grace44

My husband and I will be in the Alsace area for three or four days in October. I was hoping to see Ottrott and Klingenthral. I have a document showing that my ancestor was born in 1822 in Ottrott Le Bas and that his father was a worker in the manufacturary of Klingenthral. I did some research on the factory and found there is a small museum, but it may be closed now. I am going to email them to be sure, it may reopen before we get there in October. After doing a lot of research, I have a few questions. We will be traveling by train, and I can see we can get to Obernai by train, but from there everything becomes unclear. Can we walk to Ottrott and Klingenthral from Obernai? It looked there may be trails between the cities. Will it be a busy highway? Can we take a bus? Can we get to Mont Sainte Odile without a car? Can we get to some trails that will take us into the Voges Mountains without a car? We do like to walk and look forward to being outside most of the time, but not on a busy highway. I think I remember a report from about a year ago that said, "you can't just walk into the mountains from some of the surrounding small villages. That made me wonding if I was envisioning somthing completely unreasonable. Our original plan was to stay in Strasbourg because it is a bigger city with more to do, but now I am wondering if staying in Obernai would be better. Wonder if anyone has stayed there and how they liked it. Thanks for any information you can give me. Hope this question doesn't sound too silly, like can we visit all the National Parks in the western U.S. in three days.

ira

Hi G,

Check the maps at www.viamichelin.com and the satellite views at www.maps.google.com.

VM says it is about 4.5 km from Obernai to Ottrott, and 6 km to Klingenthal, on side roads.

I have the Michelin Map 315 (scale 1.5k). It shows hiking trails, but not necessarily out of Obernai.

Have you googled "Alsace hiking trails"?

Enjoy your visit.

grace44

ira, thanks for the information. Looking at the maps, we would probably rather take a bus between the cities than walk on roads.I googled Alsace hiking trails and got a lot to look at. I found one site that gave several hiking itineraries for the area lasting several days. It looks like hiking from any of the villages to Mont Sainte Odile or the castle would be at least 15 or 20 km. Does anyone know if any general hiking trails originate in any of the small villages? Any information would be appreciated.

ira

Hi grace,

>It looks like hiking from any of the villages to Mont Sainte Odile or the castle would be at least 15 or 20 km. <

VM gives it as 8.5 km, but you have to walk on the side of the road.

kerouac

There are lots of excursions to Mont Sainte Odile, but they appear to start from Strasbourg. I'm sure that the Obernai tourist office will have more information.

grace44

8 or 9 km on the side of the road could be unsafe and not really to much fun. Stopping at the Strasbourg or Obernai tourist office and taking an excursion sounds like something we might want to consider. We usually travel on our own, but when time is limited and public transportation is not the greatest, that may be the best option. I hadn't thought of it, thanks.

Cowboy1968

There are many well-maintained trails in the Vosges. You don't have to walk along the highways. GR5 goes from Obernai to Ste. Odile, and from Otrott you have the Chemin de Pelerins. But the monastery is really UP on the mountain, and the two towns are way DOWN in the Rhine valley. So you should not expect a leisurely stroll. Since I don't know if you can get maps where you live which are detailed enough for hiking (scale 30-50K), I would wait until you get to Obernai and buy one at the tourist information.

grace44

Thanks Cowboy1968. It looks like our best bet is to make use of the tourist office. I should have known that. Now I have to decide if we want to stay in Strasbourg or Obernai. My first thought was that, Obernai and the area, can be a day trip from Strasbourg, but it would work the other way around also. Anyone out there have a preference? Thank you all for taking the time to give me some good information.

Cowboy1968

If you stayed in Obernai, Strasbourg would be an easy day trip. Two trains per hour, 30min ride.
I think it is a matter of preference if you like small towns oder cities better.
Obernai may have the strategical advantage that you are more "in" Alsace already, and have many sights nearby, like Haut-Koenigsbourg castle bit South.
But eventually I doubt that there are any trips you could only do from either Strasbourg or Obernai.

As much as I recommend to take the train when going to Strasbourg, I would probably like to have a car for those days you will be in Obernai or elsewhere. If you base yourself in Strasbourg, that's a different thing, though.

So far I have always taken the car to go to Alsace (excluding Strasbourg), and having to rely on buses for trips to the countryside would not be my kind of fun.

kerouac

I would recommend driving to the other sites as long as you do not used the car IN Strasbourg. The city center has been re-configured to discourage using a private vehicle -- just about every street in the historic center turns around and sends you right back where you came from with no way to go through the middle -- you must always go AROUND the outer edges.

grace44

Thanks Cowboy and kerouac. You say,"having to rely on buses for trips to the countryside would not be my kind of fun". Do you know, are the buses hard to use, not frequent, not reliable, or do you just not like taking buses? Sounds like Strasbourg is a nice city to walk around in. We do like to walk around in the evening and have a nice meal, but being in Obernai would give us three hours more in the area. Lots to think about, thanks.