The short version
- Colmar is 2 hours 25 from Paris Gare de l’Est on the three direct TGVs a day, at 7:16, 13:52 and 18:55, or about 2 hours 45 with a change at Strasbourg, 20 trains in all. The last direct train back leaves Colmar at 16:45, and the last of all at 20:06, changing at Strasbourg.
- Our Alsace Day Trip meets at the Strasbourg tourist office on place de la Cathédrale off the morning TGV, 1 hour 45 from Paris: a guided walk through Colmar, the villages of Eguisheim and Riquewihr, a tasting of the whites in the vineyard hills, a guided tour of Haut-Koenigsbourg, and back in Strasbourg for the evening train, $220 per person, March to November. It runs as a private tour at the moment, so write to us for your dates.
- The Musée Unterlinden, in a 13th-century Dominican convent next to the tourist office, holds Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece of 1512 to 1516 and a Herzog & de Meuron wing from 2015: €14, Wednesday to Monday 9:00 to 18:00, under-12s free. The Bartholdi museum, the Statue of Liberty sculptor’s birthplace on rue des Marchands, is €5 and closed all of January.
- None of the wine villages has a station. From Colmar station the Fluo coaches reach Eguisheim in 12 minutes and Riquewihr in about half an hour, Monday to Saturday only, with gaps of hours between runs and nothing on Sundays or holidays. The Kut’zig hop-on bus loops six villages from April to mid-October, €32, reservation required, on three to six days a week by season.
- Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, the Kaiser’s rebuilt fortress at 757 meters, is €12, open 9:30 to 18:00 in October and with a midday closure from November. Its €3 shuttle from Sélestat station runs every day only from May 30 to August 30, on weekends and holidays the rest of the year, and not at all from November 2 to 6.
- Colmar’s six Christmas markets run November 23 to December 29, 2026, with the old town closed to cars during market hours. Eguisheim’s runs November 27 to December 30, Riquewihr’s to December 20 and Kaysersberg’s on four weekends; the village shuttles from Colmar station run Friday to Sunday only and go on sale November 12.
What to see
Colmar’s old town is the one on the postcards: La Petite Venise, where the Lauch runs between the tall white half-timbered houses of the tanners’ quarter and flat-bottomed boats pole under the bridges; the Koïfhus, the customs house of 1480; the Maison Pfister of 1537 with its painted walls and corner oriel; and the Maison des Têtes with 106 carved heads on its front. The Collégiale Saint-Martin, in yellow Rouffach sandstone, is under scaffolding for an outside restoration that runs to 2030. Our walk takes in the Pfister house, the Koïfhus, Saint-Martin and the tanners’ quarter. For lunch, a winstub: tarte flambée, choucroute, baeckeoffe, Munster with cumin, and a kougelhopf after. The covered market of 1865 on rue des Écoles is open Tuesday to Sunday.
Unterlinden is the museum: the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted for the hospital of the Antonine monks between 1512 and 1516, is the reason to go, and the 2015 extension holds the modern collection. From November 25, 2026 to January 3, 2027 the cloister stages a sound-and-light show after dark. The Bartholdi museum, two floors and no lift, runs its “Objectif Liberté!” show to December 31, 2026, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 18:00.
Eguisheim, 12 minutes south, is laid out in concentric rings around the 13th-century castle of its counts, with Pope Leo IX, born here in 1002, on the fountain. Riquewihr, north-west of Colmar, sits inside 16th-century walls with its main street climbing to the Dolder, the gate tower of 1291, which holds a small museum, €3, open from early April to early November with the Tour des Voleurs, €5. Both are stops on our day, with the lunch break in Riquewihr; the Alsace Wine Tour does Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé with Barr, Mittelbergheim and Dambach-la-Ville, three cellars in all.
Kaysersberg, Albert Schweitzer’s birthplace of 1875, has a free castle above the town with 122 steps up the keep, a carved altarpiece of 1518 in Sainte-Croix, and a fortified bridge over the Weiss. Ribeauvillé keeps three ruined castles on the ridge, Saint-Ulrich, Girsberg and Haut-Ribeaupierre, a free climb of about two and a half hours on the GR5 from place de la République, and on the first Sunday of September the Pfifferdaj, the fiddlers’ festival, with wine running from the fountain. Hunawihr, between them, has a fortified hilltop church shared by Catholics and Protestants and NaturOparC, the stork and otter park, €12.50.
Haut-Koenigsbourg stands at 757 meters on the ridge 26 kilometers north of Colmar: a 12th-century fortress burnt out in 1633 and rebuilt between 1900 and 1908 for Kaiser Wilhelm II by Bodo Ebhardt as his idea of the Middle Ages, with the plain and the Black Forest below the walls. It opens 9:30 to 18:00 in October, 9:30 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 17:00 in November and December, from 10:30 on Mondays, and closes December 25, 26 and January 1. The Route des Vins itself dates from 1953, some 170 kilometers from Marlenheim to Thann through 51 grand cru slopes, seven grapes, and crémant; our afternoon tasting is in those hills.
Getting there and around
The direct TGVs leave Paris Gare de l’Est for Colmar at 7:16, 13:52 and 18:55, 2 hours 25; 14 more change at Strasbourg, where the TER on to Colmar takes 26 to 31 minutes, 41 a day, and three TGV Lyria from Gare de Lyon change at Mulhouse. Coming back, the direct trains leave Colmar at 6:38, 10:01 and 16:45, and the last departure of the day is 20:06 via Strasbourg. The tourist office is on place Unterlinden, by the museum, and the old town is a walk from the station.
