48.08° N · 7.36° E
About 170 km of road between Marlenheim and Thann, with walled villages, family cellars and 51 grands crus. Three or four nights based in Colmar.
Part of Christmas markets of Europe
Coming up
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Cycling · half day or full day · e-bike from €30 · agencies in Colmar, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg · April to October
Castle · 2 h · €14 adult, €10 ages 6 to 17 · open all year · families
Walk · 2 h · free; Dolder museum €3 · walled village among vines · dogs on a lead
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
May and June, with the vines green, and September and October, with the harvest and the colours. December is the month of the Christmas markets, with lots of people and expensive hotels. In July and August the villages fill up by day; from January to March it is cold and some cellars open less.
How you travel
The ways of travelling that suit Alsace Wine Route. We are writing a guide to each one: where to stay, how to get around and which services you will need.
By carBy bikeBy campervanLuxuryBy motorbike
Where to stay
Why we like it: Olivier Nasti's five-star hotel in Kaysersberg, with 33 rooms and suites, a spa with an infinity pool and two restaurants, one with two Michelin stars.
Why we like it: Ten-room family hotel in a renovated former farmhouse on Eguisheim's castle square, with a bike garage and bike hire opposite.
Why we like it: Guesthouse run by an organic winegrower in Hunawihr, between Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé: three bed-and-breakfast rooms and three apartments, with a garden and parking.
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the three-meat baeckeoffe (€25) or the five-meat choucroute garnie (€22.50)
What to order: the €42 Menu du Terroir with tarte à l'oignon and Le Chambard's choucroute royale
What to order: the spit-roast ham with honey (€29) or the green knepfles with lemon
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
Tips
From Colmar you have Eguisheim, Turckheim and Kaysersberg within twenty minutes. That way you do two or three villages a day without changing hotel.
The villages are best seen early, before the groups; tastings, after lunch.
Almost every village has one beside it. Tasting the wine and then climbing that hillside helps you understand the difference.
From January to March some cellars, restaurants and shops have reduced hours or are closed.
Choose a day without the car: leave the car at the hotel and ride the few kilometres between Riquewihr, Hunawihr and Ribeauvillé by bike, tasting at a caveau in each.
It is the busiest day of the Christmas markets: streets you can't walk along and car parks full from the morning. Go on a weekday or sleep there and go out at night.
A signposted road of about 170 km that follows the eastern foothills of the Vosges, from Marlenheim, near Strasbourg, to Thann, near Mulhouse. On one side you have the mountains with ruined castles on the peaks; on the other, the Rhine plain. In between, a strip of hillside vineyards and, every few kilometres, a village of coloured half-timbered houses, with its church, its fountain and its cellars open to the street.
It is not done in one go. The part with the prettiest villages and the most cellars is in the Haut-Rhin, around Colmar, between Ribeauvillé and Eguisheim: that is where Riquewihr, Hunawihr, Kaysersberg, Turckheim and Eguisheim are concentrated, a few kilometres from each other. To the north, through the Bas-Rhin, the route passes through Obernai and Barr and is quieter. With three nights you tour the central part unhurriedly; with four, you add the north or Strasbourg.
Riquewihr is the best known: a walled village with a sloping main street, houses from the 16th and 17th centuries and vineyards that reach the walls. Eguisheim is built in concentric circles around its castle, and its curving lanes are among the most photographed in Alsace. Kaysersberg has a fortified bridge over the river and a ruined castle reached by a short walk. Ribeauvillé, at the foot of three castles, has more village life and fewer souvenir shops. Go to all of them first thing or at the end of the afternoon: at midday the groups arrive.
Colmar, the wine capital of Alsace, is the best base: it has a station, more hotels and restaurants, and its own old town, with the canal district of Petite Venise. The tourist office is in place Unterlinden, next to the museum of the same name.
By knocking on the door. Many family cellars have a caveau, a tasting room at street level, with shop hours, and they serve you several of the house wines without an appointment. The usual thing is to taste and buy a bottle or two. Alsace makes mainly dry, aromatic single-variety whites, named after the grape, as well as sparkling wines, the crémant d'Alsace, light pinot noir reds and late-harvest sweet wines. The region has 51 grands crus, named hillside plots indicated on the label: ask at the cellars which grand cru is nearby and there is usually a path through the vines to see it.
If you are driving, spit or share: France is strict about alcohol at the wheel. Better still, ride a stretch by bike: between the villages there are farm tracks and a vineyard cycle route.
The Haut-Kœnigsbourg, a red-stone castle above the route, between Sélestat and Ribeauvillé, at the top of a forested hill, from where you see the whole Rhine plain. It is open all year with hours that change according to the season; in November, from 9:30 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 17:00, with last entry one hour before closing. Allow two hours to see it.
In December the villages and Colmar set up their Christmas markets, with mulled-wine stalls, decorations and lights on the façades. It is the most famous season and the busiest: book accommodation months ahead.
For Alsatian cooking every day, the Caveau d'Eguisheim, on the castle square in Eguisheim, with baeckeoffe and choucroute, or the Winstub du Chambard, in Kaysersberg, with a regional menu at €42. In Riquewihr, La Brendelstub spit-roasts ham and cooks with vegetables from its own garden.
To sleep, the Hostellerie du Château, a ten-room family hotel in the centre of Eguisheim; the Maison d'hôtes Sainte Hune, on an organic wine estate in Hunawihr, or Le Chambard, the five-star in Kaysersberg.
With children, the Montagne des Singes, more than 200 free-roaming macaques next to the Haut-Kœnigsbourg. Without a car, by e-bike from Colmar, Eguisheim or Kaysersberg. From Paris there are two day plans by TGV and bike, to Eguisheim and to Kaysersberg and Riquewihr, and a two-night getaway by bike.
By plane, to the EuroAirport of Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, which has flights with Barcelona and Madrid, or to Strasbourg. From La Jonquera it is about 950 km by car via Lyon and Mulhouse. To tour the route the car is the most practical; without one, use Colmar as a base, with regional trains to Strasbourg and Mulhouse and buses to some villages, and hire a bike for the vineyards.
Questions
Three for the central part around Colmar, four if you add the north or Strasbourg.
At family cellars with a caveau, no: you walk in during opening hours. For cellar visits or groups, yes.
Colmar, for its station, its hotels and how close Eguisheim, Kaysersberg and Riquewihr are.
In part. Colmar has a train and some villages have a bus, but between the cellars the most practical thing is a bike.
From late November until Christmas or a few days after, depending on the village. Check each one's dates when you book.
Mainly dry single-variety whites, sparkling crémant, light pinot noir reds and sweet wines, with 51 grands crus.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/france/grand-est/alsace-wine-route
