By Gemma Tedaldi | Published: 6th October 2019 | Updated: 13th December 2024
After a recent visit to the wonderful Alsace region in France, we figured we had to share what the region has to offer. We filled our days with cycling through stunning vineyards and exploring the colourful architecture of the area, as well as a cheeky glass of wine or two, (it is an area renowned for its wine!), so here is what we got up to for our 3 days in the Alsace itinerary – including the Wine Route.
📍 Day 1: North Wine Route
📍 Day 2: South Wine Route
📍 Day 3: Colmar
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3 days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary Map
3 days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary
3 Days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary Day 1 – North Wine Route
The North Wine Route is incredibly beautiful. You literally cycle through the vines to get from one historic village to the next and assuming you follow the route signs correctly, you shouldn’t end up on any main roads. (Admittedly we did have slight issues with following the route but that’s what happens when you have Google sending you one way and the wine route another!)
The first stop you reach after leaving Colmar is Sigolsheim. After a quick stop here for a food refuel, skirt around the edge of the town and out through the vineyards to Kientzheim, one of the most beautiful villages on the north wine route. Filled to the brim with colour and flower boxes in each window, this little village with water running down the roads is a great place to stop before the uphill route to Riquewihr.
After cycling over hills through the endless vineyards, when you finally arrive at Riquewihr it is a welcome sight. Entering from the south, this incredibly beautiful village is full of winemakers’ tasting rooms, historic architecture and a stork perch or two.
Alongside the main crossroads through the village, there are many quaint little alleyways to be explored too. With a place giving out macaroons, one alley with a giant grape sculpture and another so picturesque with a vineyard backdrop it is hard to believe, make sure you get off the beaten tourist track.
One place you should go to for food in Riquewihr is Au Vieux Pressoir. It has some of the best crepes in the area, so try a strawberry one and an apricot one and get all the energy you need to cycle back to Colmar. If all the sweet crepes have you craving for some savoury food, another place to stop is right next door where you can get your fill of the local flammkuchen, (a savoury thin pancake cross pizza).
After your fill of the sights and food of Riquewihr head back to Colmar via Kientzheim to Ammerschwihr. On your way through Ammerschwihr enjoy the cycle and views through the vineyards of the local wine you’ve hopefully been enjoying in Riquewihr. From here cycle on through to Katzenthal, a town full of cats, we’re talking paw prints and cat drawings on the walls and floors of this part of the route.
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3 Days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary Day 2 – South Wine Route
Now unbeknownst to us, we happened to have picked a long weekend to visit the Alsace when all of the vineyards and surrounding towns and villages were celebrating the final wine harvest of the year. The first place we stopped cycling south was no exception… so queue the wine-tasting festivals!
After a short cycle through Wintzenheim and Wettolsheim, two picturesque villages along the route, you arrive at the wonderful medieval village of Eguisheim. With its narrow circular streets lined with colourful timber houses, Eguisheim is a dream to visit. One thing that could top it off was if we finally saw the elusive storks that are so famous in the region, luckily we found them!
These wonderful birds are often found nesting on the rooftops throughout the area, including in Colmar, and are seen as a symbol of the Alsace, and of life and birth.
After wandering in and out of all the colourful streets stop by the main square, taste a few of the local wines on offer and grab a quiche Lorraine. With views over the ancient castle at the centre of the village, Chateaux de Saint-Leon-Pfalz, it is the perfect spot to watch the world go by, and get chatting with the locals.
Finally, before you leave be sure to try the local bretzels. Do you like pretzels? Do you like bread? Then a bretzel is something you should try! They can be either sweet or savoury, but they go down a treat with a glass of wine or as a snack during a long day of cycling.
After filling yourself up on all the wine you could drink and bretzels you can eat, head on out from Eguisheim back through Wettolsheim and Wintzensheim to get to Colmar. On one of the nearby hills, as you leave the village, you can even see the ruins of the Three Castles of Eguisheim.
Fancy a trip to Brittany? Check out 5 Places to Visit on a Long Weekend to Brittany
3 Days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary Day 3 – Colmar
Now for your final excursion of the Alsace Wine Route Itinerary, make sure you venture into the heart of Colmar. Colmar is quite possibly the quaintest town in all of France, with an old town filled with cobblestone streets and medieval colourful timber buildings, as well as a local stork or two on the rooftops.
