4 Days in the Alsace region from Switzerland: Strasbourg & small towns

Strasbourg and the Alsace region are among the most beautiful parts of France, famous for half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets, vineyards, and hearty food. Four days is the perfect amount of time to explore Strasbourg itself and also discover some of the charming villages along the Alsace Wine Route. There’s nothing better to explore this area than to grab your car and enjoy a few days visiting these idyllic towns. Check out this 4-day itinerary to get ideas on what to do in the Alsace Area! I was visiting from Zurich, so the order of visits is adapted to that.

Day 1 – Drive from Zurich to Basel and then to Colmar

Basel

I’ve been to Basel before, but my friend hadn’t, so we did a brief stop there. Basel gives me the feeling of a working city more than a touristy one – it is particularly well-known for its pharma industry (the Roche Towers are the tallest buildings in the city). Nonetheless, Basel also has a nice city center with lively stores and cafés and is worth walking around. Check out the Basler Münster (the Cathedral), the City Hall, and the Spalentor (the city gates), to have a quick overview of the main points. If you come at the right time, I would also recommend visiting the Art Basel exhibition at the Messe (Exhibition Center). I did that once and if you’re into art, it’s really worth it.

Colmar

Colmar is located 1 h away from Basel, and is a gorgeous place to visit, especially in spring and summer, when the flowers are blooming. It’s quite a touristy place, so unless you stay there out of season, it’ll get crowded, but it certainly deserves a visit. The Old Town of Colmar is walkable and relatively small, so you can see the main points quickly. However, I’d recommend taking in the landscape and just enjoying what you see. I wouldn’t say there’s a “must-see” house anywhere in the city, but it’s the whole atmosphere that’s amazing. If you have the chance to stay there overnight, you’ll enjoy the space without the crowds.

Kaysersberg

From Colmar you can visit Kaysersberg, located around 15 min away by car. It’s another cute medieval village with plenty of half-timbered houses (maisons à colombage). While the house style is similar to Colmar, it does have a different vibe. It’s quieter and the river that crosses it looks much wilder. There are also castle ruins on top of a hill from where you get nice views, and some vineyards around the city.

Riquewihr

This village is also around 15 min away from Colmar or from Kaysersberg. The house style is quite similar, but obviously the layout differs. When you get into the city, you’ll have to pass through a tower with a gate underneath, which is the highlight of Riquewihr.

These three towns are quite small, so it’s relatively easy to visit them all during the same day, but if you like taking things in a more relaxed way, you can also spread it out over 2 days.

Day 2 – Strasbourg

We stayed in Colmar for the night and headed to Strasbourg in the early morning. Strasbourg is located about 1 h away from Colmar and it’s a much larger city. You can perfectly spend the day in Strasbourg, visiting the Petite France, a neighbourhood that’ll give you similar vibes to the small Alsacean towns from the day before, the Place Kléber/Grande Île, a square with many historic buildings surrounding it and a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the Strasbourg Cathedral (Notre Dame), a Gothic-style cathedral that has a tower that you can climb.

Day 3 – Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg & Eguisheim

Heading already back in direction back to Switzerland, we stopped at the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg. This medieval castle is located approx. 1 h south from Strasbourg, and has been standing there since the 12th century. In my experience, visiting medieval castles inside can be really a hit or miss, but in the case of the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg it was worth it. You can enjoy views of armour and weapons from the 14-16th centuries and other original artifacts (like the lamp below, 10/10).

We next headed towards Eguisheim. Surely we could have visited it on our way before heading to Strasbourg, but we wanted to keep things interesting for the return too. Eguisheim is located 40 min away from the Château and nearby Colmar (only 15 min away). Similarly to the other Alsace towns, Eguisheim has plenty of traditional half-timbered houses. Another highlight of the village is the fountain of Saint Léon, in the middle of the main square, and the Castles of Eguisheim, to which you can arrive doing a short 1h hike each way.

If you’re around, don’t forget to try the Flammenkuchen, which is traditional from this region.

Day 4 – Back to Switzerland through Lauterbrunnen

On our way back to Zurich, we decided to visit the beautiful canton of Bern, which was a bit longer in terms of time, but well worth the views we got.

St Beatus Caves

The St Beatus Caves are located next to Thunersee, and are a popular touristic attraction. Parking space was quite limited, but we were lucky that a car just had left when we were arriving, so we got a spot. After parking, you need to go uphill for a bit towards the cave entrance, which will offer nice views of the lakeside. Once in the cave, you’ll take a self-guided tour that lasts around 1 h. It’s quite chilly inside the cave, so better bring a jacket even in summer. The cave is one of the 10 largest in Switzerland and it covers an 87 m drop. At the entrance to the cave there’s also a restaurant.

Lauterbrunnen – Trummelbachfälle

After visiting the cave, we drove 30 min towards Lauterbrunnen, where we had our hotel for the night. Lauterbrunnen is very scenic, and while we didn’t have much time to hike, we walked around the village and saw the famous Staubbachfall, which I’m sure you’ve seen in some postcard or Instagram reel.

From the Staubbachfall we took a stroll until we reached the Trummelbachfälle. While I wasn’t particularly excited based on what I saw in the photos (and we had to pay an entry fee!), I have to say that these falls became one of my favourites. These waterfalls drain a glacier, and they drain it inside a cave, forming 10 separate waterfalls. You will take an elevator to the top and keep going down, marveling at the impressive waterfalls inside of the cave. The falls are so impressive that they’re a UNESCO World Natural Heritage. The noise they produce is deafening, and you quickly realise why small children and pets are not allowed – any slip or undue curiosity will be deadly.

Zurich is located 2 h away by car, so an early morning drive brought us back to work on time.

Personal highlights

Can I choose my favourite village from the ones I visited in Alsace? Not really. They are all similar and yet charming in their own way. They’re absolutely worth visiting, as they feel taken out of a fairy tale. Colmar is obviously a must-do, as it’s the most touristy.

I would totally recommend doing the Trummelbachfälle. I was very impressed by the magnitude of the waterfalls, and the noise they make in the cave feels even terrifying if you think of the magnitude of what’s going on there.

Practical Tips

Getting around

While we did this trip by car, it’s also possible to do by train. The train net in France is good, unless there’s a strike, which you should totally check out before going. However, as is usual, when you’re not going to the main cities, public transport options are more limited around towns and requires more planning than taking a car.

Language

You may think that because it seems very touristy that people will speak English. That’s not necessarily the case. Most restaurants only had menus in French, and speaking German helped me much more than English in this trip. In case you cannot speak either, make sure you download a good translator app – it will help!

Best time to visit

My personal recommendation would be going during late spring or early summer, to enjoy flowers blooming. Another alternative that can be really interesting (although I haven’t done it myself) is to go for the Christmas markets. The one in Strasbourg is very famous, and it’s in my bucket list.

How many villages can I visit in one day?

I would say that to properly see Colmar, Eguisheim, Riquewihr, and Kaysersberg you need two days. It’s obviously possible to see them in one, but I’d say it’s a bit much, as they are not well connected with each other. If you’re into regular tourism, I’d also visit more than one in one day, as they’re quite small and you may get bored if you allocate too much time to each of them. That being said, if you’re a wine drinker, forget about what I just said and stay in whatever village that has the best wineries, because they’re really famous around here. That’s not something I can help with, since I don’t drink.