Colmar is a picture-perfect city situated within the Alsace area of France. This small city, with its colourful, half-timbered homes, overflowing flower pots, and bustling road cafes, appears to be like prefer it has been plucked proper out of a fairy story. With someday in Colmar, you will have simply sufficient time to discover the scenic streets, dine on Alsatian meals, go wine tasting, and even discover a museum or two.
An Overview of Colmar
Colmar is situated in jap France, not removed from the border with Germany. The Alsace has modified fingers a number of occasions between France and Germany and the structure and the meals replicate that. Alsatian meals is a superb mix of German and French delicacies, with spaetzle, foie gras, tarte flambee, and baeckeoffe all making their method onto the native menus.
Colmar is one in every of over seventy cities situated on the Alsatian Wine Route. It’s also referred to as the “capital of Alsatian wine.”
With its useful prepare station, it’s straightforward to get right here from Paris, Zurich, Strasbourg, and Basel. In the event you plan to go to the close by Alsatian cities, Colmar is nice metropolis to make your private home base.
One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Colmar is small city and the record of must-see websites is low. That is the type of place the place the most effective factor to do is to wander town streets with out a set itinerary. As an alternative of itemizing an hour by hour itinerary, here’s a record of the most effective issues to do in Colmar, together with restaurant suggestions.
Finest Issues to Do in Colmar
Little Venice
The Lauch River flows by means of the middle of Colmar. Alongside this river, colourful homes and buildings line the riverbank, creating the attractive scenes you see in so many pictures of Colmar. You possibly can merely stroll alongside the river and benefit from the view or take a brief cruise down the river.
Little Venice | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
The Fisherman’s Quay (Quai de la Poissonnerie)
Positioned in Little Venice, that is the place fishermen as soon as lived and labored. It’s situated alongside the Lauch River and it is likely one of the most photogenic streets in Colmar.
Quai de la Poissonnerie | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Wander by means of the Outdated City
Wander the streets of the Outdated City, only a very brief stroll from Little Venice. Discover the cobblestoned streets and take a break in one in every of many cafes lining the streets. As you stroll by means of the Outdated City, there are a couple of notable buildings to go to.
One other view of Little Venice | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Pfister Home
The Pfister Home is a historic service provider home that dates again to the sixteenth century. It’s well-known for its lengthy wood gallery and murals.
Pfister Home | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Customs Home (Koifhus)
Positioned close to the middle of the Outdated City, this Fifteenth-century Gothic-style constructing now homes retailers and eating places and hosts cultural occasions.
Home of Heads
The Home of Heads was constructed within the seventeenth century and it’s adorned with 111 sculptures of heads.
Home of Heads | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
St. Martin’s Church
Dominating the middle of the Outdated City is St. Martin’s Church, a Roman Catholic church that dates again to the thirteenth and 14th centuries.
St. Martin’s Church | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Lined Market Corridor
Stuffed with small retailers promoting produce, cheese, pastries, meat, and fish, it is a excellent place to place collectively a picnic lunch.
Unterlinden Museum
This museum, housed in a Dominican convent, options paintings from medieval to up to date occasions. The spotlight is the Isenheim Alterpiece, an alter piece that was sculpted and painted between 1512 – 1516.
Alsatian Meals
Alsatian meals is a mix of French and German meals. Listed here are some issues you’ll find on the menu.
Baeckeoffe. Potatoes, greens, pork, lamb, and beef are sluggish cooked all day in a white wine sauce.
Tarte Flambee (Flammekueche). That is much like pizza. Skinny dough is topped with crème fraiche, fromage blanc, onions and bacons after which baked to perfection.
Coq au Riesling. Rooster, garlic, and onions are cooked in a Riesling cream sauce.
Additionally, you will see foie gras, choucroute (a neighborhood number of sauerkraut), white asparagus, and sous-chef on the menu.
Overview of Alsatian Wine
A lot of the wine that comes from the Alsace area is white wine. The predominant grapes are riesling, gewurtztraminer, pinot gris, and muscat. Solely a small quantity of pinot noir is grown. Not like the remainder of France, Alsace wines are labelled in accordance with the grape varieties quite than by the place they develop.
In winstubs (wine bars) all through Colmar and the Alsace, you possibly can dine on tarte flambee and pattern Alsatian wine.
The place to Eat in Colmar
Boulangerie Patisserie L’Artisane. Each morning I visited this charming little store and purchased recent pastries and bread for breakfast. Yum! It’s situated at 8 Rue des Tanneurs within the Outdated City.
Restaurant La Soi. Dine on the most effective tarte flambee in Colmar on this tiny restaurant. The one factor on the menu is tarte flambee and so they do it very effectively. This makes an excellent lunch spot and it’s excellent if you need a scrumptious meal with out spending some huge cash.
Bistrot Gourmand. That includes Alsatian meals at affordable costs, this a pleasant spot to go for lunch.
Le Cercle des Aromes. This is likely one of the highest rated wine bars in Colmar. If you wish to study extra about Alsatian wines it is a great place to go to whereas on the town.
Restaurant JYS. Dine on French meals at this two-star Michelin restaurant. It’s situated in an attractive setting proper on the Lauch River. Make your reservation upfront!
Aux Armes de Colmar. This extremely rated Alsatian restaurant is a pleasant place to go for dinner, simply be sure you make your reservations upfront.
