I am looking for ideas of good things to do in the rain. It appears that it will be pouring rain this Sunday, our first full day in Eguisheim. We could drive up to Strasbourg or down to Basel. (On my previous trips I was in bigger cities and rainy days were easy to manage. I don't know this area at all.)

Also, I would love to show my sister something of the Alps and I have been advised that Lauterbrunnen is too far with the shorter days. Maybe Luzern would work??

Thank you for any help you can give me.

In terms of mountains, you could stay in the Jura and drive the spectacular road to the Ballon d'Alsace and then on to Col de la Faucille, which overlooks Geneva (and gives a great view of Mont Blanc).

On a rainy day, I would opt for Strasbourg. Lots of winstub, the cathedral, the Christmas markets. I'm not sure about Sunday opening laws in Alsace during Christmas season. In the rest of France, the department stores, hypermarkets and shopping malls will be open for the next 4 Sundays, but Alsace-Moselle has different laws, so you should check. In any case, my point was that if the weather is really, really bad, the big shopping mall in the center of Strasbourg is called "Place des Halles". If it is open next Sunday, it could be a good refuge (doubling as a Christmas shopping madhouse, of course).

Both Strasbourg & Basel will be pretty dead on Sunday - unless there is a Christmas fair going on (never visited one myself).

The Ecomuseum close to Equisheim is open on Sunday. We enjoyed it.

Stu Dudley

kerouac has better info than I have on Christmas activity.

Stu Dudley

Both Strasbourg and Basel have lots of places you can visit when it's raining, although both cities have lots of interesting areas to walk in more pleasant weather. I would certainly choose Strasbourg first over Basel. If you don't have one, get a Green Michelin guide for Alsace which will be very helpful in finding sights to see and routes to travel.

I might be tempted to drive to Colmar, visit the Musée d'Unterlinden and then settle down, as the French do on Sunday, to a nice long lunch, preferably in a restaurant with a fireplace. If you think this might turn out a somewhat boozy lunch, you might even want to find a nice restaurant in Eguisheim and thus avoid driving.

Sometimes in trying to see all the sights we miss some real pleasures of travel.

Thank you so much. That was just what I needed to know. Somehow I wasn't thinking of the leisurely lunch idea. Thanks for the reminder.

Kathy

I found and checked the "Place des Halles" website and saw that it will be open on 16 and 23 December only and just from 2pm to 6:30pm. Somebody is going to have to change those Germanic laws some day!

The Strasbourg modern art museum, which is only about 6 years old, is a good place to visit on a rainy day.

Drive to Mulhouse and visit the National Auto Museum there. It's huge and comprehensive, brilliantly laid out, with a pleasant restaurant, and all inside a huge building.