquewihr. I wanted to stay in Ribeauville but could not find a room. I wanted to stay in the village itself which is why I decided against Hostellerie Schwendi.
Day 4: Spend the night in Strasbourg at the Hotel Cardinal de Rohan. Take TGV to CDG on Sunday evening

Ira...I am going to try your restaurant recs as well. Thanks! kelly

Hi K,

Enjoy your visit.