Colmar and the Alsace Wine Route

Half Timbered Colmar And The Alsace Wine Route, About 170 Km Of Villages And Vineyards Along The Foot Of The Vosges · Colmar, Grand Est

Colmar is a small city in southern Alsace whose old centre of painted half-timbered houses, canals and flower boxes is among the best preserved in France. The quarter called Petite Venise, where houses lean over the river Lauch, is the famous view. The Unterlinden museum, in a former convent, holds the Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald, one of the great paintings of the late Middle Ages. Colmar is also the natural base for the Alsace Wine Route, which runs for about 170 kilometres along the eastern foot of the Vosges mountains from near Strasbourg to near Mulhouse. The route threads through vineyard villages such as Riquewihr, Eguisheim, Kaysersberg and Ribeauvillé, many with ramparts, towers and storks nesting on the roofs. Family estates pour Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Crémant d'Alsace, often without appointment and for little or nothing; confirm. The castle of Haut-Koenigsbourg stands above it all. A car or bike is needed for the villages, and the Christmas markets bring very heavy crowds.

Petite Venise, Colmar, and the villages of the Route des Vins, Colmar, Grand Est, France

Colmar and the wine villages are open towns, busiest from late morning to late afternoon when coaches and day-trippers arrive and quietest in the early morning and evening. The Unterlinden museum keeps daytime hours and closes one day a week, usually Tuesday, and on some public holidays; confirm. Family wine estates along the route usually have cellar-door tasting rooms open during the day, many without appointment, but they often close at lunchtime, on Sundays or on one weekday, and small estates may shut during the harvest, roughly September into October, or for a winter break. Larger cooperatives keep longer, more regular hours. Haut-Koenigsbourg is open daily for most of the year with shorter winter hours and some closures in January; confirm. The Christmas markets run from late November to late December, filling Colmar, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg and Eguisheim, especially on weekends, when car parks close and roads queue. Petite Venise boat rides run in the warmer months. Restaurants stop serving lunch early in the afternoon, and dinner reservations are essential in Colmar during the summer and the Christmas season.

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