Alsace has changed nationality four times since 1870 and looks it: half-timbered, German-dialect-speaking, and the best-fed corner of France. The Route des Vins runs 170 km from Marlenheim to Thann through Riquewihr, Ribeauvillé, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg, most of which are on the official list of the most beautiful villages in France. Strasbourg's cathedral was the tallest building in the world for over two centuries and its Christkindelsmärik has run since 1570. Above the vineyards, Haut-Koenigsbourg castle sits at 750 m with the whole Rhine plain and the Black Forest in view.
Headline places
What you come to Alsace for.
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Strasbourg Cathedral The tallest building on earth from 1647 to 1874, in pink sandstone -
La Petite France Tanners' houses over the canals, on a UNESCO-listed island -
Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg A red sandstone fortress at 750 m with the whole Rhine plain below -
Riquewihr Inside its medieval walls, essentially unchanged since the 1500s -
Eguisheim Concentric rings of half-timbered houses round a castle -
Ribeauvillé Three ruined castles above a wine village on the Route des Vins -
Hartmannswillerkopf A Vosges summit fought over all of 1915, and a national monument
Cities & bases
Where to sleep inside the area.
The region it sits in
Tourism areas and administrative regions are different geographies — both are true, and both are browsable here.