The place to Keep
APARTMENT: Reflets Sur La Lauch Flats. That is the place we stayed and it’s superb. With an unbeatable location in Colmar and practically excellent opinions on Reserving.com, it’s going to be laborious to discover a higher place than this. We stayed in a two-bedroom condo that had a kitchen, a front room, one and half bogs, and a washer. One of the best half was the superior view out of our home windows over Little Venice. We cherished it right here and we might keep right here once more on a future go to to Colmar. In the event you look on Reserving.com, we stayed within the “Loft.”
View from our condo
View of the condo constructing, taken from the bridge on Rue Turenne, top-of-the-line viewpoints of Little Venice. Reflets Sur la Lauch is the pale yellow constructing on the left of the photograph. Our condo was on the highest two flooring of this constructing.
LUXURY: La Maison des Tetes. This 5-star resort is situated within the Outdated City of Colmar. Rooms are superbly adorned and have air-conditioning, a should in the course of the summer time months.
MIDRANGE: Colmar Resort. This extremely rated resort is situated simply exterior of the previous city. From the resort, it takes about 10 minutes to stroll to Little Venice and the center of Colmar. It might not be situated proper within the Outdated City, however you get a clear, snug resort at an affordable worth.
BUDGET: Gite l’Ame d’Antan. This one-bedroom condo is situated within the previous city of Colmar. It comes with a washer, a kitchen, and free WiFi.
The best way to Get to Colmar
The simplest option to get to Colmar is by prepare. Listed here are the journey occasions from close by cities in Europe.
- Paris, France: 2.5 hours
- Strasbourg, France: 35 minutes
- Basel, Switzerland: 50 minutes
- Zurich, Switzerland: 2 hours
- Frankfurt, Germany: 3 hours
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg: 2.5 hours
You can too go to Colmar on a street journey by means of Europe. That is what we did. Listed here are driving occasions and distances from close by cities in Europe.
- Strasbourg, France: 1 hour, 74 km
- Basel, Switzerland: 50 minutes, 65 km
- Zurich, Switzerland: 2 hours, 160 km
- Luxembourg, Luxembourg: 3.75 hours, 300 km
- Stuttgart, Germany: 2.5 hours, 230 km
- Paris, France: 5.5 hours, 500 km
The closest airports are situated in Strasbourg, France and Basel, Switzerland. From Strasbourg and Basel, you possibly can take the prepare or hire a automotive to get to Colmar.
When to Go
Colmar could be visited year-round. Nevertheless, when you get your timing proper, you possibly can go to Colmar throughout one in every of its many festive seasons.
From late March by means of early April, the city is adorned for Easter and you’ll buy groceries on the Easter markets. In early July, classical musical artists carry out on the Colmar Worldwide Competition. On the finish of July into early August, Colmar hosts the Alsace Wine Honest. And eventually, the streets fill with smalls retailers and decorations in the course of the Christmas market season.
The busiest occasions to be in Colmar are in the course of the summer time months and from late November by means of December, when it’s the Christmas market season. If you wish to keep away from the crowds, go to Colmar in late winter and early spring, in between New Yr’s and Easter.
Late spring and early fall are good occasions to go to. That is the shoulder season so crowds and inns costs are decrease.
Ideas for Visiting Colmar
Make your dinner reservations upfront, particularly if you can be on the town throughout peak season. Throughout our go to in August, it was unattainable to simply present up at a restaurant previous 6 pm and count on to be seated.
Plan to spend a minimum of one night time in Colmar. It’s very quiet right here in the course of the early morning hours, making this the most effective time to walk town streets crowd-free.
In the event you plan to go to Colmar in the summertime, reserve a spot that has air-conditioning. The common excessive is 27°C (80°F) however warmth waves usually are not unusual. Throughout our go to in August, daytime temperatures reached 35°C (95°F). A warmth wave like that’s uncommon, however not unattainable, as we realized throughout our go to.
Finest Day Journeys from Colmar
There are dozens of different charming cities to go to within the Alsace wine area. You possibly can simply day journey to those cities both by automotive, on a tour, and even by bicycle.
We spent three days day-tripping from Colmar to the cities on the Alsace wine route. Examine our favourite cities in our article 10 Fairytale Cities to Go to on the Alsace Wine Route.
Get itinerary concepts and learn to plan your time in our article 3 Days on the Alsace Wine Route.
Ribeauville | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Eguisheim | One Day in Colmar Itinerary
Excursions of the Alsace Wine Area
Europe Itinerary Concepts with Colmar
If you’re on the lookout for an excellent trip thought and have 7 to 10 days out there, contemplate spending 3 days in Paris and 4 days within the Alsace wine area. A high-speed prepare whisks vacationers from Paris to Colmar in underneath 3 hours. As soon as on the town, hire a automotive for a couple of days and street journey by means of the area. Return to Paris by prepare (or proceed on to someplace new…Zurich and Lucerne, Switzerland are one other fast prepare journey away) and fly residence from Paris.
Are you planning a visit to Colmar and the Alsatian Wine Route? Remark under in case you have any questions or if you wish to share your expertise.
Extra Info for Your Journey to France:
- ALSACE WINE ROUTE: 10 Fairytale Cities to Go to on the Alsace Wine Route
- PARIS ITINERARY: 3 Days in Paris: The Good Paris Itinerary for Your First Go to
- BEST VIEWS OF PARIS: Finest Views of Paris: 15 Good Spots to Strive
- EASTER IN PARIS: Easter in Paris: The best way to Have the Finest Expertise
- FRENCH RIVIERA & PROVENCE: 10 Day French Riviera and Provence Itinerary
Planning a visit to France? Learn all of our articles in our France Journey Information.
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