The villages are where the railway stops. From Colmar station the Fluo coaches go to Eguisheim, 12 minutes, eight times a day on weekdays and five on Saturdays, from €4, with a long gap between the 7:30 and the 12:30; to Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé, about 30 to 45 minutes, roughly hourly; and to Kaysersberg on another line. No coach runs on Sundays or holidays, and the lines were renumbered on September 1, 2026, so printed sheets show two numbers. The Kut’zig open-top bus loops Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Turckheim and Eguisheim from April 3 to October 11, first run 8:30, then every hour and three-quarters, Friday to Sunday in spring and autumn and Tuesday to Sunday from July to September, €32 with a reservation.
For the castle, take the TER to Sélestat, 11 minutes, 38 trains a day, then the line 500 shuttle, €3 cash, 30 minutes, hourly from 9:25 to 16:25 on full days, and the shuttle ticket cuts the entry to €6. The shuttle runs daily from May 30 to August 30 and only on weekends and holidays otherwise, with none from November 2 to 6, 2026. Outside those days it is a car, a taxi, or us.
Our van does the whole circuit in a day because nothing else does: Colmar on foot, Eguisheim, Riquewihr for lunch, the tasting, the guided castle visit, and Strasbourg in time for the 20:52 at the latest. The Alsace Wine Tour, $220, is the small-group day for the cellars, three wineries from Barr to Riquewihr, with a later train on request for dinner in Strasbourg. The Alsace Three Day Biking Trip meets at Colmar station and rides Gueberschwihr, Eguisheim, Turckheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg over three days with the luggage in the van, $1,125, March to mid-December.
When to go
The Colmar plain sits in the rain shadow of the Vosges and is one of the driest corners of France: warm summers, cold winters with some snow, and the vines turning gold in October, which is the best month on the wine road. Our day trips run from March to November, the bike trip to mid-December, and the Kut’zig bus from early April to mid-October.
December is its own season. Colmar’s six markets run November 23 to December 29, 2026, Monday to Thursday 11:00 to 19:00 and Friday to Sunday 10:00 to 20:00, closing at 17:00 on the 24th; Eguisheim’s runs November 27 to December 30, Riquewihr’s November 27 to December 20, Kaysersberg’s on the four weekends from November 27, and Ribeauvillé’s medieval market on December 5, 6, 12 and 13. The Christmas shuttles from Colmar station run November 27 to December 20, €17 a day, in limited numbers; our Strasbourg day switches to the markets in December.
In summer the Festival International de Colmar brings ten days of classical music in early July, the Foire aux Vins fills the Parc Expo from July 31 to August 9, 2026, and Ribeauvillé’s Pfifferdaj falls on September 6. The castle runs flashlight visits from November 20 to 28, €16.
Plan around the closed days: Unterlinden on Tuesday, the Bartholdi museum on Monday and all of January, the castle on December 25, 26 and January 1 and until 10:30 on Mondays, the Riquewihr museums from early November to early April, and every village coach on Sundays and holidays.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Colmar a day trip from Paris?
A long one. Only three TGVs a day are direct, 2 hours 25, and the 7:16 gets you there mid-morning; the last direct train back leaves at 16:45, and the last of all at 20:06 via Strasbourg. That gives you Colmar on foot and not the villages. Our day meets at Strasbourg instead, 1 hour 45 from Paris with 22 direct trains, and drives from there.
Can you visit the wine villages without a car?
Some of them, on a weekday. Coaches leave Colmar station for Eguisheim, 12 minutes, and Riquewihr, about half an hour, Monday to Saturday with gaps of hours and none on Sundays or holidays; the Kut’zig bus loops the villages for €32 from April to mid-October on set days. What you give up is a tasting arranged for you, the castle and three villages in one day, and any Sunday. Our van does Colmar, Eguisheim, Riquewihr, a tasting and Haut-Koenigsbourg between the morning and the evening TGV.
Colmar or Strasbourg?
Strasbourg has the cathedral, the covered bridges and the European quarter, 1 hour 45 from Paris with a train most hours. Colmar is much smaller, prettier street for street, 30 minutes further, and the gateway to the villages. Our Strasbourg Day Trip stays in the Strasbourg old town, a private guided walk with four tastings and lunch; the Alsace Day Trip does Colmar, Eguisheim, Riquewihr and the castle. Both meet at the Strasbourg tourist office.
When are the Alsace Christmas markets?
Colmar November 23 to December 29, 2026; Eguisheim November 27 to December 30; Riquewihr November 27 to December 20; Kaysersberg the weekends of November 27, December 4, 11 and 18; Strasbourg November 27 to December 24. The Unterlinden cloister show runs November 25 to January 3. Book the hotel first; the village shuttles go on sale November 12 in limited numbers.
Is there a tour from Paris?
Yes. Our Alsace Day Trip meets at the Strasbourg tourist office for Colmar, Eguisheim, Riquewihr, a tasting and Haut-Koenigsbourg, $220 or $360 with second-class rail, March to November, as a private tour for now. The Alsace Wine Tour is the same price for three cellars on the wine road, eight guests. The Alsace Three Day Biking Trip starts at Colmar station, $1,125 with two nights, dinners and the support van.
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