Colmar: the pretty 'Wine Capital of Alsace'

Colmar (Haut-Rhin), with its gaily coloured half-timbered houses and beautiful flowers tumbling out of window-boxes, is breathtakingly pretty. 

The historic centre really is a whole other world. It even has its own Little Venice (Petit Venise). As a result it is quite pricey, especially when it comes to accommodation, both for tourists and residents.

Wander through the covered market, tasting Munster cheese and local charcuterie, and don't forget to look up because hidden by the foliage there are storks nests in the tree tops. (Hint: There is a nest in the trees at the south-east end of the Place de la Cathedrale.) 

If you get tired of walking, there are electric minibuses running through the historic centre. 

These are completely free and you can stop them wherever you like. If you tell them where you want to get off, they will drop you exactly where you need to go, as long as it is on their route of course.

Things to do in Colmar

The Musée Unterlinden is the cultural highlight of Colmar, visited by around 200,000 people a year. Housed in a 13th Century Dominican convent, it contains a wide variety of religious paintings and sculptures, crowned by the Isenheim Altarpiece which was sculpted by Nikolaus Hagenauer in 1510 and painted by Matthias Grunewald between 1512 and 1516. 

The collection does not stop there however. The cloisters are a treat, and there are also archaeology displays, Roman mosaics, Renaissance paintings, and contemporary art including works by Monet, and Picasso. 

Allow a couple of hours to see everything. Rumour has it that certain hotels in Colmar can give guests discount vouchers against the ticket price of €13, so if you are staying in town it might be worth asking about this at reception.

Colmar's most famous son is Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, an artist and sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty. The Musée Bartholdi, housed in the family's former home, tells the whole story – and fascinating it is too – illustrated by numerous sketches, models, and photographs. 

It also contains some of Bartholdi's smaller paintings and sculptures. 

And yes, Colmar is one of the cities in France which has its very own Statue of Liberty, situated along the Route de Strasbourg to the north of the town. (It also has its own replica Manneken Pis, on the Rue des Augustins.)

Choco-Story, the Musée de Chocolat is also well worth visiting because it really does cover the subject in depth. Plus, there are plenty of samples to taste... Among highlights is the room done up as a cabin on a tall-ship but all the displays are very modern, interactive and immersive, suitable for all ages. 

The same building contains a second museum about wine, which is perhaps of less interest to younger children. At the end you can taste three wines or three grape juices, and I recommend trying the latter because it is rare to be offered juice from a single cépage and actually really helpful to taste them. 

Afterwards, you can always do a wine tasting. Several domaines have outlets in the city centre. One of them, Robert Karcher, offers a wide range of organic wines. All of them are made on the family's 11 hectares of vineyards, and we particularly liked the Crémant d'Alsace Rosé (€13) which is easily as nice as any Prosecco on the market. Tastings and tours of the wine cellars can be arranged in advance by phone.

Gewurztraminer d'Alsace is hard to find in other parts of France, and because it is a sweet wine you may be tempted to stick to the usual dry white. But give it a go; intensely fruity and complex, it is excellent with all the rich local cheese and pork dishes, as well as with desserts. Try it with ice cream or sorbet. It is also nice as an apéro.

Finally, running from Marlenheim all the way south to Thann, the Route des Vins passes through Colmar. You can do any part of the route by pushbike, electric bicycle, or on foot, stopping at independent vignerons along the way for meals, wine tastings, picnics, apéros, visits to wine cellars, or even to spend an entire day with a vigneron. 

It is obviously also possible to drive to any of the destinations on the route if mobility or time is a constraint.