The best way to explore is on foot, something we always do in any destination we visit, but especially so in Colmar as there is a marked-out discovery trail that you can walk. You just need to find and follow the gold triangles with the Statue of Liberty on them. Why the Statue of Liberty? Well turns out the Artist Auguste Bartholdi, i.e., the man who created the Statue of Liberty was actually born in Colmar in 1834, therefore Lady Liberty appears throughout the town.
Among all the sights of the discovery trail, there are a few that are well worth visiting if you don’t want to venture along the whole trail. La Petite Venice and Quai de la Poissonnerie with the most beautiful buildings in all of Colmar, (possibly the Alsace…) set along the canals, Place de l’Ancienne-Douane with its wonderful fountain in front of the Koifhus, and Parc du Champ de Mars, with an incredible sculptural fountain and a creperie to die for.
Now as previously mentioned we hit up the Alsace during a few wine festivals, (I swear we didn’t know!), and Colmar had a couple of its own… So queue the Riesling and Gewürztraminer wine tasting with quite possibly the most Alsace surroundings possible.
If you’re in need of some food after all that walking then you are spoilt for choice. With the famous Brasseries des Tanneurs serving dishes from the local area to Jupiler Cafe with views over Eglise Saint-Martin, you really can have your pick! Be sure to try the creme brulee at Jupiler Cafe and the local wine at Le Cercle des Arômes, if you haven’t hit Colmar on a wine festival weekend!
Where to stay in the Alsace
For your Alsace itinerary, we would recommend that you base yourself in Colmar. Not only does it make it really easy to take day trip excursions north and south along the Alsace Wine Route, but Colmar itself is stunning to explore. We stayed in an Airbnb along Rue des Taillandiers, which we have to say was the perfect place to be away from the main tourist areas but within an easy walking distance of local eateries, the main sights and the train station.
Check out the map below for the best accommodation options for your trip dates.
What to eat in the Alsace?
There are numerous great dishes to try in the Alsace, with food traditions coming from both France and Germany, however these are the ones you have to try:
📍 Flammkuchen / Flammekueche (more on this delicacy below…)
📍 Bretzels, (a bread pretzel)
📍 Tarte Alsacienne, (a tart made with local seasonal fruits)
📍 Kougelhopf, (a sweet cake like bun with kirsch)
📍 Local white wines such as Reisling and Gewurtztraminer
3 days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary FAQs
What is the Alsace wine route?
The Alsace wine route is a route that takes in all the best towns and villages that the Alsace has to offer, (and a few vineyards on route too), starting in the north at Strasbourg and ending just south of Colmar. Some of the best wines in the area are Riesling and Gewürztraminer, but if you visit be sure to stop by a winery or wine market to sample some of the other local wines too.
How long is the Alsace wine route?
The Alsace wine route is a trail stretching over 170 kilometres between 120 towns and villages in the Alsace region.
Where is the Alsace?
The Alsace region is located in northeast France on the border with Germany and Switzerland. Because of this, it is really easy to take day trips into both Germany and Switzerland and lots of the local food has German / Swiss twists compared to other regions in France.
How to get to the Alsace
The Alsace is really easy to get to thanks to its close country borders. Depending on which end of the Alsace you want to base yourself in you can fly to either Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport (the only multi-national airport in the world) to be near Colmar, or fly to Strasbourg Airport to be near Strasbourg. You can then take the local train services throughout the Alsace. You can also drive or arrive by boat into the Alsace from numerous locations throughout Europe.
How to get to Alsace from Paris? / How to get to Colmar from Paris?
The easiest way to get to the Alsace from Paris is via train or via driving, (but we would suggest taking the train). Depending on where in the Alsace you want to visit it can take anything from 1 hour 45 minutes, (Paris to Strasbourg in the north of the Alsace), to 4 hours, (Colmar or Basel in the south of the Alsace), to reach the Alsace from Paris via train depending on the route you take, but zipping through vineyards and passing by beautiful half timbered buildings throughout the region makes the whole train journey worth while.
What is the nearest airport to Alsace?
The nearest international airport to the Alsace is EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, which connections you with the very south of the Alsace in France as well as the city of Basel in Switzerland and the Black Forest in Germany.
How to get around the Alsace
Other than on foot, the easiest way to get around is by bike. Be sure to hire bikes from Velo Docteurs Colmar, they are located to the side of Colmar train station / the main drop-off point for the local buses, so they are in the perfect location for you to pick up a bike if you travel in via public transport as we did.
