The Alsatian Venice

This year, as my birthday falls on a Friday, I decided to take the day off in order to go on an extended weekend in Alsace. I wanted to go alone so that I could enjoy without having to make concessions and do my program as I wanted.

Knowing Strasbourg already, I preferred to go to Colmar, a charming city in which I had never set foot.

I also wanted to visit the village of Eguisheim whose many photos I had seen on Instagram made me want to go there.

I find the half-timbered houses so pretty that I didn’t want to do this village only and I also planned to go to Riquewihr which also seemed like a lovely place to see.

So I booked a hotel in Colmar for the duration of my stay and planned to take an Uber to visit the two villages that were not accessible by train because there was no train station there. The journey by car was not long (less than 30 minutes), so it seemed to me quite possible to do.

I took the train at Gare de l’Est on Friday, January 7, 2022 (my birthday) at 10:04 and arrived in Colmar at 12:52. I had a stopover in Strasbourg (arrival from Paris at 11:50 and departure for Colmar at 12:20).

Day 1

My hotel is located about 25 min walk from Gare de Colmar and not even 5 min from the city center.

As usual, I sat in my room for a few minutes before heading downtown for a walk.

What can I say about this city except that it charmed me? The houses are so cute, I didn’t know where to look!

It wasn’t the bad temperatures or my frozen fingers that kept me from walking for a long time and acting like a tourist photographing almost all the typical storefronts and small houses in the area.

I went near to the Poêle des Laboureurs, classified as a historical monument and dating back to the 1600s, the pretty Presbytère protestant de Colmar or the Koïfhus, also a historical monument and also called “old customs”.

Poêle des Laboureurs

Presbytère protestant de Colmar

Koïfhus

The fontaine Schwendi, located behind the Koïfhus and dedicated to Lazare de Schwendi, a former warlord, was still decorated for the end of the year celebrations, as was the entire city. Fir branches and various other small decorations were scattered all around.

Fontaine Schwendi

I left the fountain to head towards the Petite rue des Tanneurs where generations of tanners lived in the XVIIe and XVIIIe centuries.

Petite rue des Tanneurs

I then headed for the prettiest part of Colmar I think.

To get there, I walked along a street where it is possible to buy souvenirs of the city and also bottles of white wine.

I arrived in the Quartier de la Poissonnerie where there were many fishermen and fishmongers.

From here, you can stroll along the Lauch (a river) on which boats sail to visit the area.

The quay along the Lauch was very nicely decorated.

Some parts of this neighborhood reminded me a bit of Menton (in South of France) with all the pastel colors. Of course, the style of the houses is completely different, but the color palette is very similar.

The front of restaurants located in this area, such as Wistub La Petite Venise or Bord’eau, is really cute.

And what do you find at the end of the fquartier de la poissonnerie? The Petite Venise de Colmar of course!

Super pretty and even more so at this time of year because not at all crowded with tourists, and what is it nice to walk around a city without being assailed by other tourists brandishing their cameras and standing in front of all the monuments to take selfies while trying to take the perfect photo without anyone in front.

After this pleasant walk by the water, I went back to the city center near the fontaine Roesselmann and a restaurant with a cute front, the restaurant Au Chaudron.

Many buildings are original and very beautiful in Colmar. First of all there is the Koïfhus I mentioned earlier, but also the Maison Pfister, which is listed as a historical monument and dates back to the 1500s.

Maison Pfister

The Collégiale Saint-Martin, the Corps de Garde and the Maison des Têtes de Colmar are also worth seeing.

Collégiale Saint-Martin

Corps de Garde

Restaurant La Sommelière

Collégiale Saint-Martin

Café des Marchands

Collégiale Saint-Martin

The Maison des Têtes, listed as a historical monument, as you might have guessed, houses a 5-star luxury hotel and a brewery, both highly rated.

Maison des Têtes

After my long walk, I needed to warm up, so I rushed to Le Croissant Doré where I was very well received and where I was able to enjoy a hot chocolate.

In this small cafe, no sanitary pass checks.

I then went back to the hotel where I ordered a tarte flambée that I could pick up directly from the reception desk.

The pie was great but the strong smell of the munster cheese in the room was hard to bear. I had to aerate in spite of the cold so that the smell did not permeate my clothes.

Day 2

On the second day, I wanted to go to Eguisheim and Riquewihr.

I saw that it was not possible to go there by TER because there is no train station in these villages, so I was going to order an Uber from the hotel. I was surprised to find that Uber and all its derivatives do not exist in Colmar and in these villages.

Parc du Champs de Mars

So I wanted to get a taxi, but seeing the prices on the Internet, I didn't want to go anymore.

So I went to the tourist office to get some information.

Certainly because we were out of season, there were very few buses to get to Eguisheim.

The employee of the tourist office told me that I had to wait 4 hours for the bus back to Colmar once I arrived in Eguisheim, knowing that the village can be visited in 1 hour.

He told me that people usually take a bus to get there and a taxi back.

I was very hesitant to go there but I had come to Colmar specifically for that, so I took the bus.

The journey lasted about 20 minutes and the driver did not charge any bus passengers (we were 2).

I thought the village was cute, but I preferred Colmar.

There was practically no one there, which was not to displease me, but nothing was open, no shop or restaurant, except a cheese maker who made me taste some cheese samples.

So I quickly went around the village and I was forced to call a taxi to return to Colmar because I couldn’t wait for the bus back 3 hours in the cold.

In the end, the price of the race was not that high.

Once in Colmar, I looked at the bus schedules for Riquewihr but it was just as complicated as for Eguisheim, so I chose Mulhouse which is accessible by TER and located about 20 minutes by train from Colmar.