The very best of What not to miss in a nutshell NaturalALSACE Max Coquard - Best Jobers - Visit Alsace Visit - Jobers Coquard - Best Max © Nature reserves, the “Ballon” mountains, parks and gardens, the famous Wine Route… Take a trip to the Regional Nature Park of the Ballons des Vosges, one of the largest parks in France, and explore the Regional Nature Park of the Northern Vosges listed as a “World Biosphere Reserve” by UNESCO. Between the River Ill and the Rhine, the region offers you a rich array of flora and fauna. Come to the Petite Camargue in Alsace, in the Sauer Delta or Rhinau island with its profusion of liana vines, extensive birdlife and trees with their roots steeped in water at the very heart Max Coquard - Best Jobers - Visit Alsace Visit - Jobers Coquard - Best Max of Nature. © UrbanALSACE AuthenticALSACE Every city in Alsace has its own special charm – and teems with life day and night. Trendy bars, concert halls, internationally renowned caba- rets and casinos are among the list of venues to enjoy to the full! Strasbourg, the capital of Europe, Colmar, the capital of Alsace wine and Mulhouse with its broad choice of museums will surprise you at every turn. Topping the list of the myriad traditional towns making up all the charm of Alsace are, from North to South, Wissembourg, Haguenau, Rosheim, Obernai, Sélestat, Kaysersberg, Turckheim and Munster, once allied with Colmar and Mulhouse to form the historical Décapole, together with Saverne and Altkirch and many others. ADT - INFRA - Groupe Folklorique D’Kochloeffel D’Kochloeffel - Groupe Folklorique - INFRA ADT © THE ALSATIAN COSTUME is part and parcel of the traditional festivities found in an astonishing variety of forms, including the “Streisselhochzeit” (wedding with bouquets) in Seebach in July or the “Frankenthal bride and groom” in Stosswihr in August. ALSACE POTTERY is renowned for its excellence and is inseparable from the region’s cultural heritage. The potters’ villages of Betschdorf and Soufflenheim are the guardians of this extremely precious, well-preserved know-how. ALSACE ECOMUSEUM In Ungersheim, you can immerse yourself in the peaceful life of bygone times. This heritage museum is a rebuilt village with half-timbered houses offering a variety of Matt Long, Landlopers - URV - ADT ADT - Landlopers - URV Long, Matt © events all year round. FunALSACE FestiveALSACE Erwan - Auberge du Blancrupt - ADT ADT - du Blancrupt Auberge - Erwan © LEISURE PARKS, CASINOS, CABARETS INFRA - GAP Berstett - ADT ADT Berstett - - GAP INFRA Not far from Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, don’t © miss out on an amusing stroll through a vast forest in the midst of 200 macaques Alsace has a rich heritage woven from and experience the fascinating show at the countless influences throughout its history. Eagle Park. The resulting traditions mark out a year- round calendar of festivities and sheer magic. In Hunawihr, you can discover the living Christmas in Alsace is famous worldwide. world of butterflies, storks and otters. As well as the Christmas markets, including Further south, book your flight for the Petit the Strasbourg market founded in 1570, Prince Park in Ungersheim. exhibitions and concerts abound in every town There are plenty of other venues to choose and village. And at Easter, spring is heralded in from, all dedicated to fun and entertainment. with fun- packed egg hunts! Try your luck at the casinos in Niederbronn- During the summer, it’s time for the “messti” les-Bains and Ribeauvillé and enjoy the or popular fete days. And as summer gives cabaret acts at Royal Palace in Kirrwiller and way to autumn, lively grape harvest festivals Paradis des Sources in Soultzmatt. are celebrated along the Wine Route.. Christmas in Alsace : www.christmas.alsace F. Fessler - ADT ADT - Fessler F. Nis&For - ART GE ART - Nis&For © © HIKING Alsace and the Vosges Mountains offer20,000 km of signposted footpaths marked out by enthusiasts from the Club Vosgien. Whether ActiveALSACE you hike along the emblematic GR© 53-5 for several days or go for a day’s ramble with family and friends, you will find right trail for you. You can also leave the beaten track of popular walks and wind your way along more secret pathways - of which there are no less than 1000! INFRA - ADT ADT - INFRA Find out more: © www.massif-des-vosges.com CYCLING AND MOUNTAIN BIKING TRAILS At the crossroads of EuroVelo routes 5, 6 and 15, not to mention almost 2,500 km of cycle paths and tarmacked, sign-posted green trails, Alsace offers a perfect network to - MDV ADT - INFRA criss-cross the region from North to South © and from the Vosges mountains to the Rhine. WINTER ACTIVITIES The most experienced mountain The Vosges Mountains offer a broad bikers can take the TMV across the spectrum of activities such as cross-country Vosges Mountains, a 420 km signposted and downhill skiing, snow-shoe rambles and trail linking Wissembourg up dog sled rides. to Thann! Find out more: Road bikes, mountain bikes and electrically www.massif-des-vosges.com powered bikes can be hired at a number of tourist sites. So pedal away uphill, down dale and across the