After a week in Paris we are considering driving La Route du Vin between Stasbourg and Colmar. How much time should we allow for this? Any suggestions for what to see, where to stay or where to eat? Thanks.

Here's a link to get you started:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34525237

Type Alsace in the search box and you will get lots of stuff. Plan 3-4 days. We really loved the area.

I suggest 1 day in Strasbourg and 2 or 3 days on the Route du Vin. This is such a nice trip! I did it a few years ago and it was enchanting.

For Strasboug a good priced central hotel is...

http://www.hotel-rohan.com/

Good rates, clean rooms, nice breakfast, GREAT LOCATION!

For the Route du Vin

The best 2 villages are Riquewihr and Ribeauville. Both have shops, restaurants and a very Germanic but still French feel. Here is a good sight...
http://www.visit-alsace.com/home_ang.html

I have a good little hotel I stayed in outside the towns but I can't remember the name. It was new at the time I was there and very nice. It wasn't right in a village but just ourtside. If you email me to remind me I will look for the info at home.

I also will add some great restaurants later.

P.S. Skip Colmar, I didn't find it very enchanting.

Thank you for the great suggestions Richard.

Strasbourg is well worth a full day at least. Duck into Zum Strissel for some typical Alsatian fare at a reasonable price.

I didn't like Colmar much, either, but neither am I captivated by Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé - just too much kitsch for me. We loved Obernai and Eguisheim and Sélestat.

I'd allow a leisurely three days if you can spare it.

If you're into some really, really fine dining, theré's always the Auberge de L'Il in Illheausern or the Crocodile in Strasbourg.

What time of year are you going? The fog in Alsace can put a huge damper on a road trip in early spring and late fall.

This trip will be in late May 05. Any suggestions for places to stay or restaurants along the way? We love good food.

I just got back from Alsace, yesterday-I'm still jetlagged! I'm planning to do a full trip report after I've caught up with everything. I stayed 9 days in Alsace, and enjoyed every minute of it. Started out in Strasbourg (I flew there from Paris) and stayed 3 nights at the Hotel Europe. So I had 2 full days in Strasbourg, which was great as there is plenty to see.

Then I picked up car at the train station and drove the northern part of the Route du Vin to Ottrott (near Obersheim). Stayed at Hotel L'Ami Fritz, which was wonderful! I also stayed in Kaysersberg further south for 3 nights. There are lots of beautiful places to explore, lots of German tourists, and wonderful food everywhere.

The villages are close together, and the driving is easy, although trafficy at times. Lots of people do this in a couple of days, which is fine, but I enjoyed my leisurely pace - did lots of walking, etc. There are some great walking and hiking trails all around.

I liked Strasbourg better than Colmar, but Colmar was nice to explore for a day (a half day would actually do it).
I'll do more details in my trip report.

We also stayed in Ottrott at Hotel L'Ami Fritz. Loved it as well. Used it as our base. Colmar was just ok.

Some places we loved were Mont Ste Odile, Haut-Koenigsbourg, and Hohneck which was a drive up to a mountain peak where you could see for miles.

Obernai is a nice quaint town near Ottrott. Had dinner at a great Thai restaurant in the town.

We stayed in Colmar as a base at the Hotel Romantik Marechal on the canal.
We drove near Ribeauville, 10 miles south, to lunch at the venerable Auberge de l'lll alongside the Ill river. I found the villages on the Route du Vin lovely, lots of flowers but I like other areas for the food much more.
Kayserberg has a ruined castle, Riquewithr, half timbered houses and Musee Postel in an ancient castle.
On the way, we stopped in Nancy for lunch at the beautiful Excelsior(sp?) and to buy the bergamots de Nancy at Lefevre-Lemoine in the same tin that I was klater to see "Amelie"pull out of the wall. And we went to Commercy to buy the oval wooden box of Lorraine's famous Madeleines at F.Grojean/

Obernai and Riquewihr are among my favs - full disclosure, my FR family is originally from Riquewihr.
The Hot l'Oreal and Rest Sarment d'OR
are both VG.
Lots of good advice on this thread.
M

We enjoyed staying at the Hotel Parc in Obernai. Nice rooms, lovely pool with garden, good restaurant. Town is also very nice. You'll love the wine road. Flowers everywhere.

In September we spent 2 days in Strasbourg, and 2 days in Ribeauville, visiting many of the villages during our stay. I liked Strasbourg alot, the French-German influences are interesting to say the least. Petite France is beautiful, and we spent a good afternoon walking around it. Also the river cruise was a good way to rest. And it is a university town, so there was lots happening. I would recommend staying in Riquewihr over Ribeauville for the simple reason that the main street is a pedestrian walkway. The very narrow main street in Ribeauville is open to cars (it sure was interesting since our hotel was right in the square), and was very noisy. The villages are really nice, but I agree the kitsch does get to you after awhile. Enought of the cutesy!!! We ate at Auberge D'Ill, very nice good food, but it really didn't wow me. I still can't quite put my finger on why, it just felt like something was missing. Les Crayeres in Reims and Grand Vefour in Paris are still my favorites. As a post note - crime does seem to be rampant, we met several tourists whose autos were broken into and their luggage stolen while they were sightseeing. We drove from Strasbourg to Ribeauville, checked into the hotel, dropped off the bags, and then backtracked to Obernai and worked our way down. Did we waste time, yes, but we had no worries.

Sorry to sya I thought Hotel Romantik Marechal in Colmar was a dump and checked out after the first night. I also resented that they require you to eat and pay for one meal in their overated expensive restaurant!

Just checked some old travel notes and found these restaurant suggestions:

Retaurant Barberousse in Hagenau

Restaurant Jean-Frédéric Edel in Séléstat

Auberge du Brand in Turkheim

richard, I'm surprised to hear that. Our room was spotless and alot of hotels ask you to have a lunch or dinner. We checked out before our stay was up because our window over-looked the dining terrace and they served a huge German party after hours there and had a bad night's sleep so we left. and headed back to Provence.