Where to find a beer in Kehl, Germany?
 

We'll be taking a day trip to Strasbourg from Paris and we want to cross the border into Germany for a beer. Kehl is the bordertown.

Can anyone tell me anything about Kehl? And recommend a place to go for a beer?

Robyn :)>-

Do yourself a favor and do not waste one minute of your day trip to go to Kehl. There is nothing to do or to see. Of course, you will find a few pubs, but if the sentence "it's not worth it" ever had a purpose it's for what you have planned.

Alsace beer is best in France. No need to nip over to Germany for a taste. Plus Alsace wines.

Thank you for your responses. My husband and I have been to Germany before, but our travelling companion never has. Since we are going to be so close, we were thinking of taking the train to Kehl just to have a beer somewhere so our friend could say he was in Germany.

Alec says, <i>Plus Alsace wines.</i> Unfortunately, my husband prefers beer and our travelling companion gets headaches from wine, so it looks like I'll be drinking wine by myself.

Robyn :)>-

If you only have a day in Strasbourg, I certainly wouldn't waste part of it by going to Kehl. I have been in and through Kehl many times, and there nothing particularly interesting or distinctive about it.

If you do go, from the train station walk up the Hauptstrasse towards the Marktplatz, which is a pedestrian zone. You will find plenty of places to have a German beer there.

However, I'd really rather spend my day in Strasbourg, as there's so much to see and do there. And Alsatian beer is very good indeed.

Or take a train or bus further to Freiburg - a wonderful city with compact old quarters and a fabulous cathedral.

Freiburg is a great city to visit, but remember that this is a day-trip from Paris! Not enough time to even do justice to Strasbourg.

I get wanting to say you've been to Germany, but for only one day to visit a town that's truly has nothing to offer tourists? It will take a long time to get there only to be disappointed. By the way regarding wine and headaches. Your friend may not have the problem with European wines because there aren't sulfites in them as they here. Even imported wines here have sulfites added where they won't in the home country.

<<Your friend may not have the problem with European wines because there aren't sulfites in them as they here. Even imported wines here have sulfites added where they won't in the home country.>>

This is nonsense. Almost all wines, including European, have sulfite added as it is necessary for preservation. European wines do not have sulfite added only for export either. It is only in the US, as I understand, that wines must be labelled as containing sulfites.

This article might be of some help to clarify the subject.

http://www.wineintro.com/basics/health/headaches.html

I am also advising on to going to Freiburg instead of wasting time in Kehl.

Cheers!

SV

I am advising staying in Strasbourg.

>want to cross the border into Germany for a beer.

Sorry, but this is deceiving yourself. Kehl is a relatively modern indistinctive small town which is entirely built around transportation infrastructure. If your friend sees it and thinks all of Germany looks like Kehl s/he will have, ummm... wrong impression of the country.

It´s like landing in New York, spending a few hours somewhere in the industrial areas near the airport and claim "you have been to NYC"

The wines in Europe gave me headaches. So avoid them to risk having down time during your trip.

You don't have to go all the way to Freiburg to see something interesting. Karlsruhe is closer, as is Freudenstadt in the Black Forest. Just up the river from Offenburg is Hausach and the Black Forest openair museum.

I'd stay in Strasbourg - it's fun to see German and French co-mingled. Renault cars drive along side Audis...

>Renault cars drive along side Audis...

Which is common in pretty much all of Europe.

But other mingled aspects of German and French cultures, such as German street and business names alongside Frech ones, are more special for Strasbourg.

About 10 miles past the town Kehl is Offenburg which has a pleasant square in front of the Rathaus. I ate once at a hotel sidewalk cafe on the square. Of course, they served beer.

Thank you for the suggestions and information. I think we will just see how the day unfolds and decide then if we want to hop over to Germany for a beer.

Since we will already be spending about 4 1/2 hours of our day on the train from Paris and back, we really didn't want to travel too far into Germany. It's more so our friend can set foot in Germany, so he can say he was there (since we'll be so close).

If it was up to me, I would just spend all our time in Strasbourg. Any suggestions on how much time I should allow for touring Strasbourg? We need to book TGV tickets back to Paris, and I'm not sure which train we want to take.

Robyn :)>-

Maybe it would be helpful for you to look at some travel guides to see what interests you in Strasbourg and then you and others can better figure out how much time you need. With only one day I'd want to spend as much time as possible and take an "after dinner" train back to Paris.

Hi grandmere - We'll be travelling on a Sunday in October. Our plans are to leave Paris on the 8:24 TGV and arrive in Strasbourg at 10:43, which will give us ample time to get to the Cathedral for the 12:30 Astronomical Clock viewing. After that we were going to grab some lunch and then just wander around "Petite France".

My travelling companions aren't too interested in the museums, so we probably won't be visiting any of them. We're thinking of making reservations for the 18:20 train back to Paris, which would give us 7 1/2 hours total for touring through Strasbourg. We'll be getting back into Paris around 20:37. We need to catch the Thalys the next morning, so we don't want to arrive back in Paris too late.

Do you think 7 1/2 hours will be enough time for Strasbourg?

Robyn :)>-