ALSACE VILLAGES

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Day 3: Colmar - Route by car through the villages of Alsace (Turckheim - Kaysersberg - Riquewihr - Hunawihr - Ribeauvillé) - Colmar

Today, on the third day of our trip to Alsace at Christmas, the alarm sounds at 6:30, and today we have to make a route by car through the villages of Alsace, approaching to Turckheim, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr, Hunawihr and Ribeauvillé, which are some of the best known in this area.
But first of all you have to load energy, so after working a little we approached a pastry shop right next to the Ibis Center hotel, where we had breakfast for a couple of pastries and coffee and coffee with milk for 7.40 euros.

Having breakfast at Colmar

With a full stomach, we set off with a route through the villages of Alsace in mind, from which in the end, we have eliminated Niedermorschwihr to see that we were going to have a day tight enough to make another visit.

Crossing Colmar at this time with the car we realize that at this time the center is completely empty, so we made the decision to take advantage tomorrow a while before we go to Strasbourg to go back and travel to take some photos without so many people.

Dawn in Colmar

Since Colmar to Turckheim, the first stop of the route by car through the villages of Alsace, we have 8 kilometers that we do in about 10 minutes with a completely clear sky and in which the first rays of sun begin to shine, something that when we looked at the weather forecasts a few days ago was not far from expected, reminding us again the great luck that we continue to have over time in our travels and that keeps making us think of "that something or maybe someone"who keeps looking for us.
In the path from Colmar to Turckheim We are also surrounded by vineyards like yesterday when we were going from Eguisheim to Colmar and we cannot forget that this area of France, apart from being known for Christmas is also known for its famous Alsace Wine Route.
If you do not want to rent a car, a good option is to book this tour through the villages of Alsace or this tour through the Christmas markets of Alsace, both depart from Colmar and have a guide in Spanish.

Touring the villages of Alsace

Upon arrival in Turckheim we left the car right at the entrance, in the Republic Square, where you do not have to pay anything to know this beautiful town on foot, without a doubt the best way to do it.
Turckheim is such a small town that it can be visited in just under an hour, although it is no less interesting or special.
We begin the visit by standing in front of one of the entry of the town, one of its prettiest and most scenic corners, especially at this time of year.

Tuckheim

Turckheim

From here we will go through its historic center starting with the Grand Rue, which is where a few street markets are located, at these hours still closed, but that are already beginning to remind us of the time we are in.
Although there are some very nice houses, the street in the last section is under construction, something that dazzles it a lot and that makes us retrace our steps to go to the center of the historic center.

Turckheim

In a few minutes we reach the Place Turenne, where we find the Town Hall and a church with a large tower, where there is also the famous Turckheim advent calendar where windows are opened from day 1 to December 24 every day to 5 in the afternoon.

Turckheim Advent Calendar

It's 10 in the morning when we finish this visit to Turckheim, the first of the route through the villages of Alsace and we make our way to Kaysersberg, which will be the second stop of the day.

Turckheim in Alsace

From Turckheim to Kayserberg We have 8 kilometers and another 10 minutes of journey in the rental car in Alsace that make us see in first person how close some towns of Alsace are, something that also happened to us in our recent trip to Midi-Pyrenees, although there they were a little further from each other.

Upon arrival we park the car in a parking lot outside, for 2 euros a day, which is about 500 meters fromKayserberg. In case you do not want to walk to the town, we tell you that we saw buses that lead there, that although we do not use it, we believe it is a good option if you come with children or it is very cold.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Alsace
- 10 essential places to see in Alsace
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Alsace
- 10 essential places to visit in Colmar

As we enterKayserberg, by its main street, we see that today it will be a day of crowds again and that is that at this time and all the shops are full of people and that Christmas atmosphere of which we are surrounded since we arrived in Alsace begins to breathe.

Kayserberg

Kaysersberg Christmas Markets
Dates: from November 27 to 29 / from December 4 to 6 / from December 11 to 13 / from December 18 to 20 / from December 21 to 23
Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
In Kaysersberg we find the Christmas Market in the Arsenal courtyard, next to the Tourist Office and we can find a small market of local handicrafts and products.
Every year the dates of the different Christmas markets change, so we advise you to look at them in the corresponding section of the website of the Tourist Office

Kayserberg We can say that it is a main street, with a beautiful square in which we also find a church and smell of cinnamon or cheese, depending on the moment and the place where you are. They seem few things like that at first glance, but we can assure you that nothing more is needed to fall in love at first sight of a town.