One thing we didn’t do, (and massively regretted due to my dodgy knee and the heat of the French end of summer), is to hire electric bikes to help with the hills in and around the vineyards. Parts of the Wine Route are pretty flat but little did we know that when there is rather large hill to conquer if you head north from Colmar.
We would suggest against travelling around the Alsace Wine Route by car as the villages along the route are really quite small and therefore parking is very difficult if not non-existent. This is even more of a problem if you are visiting during a festival, such as Easter, Christmas or indeed the end-of-season wine.
Can you get around the Alsace without a car?
Yes, you can 100% get around the Alsace without a car, and we would highly recommend that you do! Hiring bicycles and cycling around the Alsace is one of the nicest ways to get around the Alsace.
What is the best time to visit the Alsace?
The end of September is the best time to visit the Alsace for many reasons. The beautiful weather you will get at the end of the summer, the quieter areas during being out of peak season for the tourists and the best reason of all… it is wine festival time! Every little village we stopped in, and numerous places in between were celebrating the end of the season and wine.
What are the 4 wonders of the Alsace?
Officially the four wonders of the Alsace are the medieval villages of Eguisheim, Kayserberg, Ribeauville and Riquewihr. We’ve visited them all and they are honestly like something out of a story book!
Why are there storks everywhere in Alsace?
Storks have been slowly repopulating the Alsace since 1983 when France began a program to repopulate them in the country. Since then, storks are seen throughout the region, and often with nests on top of roofs. It is said that if a stork chooses to nest on your house that you are blessed with good luck, happiness and fertility.
How many days do you need in the Alsace?
We spent 3 days in the Alsace and as a first trip to the area, it was the perfect amount of time. You can easily spend a week or two exploring the wine route but for a weekend trip, 3 days was a great amount of time to get to know the Alsace.
Is one day enough for Colmar?
One day is a good amount of time to visit Colmar, assuming you just stay to the main town. If you want to visit any of the nearby Alsace villages, or take a trip out into the vineyards, then you will need at least 3 days in the Alsace.
What is a famous speciality from the Alsace?
The most well-known speciality from the Alsace is the Flammkuchen or Flammekueche, a type of French crème fraiche-based pizza. Normally topped with onions, pancetta, and cheese, (which is delicious, so much so that we now make our own version of it!), you can also get other savoury and sweet varieties of a Flammkuchen.
What is unique in the Alsace?
There is a lot that makes the Alsace a unique area to visit, but it is mostly down to its location in the east of France bordering with both Germany, (the Black Forest), and Switzerland, (Basel to be precise). With vineyards producing some of the most unique wine you can find, (such as Gewürztraminer and Riesling), beautiful half timbered towns and villages like something out of a fairy tale, (Eguisheim is supposedly the inspiration behind Beauty and the Beast), and of course countless castles that dot the region, there is a lot that makes the Alsace unique.
Is the Alsace and Colmar the same?
Colmar and the Alsace are not the same. Colmar is a town in the Alsace.
Best places to visit along the Alsace itinerary
There are countless places that are simply wonderful to visit along this Alsace itinerary, but some you really can’t miss out on our Eguisheim in the south, Riquewihr in the north and of course Colmar.
Is the Pass Alsace worth it?
If you are sticking to exploring a very small area of the Alsace such as our above itinerary, then the Pass Alsace isn’t worth it. If you are basing yourself around Strasbourg then it may be more beneficial, with tickets for 24 hours, 48 hours, 3 days or 5 days, but you don’t get a great deal in terms of discounts to attractions. Check on the Pass Alsace website for the full details.
Tours in the Alsace
If you would rather visit the Alsace through a day tour or two then be sure to check out Get Your Guide for some of the best deals going:
Conclusion: 3 days in the Alsace – Wine Route Alsace Itinerary
So there is our Alsace itinerary on how to spend 3 days exploring the wine route in the Alsace. Be sure if you are visiting the area to hit it up during wine festival season, it brings a whole new life to the region!
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Here are a few other articles you may find useful for planning your trip:
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📍 2 week road trip in France itinerary
📍 7 Must See Cities, Towns And Villages In France
📍 Is Montmartre Worth Visiting? A Montmartre Guide
Planning your own trip to France? Be sure to download Wise by far the best currency conversion app around. We use it daily living on the border of two countries and it is a game changer when travelling!
Gemma Tedaldi
Gemma is the owner and author of The Travelling Tedaldi, a travel blog helping travellers to discover the best road trips and travel itineraries throughout the UK and Europe. When she isn’t writing about her favourite travel destinations, she can often be found out exploring local hikes or planning future trips.
