Strasbourg → Thann

01 Church

Strasbourg Cathedral

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg

You can spot it from afar, above the Alsace plain, thanks to its single bell tower crowned in 1439 with a spire rising to 142 metres. No building in the world surpassed it between 1647 and 1874. Hemmed in by the surrounding houses, its mass of pink sandstone rears up suddenly as you leave the lanes, above a square with almost no room to step back.

02 Heritage

Petite France, Strasbourg

Petite France

Stroll along the canals of the Ill, between the half-timbered houses where Strasbourg's tanners, millers and fishermen once lived. To the west, the covered bridges and their square towers lead to the Barrage Vauban, built to regulate the river's level. The open lofts of the oldest façades were once used to dry hides.

03 Village

Obernai

At the foot of the Vosges, 25 kilometres south-west of Strasbourg, Obernai has kept its half-timbered houses and its Place du Marché. After Strasbourg, no town in the Bas-Rhin draws more visitors, and on the square stands the Kapellturm, a former Gothic bell tower. Wander from lane to lane as far as the remains of the medieval ramparts.

04 Mountain

Mont Sainte-Odile

At 764 metres, the convent of Hohenbourg, founded by Odile, patron saint of Alsace, overlooks the whole plain. On a clear day, you can gaze as far as the Bernese Alps and the Black Forest. Around the plateau runs the Pagan Wall, eleven kilometres of huge blocks whose age and purpose still divide researchers.

05 Village

Mittelbergheim

On the wine route, between Barr and Epfig, Mittelbergheim nestles against the slopes of the Zotzenberg grand cru. Look up to the heights where the ruined walls of the Château d'Andlau keep watch. On very clear days, the view from the village stretches to the Alps, far beyond the Alsace plain.

06 Castle

Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg

Perched at 757 metres on a spur of the Vosges, this pink sandstone castle occupies a site fortified since the 12th century. Explore its ramparts and halls, rebuilt between 1901 and 1908 for Wilhelm II as they must have looked around 1500. From here the eye runs over the Alsace plain and the Rhine to the hills of the Black Forest.

07 Village

Bergheim, Haut-Rhin

Bergheim

Enter Bergheim through one of its gates, passing a double medieval enclosure preserved almost all the way round. On the wine route, at the foot of the Vosges, the village still fits within this rectangle of ramparts with rounded corners. The French voted it their favourite village in 2022.

08 Village

Ribeauvillé

At the foot of the Vosges, among the wine villages of Alsace, Ribeauvillé stretches along the Strengbach between half-timbered façades and vine-clad slopes. From its lanes, you'll glimpse on the heights the ruins of its three castles, including Saint-Ulrich. Every first Sunday in September, the Pfifferdaj celebrates the minstrels of old.

09 Village

Hunawihr

Between Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé, Hunawihr clings to the sides of a narrow valley, just below the Wine Route. Look up at its fortified church, enclosed within its wall amid the vines. The village's half-timbered houses also crowd between the rows of vines, on the valley slopes.

10 Village

Riquewihr

Spared by both world wars, Riquewihr has kept the face of a medieval town in the heart of the Alsace vineyards. The Schœnenbourg hillside shelters it from the north winds, while the village looks out over the plain and the Rhine valley. Pass through the Dolder tower to walk up the main street between half-timbered façades.

11 Village

Kaysersberg

Where the Weiss leaves the Vosges, the town keeps the memory of Emperor Frederick II, who ordered the purchase of its castle in 1227. Its ruins crown one of the two heights overlooking the rooftops. Albert Schweitzer was born here, in this former Imperial city set on the route through the Alsace vineyards.

12 Museum

Unterlinden Museum

Musée Unterlinden

You are entering the convent once occupied by Dominican nuns, whose 13th-century Gothic cloister opens onto the collections of Rhenish art. In the former church, the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted by Matthias Grünewald between 1512 and 1516 for the Antonites, makes the museum famous. Since 2015, an extension by Herzog & de Meuron has housed modern art.

13 Viewpoint

La petite Venise

The name Little Venice comes from the canals of the Lauch, which once watered the quarter's market gardens. The vegetables travelled by flat-bottomed boat to the covered market on Quai de la Poissonnerie, a route now followed by boat trips. Take the time to follow the reflections of the houses painted in Alsatian colours.

14 Village

Eguisheim

Eguisheim winds in concentric circles around the castle of the Counts of Eguisheim, the line of Pope Leo IX. Follow its circular lanes, lined with half-timbered houses, which always lead back to the central square and its fountain. All around, the Schlossberg vineyards bask in the sun, on the wine route that the village marks five kilometres from Colmar.

15 Castle

Three castles of Husseren-les-Châteaux

Château de Haut-Eguisheim

Look up at the three sandstone keeps bristling on the ridge above the Eguisheim vineyards. Born of a single 11th-century castle, where the future Pope Leo IX grew up, the site was divided among rival families until it counted three fortresses, all ruined in 1466. From up there, the view plunges over the Alsace plain.

16 Church

St Theobald's Church, Thann

Collégiale Saint-Thiébaut de Thann

The collegiate church of Saint-Thiébaut raises a tower more than 78 metres high, and its stones take on a golden hue. In front of the west portal, decipher some 150 carved scenes, including the life of the Virgin on the main tympanum. The people of Thann say it mischievously: Strasbourg has the tallest, Freiburg the biggest, Thann the most beautiful.