Just another thought - we used to stumble accross all sorts of cool WWI and WWII sites in the Alsace - don't know if there is a guide anywhere, but it may be good for the guys.

Hi CJ,

>We will be taking TGV from CDG to Strasbourg after overnight flight (I never sleep) and we need to return to Strasbourg to catch a train to Paris.<

We will also take the train to Strasbourg and return to Paris for the flight home.

>As it stands we have 4 nights in Alsace and 4 nights in Paris. I could possibly add a night to this trip...........<
Unless you have never been to Paris, add a night to Alsace.

> The best way to get to Paris is TGV from Strasbourg, right?<
Or a private railway car hooked up to the TGV. :)

>Can you recommend a hotel or B&B in Kaysersberg?<
We very much liked http://pagesperso-orange.fr/schwendi/ in Kientzheim - about 1 km from Kaysersberg.

Enjoy your visit
((I))

Thank you all for tips and suggestions. Nan, appreciate the helpful info on trains and buses and your comments on Kaysersberg convinced us to stay in that area.

I have not heard back from Hotel Constantin so I'm assuming they have a full house. In fact three other hotels in Kaysersberg have no vacancy but I did just hear from Le Belle Promenade (www.hotel-belle-promenade.com). Do you recall this hotel?

Also emailed Hotel Schwendi at Ira's recommendation, and they have one room available so we are considering staying in Kientzheim. Looks to be a charming town as well, smaller so I'm wondering if there are cafes, restaurants in town.....or if it is feasible to walk to Kayserberg for dinner.

Ira, funny comment about hooking private car to TGV. Somewhere I read that Comar has a new TGV station so I was wondering if there is a need to return to Strasbourg?

We're still debating car vs public transportation??

Hi, cjogo~
It does sound like the Constantin is booked, though I would have thought they'd respond. I can't remember the Belle Promenade, but it looks like it's situated on the edge of town, which is perfect. It looks lovely.

You can also try this place: www.roger-hassenforder.com in Kaysersberg. It's a restaurant/hotel. We ate dinner there twice, it was packed with locals and they have several guest rooms upstairs which were also booked while we were there. Roger is a former Tour de France cyclist and the place is full of character.

We spent about a half hour in Kientzheim this winter, looking for a place to eat lunch or have coffee after walking from Kaysersberg. We found nothing so we took a few pictures and walked back. The village was dead, literally no one outside on the streets or sidewalks, not even dog walkers or mailmen. Very strange, like a neutron bomb had gone off. Yes, it was winter, and I'm sure it gets livelier in the summer/fall, but it was way too quiet for us and we much preferred Kaysersberg in the off-season.

Ira's hotel looked quite nice and maybe he can help you with restaurants there, but the Alsace tourism web site lists only 2, including the Hotel Schwendi. So, you'll probably have to go elsewhere for dining or a cafe, etc. If you don't want to be car-dependent, this would be a drag, I think.

We very much preferred Kaysersberg and the ability to choose between a half a dozen patisseries, many cafes, several shops and galleries and probably 20 restaurants or so, all at our doorstep. Just a beautiful, beautiful town.

Nan, just wanted to let you know that Hotel Constantin responded that they were fully booked on the same day that I received your reply.....which I'm thinking is not a coincidence??

Anyway I wrote back and thanked them, commenting that you had recommended Constantin and Kaysersberg. I asked that they keep my email address in case of a cancellation.....and voila, received a reply yesterday that a room had become available.

We are very excited about visiting this area (in fact we changed our itinerary after reading your glowing reports). I agree that a town can feel too much like a Disney set so I know we will appreciate Kaysersberg.

Thank you for all of the helpful information and I will get back to you upon our return. My email address is [email protected]. If you have any additional tips or recommendations, I'd love to hear from you.

Hi cj,

You can easily walk to Kaysersberg from Kientzheim.

The Schwendi has a good cook. Best Spatzle in the vicinity.

((I))

That's great, cjogo. Glad it all worked out. I'm sure you'll love Alsace. I would love to go back with my bike and ride from town to town someday.

Ira's reports of the region are what brainwashed me into visiting, so I'm sure you'll be reporting back and brainwashing other Fodorites when you return. That's one of the things that I love about this board.

And yes, you can certainly walk to Kientzheim and the Schwendi for dinner. Take the vineyard footpath that runs parallel to the main road, it should only take about 15 minutes.

And, definitely ask the tourist info office in Kaysersberg about more walks/hikes in the area. I know there's a back route to Riquewihr that takes a couple of hours, but we chose to walk along the roads because many of the vineyard paths were quite muddy from recent snow. The path along the roads took us about an hour at a fairly brisk clip.

Have a great time and tell us all about it when you come home. If anything else comes to mind, I'll post here.

I just found this in my files -- a nice little colorful article about the area from the UK Telegraph, years ago: www.tinyurl.com/lr9dof

His descriptions are spot on.