Kayserberg Square

Following the main street we arrive at a building, where inside we discover an impressive Noel Market, full of small craft shops that we dare to say, it attracts us much more attention even than those of Colmar, as far as gifts are concerned.
As we said Kayserberg It is just over a street, but it is full of joy and atmosphere in each of its shops and craft markets, which make this a town one of the most pleasant we have visited so far on this trip to Alsace by car.
It is mid-morning, so we take the opportunity to have a hot chocolate for 2 euros plus 2 euros for a glass cup, which we also take as a souvenir, which accompanies us until we reach the end of the street, where we find the famous bridge of stone, surrounded by small houses that seem taken from a Christmas story.

Kayserberg Stone Bridge

Kayserberg

Once we arrive here, we step back on our steps to walk a parallel street to the main street, also very lively and with many little shops that leave us even more in love withKayserbergif possible.

We walk back to the parking lot, which at this time is already complete and we get in the car when it is just after 12 noon. The time has come to go from Kayserberg to Riquewihr, which is our next stop of the Alsace route at Christmas and that is only 8 kilometers and 10 minutes.
As we mentioned before, throughout this area the villages are very close to each other, so it is perfect to make a one-day route between them if you have a car.

At this point we have to say that we have seen a bus that makes the route between Colmar and the villages of Alsace more important as Turckheim, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé, so after seeing this, we can confirm that you can also consider this route by bus if you do not want to rent a car

We arrived to Riquewihr when it is 12:15 noon and the first thing we have to do is look for parking, something we do after overcoming the caravan that is to enter the town of more than a kilometer and a half and it is that we begin to notice that the day is progressing and more and more people are touring these charming villages of Alsace.

Caravan to reach Riquewihr

There are several parkings inRiquewihr, one outside the town and several paid inside. We recommend that if there is a lot of people enter one of them and wait for someone to leave. Probably in this way you find before a free place that if you go around, at least that has happened to us, which in the end we only had to wait 10 minutes in the main parking of the town, just a few meters from its historic center. We pay 3 euros for 4 hours, you can also pay 2 euros for 2 hours and there we will visit one of the most famous villages in Alsace:Riquewihr

Riquewihr

Riquewihr Christmas Markets
Dates: from November 28 to December 27
Hours: Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (except December 24 that closes at 6:00 p.m. and December 25 that opens at 2:00 p.m.)
In Riquewihr we find the Christmas Market around the walls and in the Place Fernand Zeyer, surrounded by a festive atmosphere and full of lights.
Every year the dates of the different Christmas markets change, so we advise you to look at them in the corresponding section of the website of the Tourist Office

As soon as we enter, we are quite safe, as has happened to us in several of the villages we have visited and it is that after the attack in Paris a few weeks ago, it is normal for the environment to be a bit tense and try to avoid any problem.
Seeing what time it is and seeing that there is not one more pin in Riquewihr right now, we decided that it is best to find a place to eat, so we go straight to l'Arbertrie, highly recommended on Tripadvisor, where after doing about 15 minutes of queue, we sat ready to taste the delicious Alsatian cuisine.
We ordered a menu with quiche and choucroute, a typical Alsatian dish that takes choucroute and different kinds of meat and a flambee periguourde tarte that has canard, foie and apple magret, plus a Noel beer, special nowadays, coca cola plus a Dessert cake that includes the menu and of course 2 expresso to accompany the table for 52 euros.

Eating at Riquewihr choucroute and tarte flambee

It must be said in honor of the truth that the flambee cake was spectacular. The choucroute has not been bad, but it must be said that for Roger it has not been a dish that has had much appreciation.
We left last at almost 2:30 in the afternoon, ready to start touring Riquewihr and letting ourselves be enveloped by its incredible Christmas atmosphere.

Riquewihr

The main street is full of beautiful little shops and houses that are better decorated, where you would stop at every step to admire them and take pictures. We are ascending, the main street makes a little slope, drunk at all times by a smell of wine and cinnamon until we reach the Riquewihr tower of 25 meters or Dolder, one of its most iconic enclaves.

Riquewihr

As we commented in the previous ones villages of AlsaceIn Riquewihr we don't have a definite route or specific places to visit. These villages are for wandering around and taste them walking and getting lost in the charming cobbled streets, surrounded by colorful houses and little shops that seem to compete with each other to see which one is the most incredible.

Riquewihr store

Just at the end of the street we find, in the previous corner, the Käthe Wohlfahrt store, famous for being one of the many in the world, where we can even find an area with pieces brought from Bethlehem, which we recognize from our trip to Israel and Palestine a few years ago.

Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas Store

To our surprise there is a queue of more than 20 minutes, which we do patiently, hoping to find here the souvenir that we take from this trip to Alsace. And so (no) it is ... we enter an incredible fantasy world, where each piece tells a story and where in the end we find nothing of what we are looking for and it is that we would lie if we do not say that we are a little specials With this gift and we usually look for some special or handmade piece that is not always easy to locate.
There are a few minutes to 4 in the afternoon, when our parking schedule ends and we decide that the time has come to make way for Hunawihr, the next stop of the day, which is only 4 kilometers from Riquewhir and where We just want to go for a little walk.
Riquewhir at this time of the afternoon is practically impassable, we even see many cars parked on the side of the road and on the roads that cross the vineyards and that is that Alsace at Christmas We can say that it is a true wonder, but also an area where if you are looking for tranquility, you probably will not find it unless you move away from the most famous and also most charming villages.

We arrived at Hunawihr at 4:15 in the afternoon, where after parking the car at the entrance we take a short walk through its streets, the truth is that without much interest, according to what we are looking for, so we believe it is a pretty stop expendable if you don't have much time.

Hunawihr Corner

We return to the car to go to what will be the last stop today in the villages of Alsace: Ribeauvillé, located just 3 kilometers from Hunawihr and where the GPS already tells us of the congested traffic at this time.
We arrived there at 16:30 in the afternoon, after crossing vineyards and more vineyards, which remind us that we must return to this area in the most summertime to enjoy the green of the landscapes and a little more tranquility.
We see again how cars park on the side of the road, almost 2 kilometers from the town and as it happened in the previous ones, we decided that it is best to enter the town and try your luck. And so we do having the beginner's luck, as they say, finding a place in a parking lot in the upper area of Ribeauvillé where you don't even have to pay.

Ribeauvillé is just one street, with several squares in which the Christmas markets are concentrated. But this does not detract from a hint of charm, vice versa, being so different from the rest of villages of Alsace We have visited, we find a magic of the most special.

Ribeauvillé

Ribeauvillé revolves around the Grand Rue, where Christmas markets are mixed with medieval markets, very different from everything we've seen so far and that surprises us for good. A part is getting dark so that the atmosphere takes a very special air and is that these villages of Alsace They are totally different when the sun goes down and the moon appears.

Ribeauvillé markets

Ribeauvillé

Making ourselves hollow among people, we see some handmade figurines of plump Santa Claus that stand out from the rest and that from this moment have become part of our traveling memories.
It's after 6 in the afternoon when after having a couple of hot chocolates served in a ceramic cup that also comes with us for what we pay 3 euros each, we return to tour the Grand Rue in the opposite direction, finding us now with aRibeauvillé fully lit.

Ribeauvillé

Christmas stalls in Ribeauvillé

It's after 6 in the afternoon when we head to Colmar, which is again our accommodation for tonight, 25 kilometers and about 30 minutes by car fromRibeauvillé.
We arrive almost at 7 in the afternoon and after leaving the car in the private parking of the Ibis Center hotel, we recommend you to have a paid parking at this time of the year, more than anything to save time since they are not very expensive, we We pay 7 euros a day and they save you a lot of time.
We take the opportunity to go to the room for a while to leave the things we have bought in this tour of the villages of Alsace and download the photos of the day before leaving about 8 to dinner, already with the firm idea of being able to take night photos after dinner.
We look at several restaurants and right next to the hotel we have Capresse, and seeing that it has very good opinions and being a little further from the center there are no queues, there we are going to have dinner with a tarte flambee, it shows that we are fond of, truth? and a salmon with potatoes plus water for 34 euros that just gave us energy to continue with this last stage of the day.

Having dinner at Colmar

After half past nine at night we go to the center of Colmar to enjoy practically alone, there are still some tourists taking photos of this illuminated area.

Night comes to Colmar

Streets of Colmar at Christmas

If we can say that walking through Colmar is like doing it for a children's story, we cannot describe what it feels like to do it at night, when Christmas lights adorn everything and most tourists have left the streets.

Colmar at Christmas

Without a doubt this is the best time for reconcile with this Christmas Alsace, which sometimes, to which we are little given to the crowd and the crowds, ends up carrying us a little.

Colmar, one of the most beautiful villages in Alsace

Half past 10 at night when we return to our hotel to rest. Today has been a most complete day touring the villages of Alsace. Tomorrow we still have a long day to go, in which to arrive in Strasbourg, another of the key points of this trip.