plain! Find out more: www.cyclinginalsace.com Thomas Devard - MDV - MDV Devard Thomas © ALSACE ON HORSEBACK Discover the forests and vineyards, flora and fauna on horseback, by pony trekking or in Richard Bord - Illprod - Bosch - ADT ADT - Richard Bord - Illprod Bosch a horse-drawn carriage - there are so many © ways to enjoy horse-riding in Alsace! RIVER TOURISM A particularly pleasant way of discovering Find out more: Alsace is via the rivers and canals in live-in www.alsaceacheval.com boats (operating certificate not required), cruise ships or pleasure craft. GOLF As you glide down the Rhine or the Saar, Golf enthusiasts and beginners will always Marne to Rhine or Rhône to Rhine canals, find a golf course to welcome them. you can mix sailing with bike rides along the Find out more: tow paths. www.golfsinalsace.com Well-beingALSACE EpicureanALSACE F. Clément - ADT Clément - F. © GASTRONOMY AND TRADITIONS Alsace invites you to discover its traditional gastronomy: foie gras, choucroute, flammekueche, baeckeoffe, kougelhopf, munster… Not forgetting wine, beer, eau de vie and liqueurs. 1001 flavours to accompany your wining & dining experience in the setting of a starred restaurant, bierstub, winstub or a farmhouse inn. C. Meyer - ART GE ART - C. Meyer © Find out more: In need of relaxation, well-being and fitness? www.abc-gastronomie.alsace Why not treat yourself to a week or weekend break in the hotels and spa resorts in Alsace! Swimming pools, saunas, hot baths and massages for a little personal TLC and total relaxation! Discover the many beautiful spa venues throughout the region. T. Vuano - ADT - Vuano T. © THE ALSACE WINE ROUTE The 170 km long Wine Route winds through the foothills of the Vosges Mountains from Thann in the South to Marlenheim in the North, not forgetting Cleebourg vineyard. Running parallel to the Vineyards Cycle Trail, it opens up onto panoramic vistas and takes you through picturesque, famous winegrowing villages. Find out more: Le Parc Hôtel Obernai - ART GE ART - Obernai Hôtel Le Parc © www.wineroute.alsace RELIGIOUS HERITAGE Romanesque, gothic and baroque - the region’s religious heritage is witness to a rich historical past where Catholicism, CulturalALSACE Protestantism and Judaism lived side-by- side. Some examples: the Romanesque Route, Strasbourg Cathedral, Ebersmunster Abbey, the Haute-Alsace Dominican Monastery in Guebwiller, Mont Sainte-Odile Convent in Ottrott, the Ingwiller synagogue - not forgetting the 176 organs listed as historical monuments. COMMEMMORATIVE TOURISM Culturespaces - S. Lloyd Culturespaces - S. © Several sites and landscapes stand witness to MUSEUMS the region’s troubled past. Museums, museums everywhere: industrial In Woerth, you can stride across the and technical museums (Automobile battlefields of the Franco-Prussian War. In Museum - Schlumpf Collection in Mulhouse, Mutzig, you can visit the largest fortress of the Oil Museum in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn…), German Empire. historical and archaeological museums (La You can relive the hellish experience of the Villa in Dehlingen, Gallo-Roman Museum Great War at Hartmannswillerkopf (National in Biesheim…), the fine arts (Unterlinden Monument) and discover the underground Museum in Colmar, Palais des Rohan in network of the Maginot Line to the North of Strasbourg), decorative arts and popular Alsace built in the 1930s. traditions (Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur- And don’t miss the European Centre of Moder, Alsace EcoMuseum in Ungersheim), Deported Resistance Members, Struthof science and natural history museums Concentration Camp at Natzwiller, and the (Oberlin Museum in Waldersbach, Vivarium du Alsace-Moselle Memorial in Schirmeck. Moulin in Lautenbach-Zell) and the Humanist Library in Sélestat and Albert Schweitzer Museum in Kaysersberg. Find out more: www.histoire-alsace.com B. Bour - ADT - Bour B. © CASTLES Fleckenstein, Haut-Barr, Haut Koenigsbourg, Hohlandsbourg, Kaysersberg, Ferrette – so many castles making Alsace the ideal land for intrepid knights! Many of them may be in ruins today, but Birgé - ART GE ART Birgé - their silhouettes stand proud over the plain © CONTEMPORARY ART of Alsace and continue to fascinate ramblers Several sites dedicated to modern-day art forms and visitors alike. add a little zest to the cultural landscape in the Find out more: Rhine basin. www.alsaceterredechateaux.com F. Zvardon - ADT ADT - Zvardon F. © PracticalINFORMATION S C Getting to and around Alsace Mulhouse By car Major motorways for easy access: - A4 from Paris via Reims and Metz and Luxembourg, - A36 from Dijon to Mulhouse via Belfort and Besançon, - A35 from Switzerland, - A36, A98, A5 from Germany. By plane Alsace has 2 international airports: - EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Graphics : Citeasen - October 2019 - Printed on PEFC-certified paper. paper. PEFC-certified 2019 - Printed on - October : Citeasen Graphics - Strasbourg - Entzheim Airport – Accommodation You will also find us on : Find the accommodation you’re looking for on the website www.visit.alsace together with special packages and offers.