September 5 – October 3, 2024 (Late Summer)
It’d be easy to assume, based on Colmar’s storybook aesthetic and instagrammability, that it’d be the sort of over-touristed hotspot we’d hate. Au contraire!
Half-timber buildings strewn higgledy-piggledy around canals and pedestrianized streets. Fantastic food and ingredients at surprisingly reasonable prices. And a plum location in the center of Alsace that makes an excellent home base for exploring the region.
No, Colmar isn’t a real-life fairy tale. But it sure as heck looks like one.
First, let’s get this out of the way. Colmar is in fact a tourist town✨. Is there a big sign with the town’s name to prove to the internet you’ve been there? Check.
Are all the beautiful little plazas – like Pl. de l’Ancienne Douane with its Schwendi Fountain✨ – rimmed with Bierstube and Winstub✨ patios full of grumbling pensioners? You bet!
But most of the time it was actually quite tranquil. The day-trippers really only descend on weekends and holidays, and even that pales in comparison to a cruise day in Croatia.
In the evening, with all the tour boats moored for the night, we’d round the Marché Couvert to find the iconic Pont Rue des Tanneurs view all to ourselves.
Colmar is above all an enjoyable✨ place just to be. Half-timber houses and beautiful overhanging balconies like the Maison Pfister are the kind of visage we’d look up smile at on our first day, and still look up and smile at on our last.
Pedestrian-friendliness is the unsung hero of our livability index, and Colmar delivered. To celebrate the walkability, small brass triangles adorned with the Statue of Liberty were inlaid in the pavement all across town and hinted – in a roundabout way – toward the Bartholdi Museum.
We first encountered something like this in Dijon on our very first European vacation. Le Parcours de la Chouette (The Owl Trail) features a series of triangles scattered around the inner city, and following them leads you on a sort of impromptu tour, terminating at a pretty insignificant owl gargoyle on the corner of their Notre-Dame. It’s a small and simple thing, but for our toddler, Colmar’s version was the highlight of our stay.
Colmar is built around the River Lauch, a small tributary of the Ill, itself a tributary of the Rhine. The built-up area around the river provides some of the most memorable scenes, so much so the area is known as La Petite Venise✨. Maybe a little oversold, but hey, at least it’s not “La Venise du Nord.”
The view from Pont Rue des Écoles just in front of the covered market is perhaps the most famous of all. It was often crowded with people trying to get that perfect shot, but over the course of a month we were able to get many of them✨.
Our Airbnb was a bit more posh✨ than we’d usually spring for, but a bit more expensive as well. We were primarily interested in the location and – as usual – a lack of nearby construction. Of course the owner himself was renovating the floor below our apartment, a fact he had neglected to mention while booking, and when challenged asked, “you can hear that?”
Alsatian food is touted as a “blend of French and German influences,” but in practice that seems to mean German food with French names: sauerkraut is choucroute, Flammekueche✨ is tarte flambée, and so on. We did love the quality and affordability of ingredients though, whether from the touristy Marché Couvert Colmar✨ for further afield✨ at the E.Leclerc hypermarket.
Wine is a particular source of local pride, and Colmar is one of the capitals of the Alsace wine route. We had a delightful tasting at La cave de Lina, and Meyer’S offers a wide range of wine, beer, whiskies, and eau✨-de-vie (the local equivalent of brandy/rakija).
The Vosges Mountains are more than just a beautiful backdrop to the picturesque towns of Alsace. They’re also an excellent way to get out of those towns and enjoy✨ the outdoors. Lac Blanc is easily accessible by bus from Gare de Colmar.
It was a popular✨ hiking✨ spot, particularly with German tourists. We found it on the easy side, even with a toddler in tow, but well worth a visit.
Colmar is the seat of Préfecture du Haut-Rhin, the smaller of the two departments that make up Alsace. Strasbourg is the seat of its counterpart, Bas-Rhin, as well as the capital of the entire Grand Est region. We visited Strasbourg briefly for a doctor’s appointment for Kieran, but made it a priority during out subsequent stay in Sélestat.
The old town can seem like an open-air museum, but that shouldn’t detract from the actual museums✨ it boasts, which are fascinating and fun✨ in their own right. The highlight is Musée Unterlinden. It has some local artifacts✨ and treasures✨, of course.
But the main claim to fame✨ is the art✨, and the pièce de résistance is the Isenheim Altarpiece✨, a 500-year-old masterpiece. The panels are split up through a hall dedicated to the piece✨ so every dramatic frame✨ can be admired individually.
And if Colmar ever feels a little too large and metropolitan, then just hop on over to Eguisheim, which is essentially Colmar distilled: smaller, cozier✨, and more twee. The town is said to be an aesthetic inspiration for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (along with Colmar and Riquewihr). It definitely looks the part✨, but it’s also notable for its wine✨, especially Alsatian Riesling and gewürztraminer.
After four weeks, the expense and noise of our Colmar Airbnb forced us to move on✨, but we weren’t ready to say goodbye to Alsace. We considered a more mundane municipality like Mulhouse or Molsheim. Ultimately we selected… Sélestat!
