France · Alsace
Colmar
The best-preserved old town in Alsace, with the Isenheim Altarpiece inside it and the Wine Route on its doorstep.
Colmar is the most intact old town in Alsace, a compact tangle of half-timbered houses in candy colours, canals and carved merchant facades at the foot of the Vosges. It sits at the heart of the Alsace Wine Route, with Riesling and Gewurztraminer villages a short hop away, and holds one of the great works of European art: Grunewald's Isenheim Altarpiece in the Unterlinden Museum. Petite Venise, where flower-hung houses lean over the little River Lauch, is the postcard; the Christmas markets are what made the town famous far beyond France.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
French
Currency
EUR
Timezone
UTC+2
Why you'll love Colmar
Petite Venise Pastel half-timbered houses, window boxes and wooden balconies lean over the slow River Lauch, best seen from the bridges or a flat-bottomed boat
The Isenheim Altarpiece Grunewald's harrowing, luminous Crucifixion is one of the most powerful paintings in Europe, and the Unterlinden Museum was built around its story
The Wine Route Colmar calls itself the capital of Alsace wine, and walled vineyard villages like Eguisheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg are all within easy reach
Alsatian table Tarte flambee, choucroute, baeckeoffe, Munster cheese and kougelhopf, a cooking that is half French and half German, like the town itself
Best time to visit
Apr-Oct
16-27° days
48.078° N, 7.358° E
UTC+2 · Europe/Paris
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Weather & when to go to Colmar
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Apr-Oct
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Colmar
Winter is cold and grey, and December is also Colmar's most famous month: the Christmas markets fill the old town from late November, bringing lights, mulled wine and its heaviest crowds of the year. Book well ahead for that stretch or stay out in a Wine Route village. Summer weekends crowd Petite Venise too; the grape harvest in autumn is a lovely time to come.
Top things to do in Colmar
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Petite Venise - canals and half-timbered houses
scenic 👍 PopularThe old gardeners' and boatmen's quarter along the River Lauch is Colmar's signature view: pastel houses with flower boxes reflected in the water, best from the bridge on Rue de Turenne and the quay by the covered market. Short trips in flat-bottomed boats glide under the bridges and through the neighbouring Tanners' Quarter.
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Unterlinden Museum - the Isenheim Altarpiece
culture arts history ⭐ Highly recommendedHoused in a 13th-century Dominican convent with a modern extension, the museum's centrepiece is Matthias Grunewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, painted in the 1510s for a monastery hospital treating skin disease. Its tortured Crucifixion and radiant Resurrection are unforgettable. The collections also run from Rhineland medieval art to a Picasso tapestry of Guernica.
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Maison Pfister and the Maison des Tetes - merchant facades
history 👍 PopularTwo of the finest Renaissance houses in Alsace: the Maison Pfister of 1537, with its painted walls, corner turret and wooden gallery, and the Maison des Tetes, whose facade is studded with over a hundred carved heads and grotesque masks. Both sit on an easy old-town walk.
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Koifhus and the Tanners' Quarter - the old trading heart
historyThe Koifhus, the late-medieval customs house with its glazed-tile roof, was where the town's wine and goods were taxed. Behind it, the Tanners' Quarter has tall, restored half-timbered houses with open lofts once used for drying hides, running down to the canals.
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Eglise des Dominicains - Schongauer's Madonna of the Rose Bower
culture arts historyThe spare Gothic church of the Dominicans holds a single masterpiece: Martin Schongauer's Madonna of the Rose Bower of 1473, a golden-backed Virgin framed by roses and birds, painted by the town's own great artist. The nearby Collegiale Saint-Martin, in reddish sandstone, is the town's big Gothic church.
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Musee Bartholdi - the Statue of Liberty's sculptor
culture arts historyFrederic Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty, was born in Colmar, and his family house is now a museum of his models, drawings and plans for Liberty. His fountains and statues are dotted around town, and a replica of Liberty stands on a roundabout at the northern entrance.
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Christmas markets - the old town in lights
culture arts food 👍 PopularFrom late November to the end of December several themed markets fill the old squares, from the Place des Dominicains to the children's market in Petite Venise, with wooden chalets, mulled wine, bredele biscuits and gingerbread. The illuminated facades at night are the draw; weekends are very crowded.
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Alsace wine and winstubs - Riesling with tarte flambee
food ⭐ Highly recommendedTaste the Alsace grapes, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat, and the sparkling Cremant d'Alsace, at cellars in town or in the vineyards just outside. Pair them in a winstub, the Alsatian wine tavern, with tarte flambee, choucroute garnie or baeckeoffe, and pick up Munster cheese at the covered market by the canal.
Best areas to stay in Colmar
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Vieille Ville
First-time visitors $$$Half-timbered old town around Saint-Martin
Explore hotels in Vieille Ville →
Petite Venise
Couples $$$Canal-side lanes of flower-hung houses
Explore hotels in Petite Venise →
Quartier de la Gare
Rail travellers $$Practical streets near the station
Explore hotels in Quartier de la Gare →
Eguisheim
Wine lovers $$Walled wine village in concentric rings
Explore hotels in Eguisheim →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Colmar
Getting to & around Colmar
Getting there
Fly into EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, or take the TGV from Paris; Strasbourg is half an hour away by train
Flight
EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (BSL)
About an hour by car up the A35, or take the shuttle bus to Saint-Louis station and a regional train north via Mulhouse. Strasbourg Airport is a similar distance to the north, with a rail link via Strasbourg station.
Train
Colmar station
TGV from Paris Gare de l'Est in under three hours, some direct and some via Strasbourg; frequent regional trains run to Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Basel
Getting around
Walking
The old town and Petite Venise are compact and largely pedestrianised; everything is within a 15-minute walk of the station
Free
Bus
Town buses link the station and outer districts, and regional buses reach some Wine Route villages, though not often
TBC
Bike
Flat roads and signposted cycle routes make the nearby vineyards and villages like Eguisheim and Turckheim an easy ride
TBC
Car
The easiest way to explore the Wine Route and the Vosges; park on the edge of the old town, which is mostly closed to traffic
TBC
Day trips from Colmar
Eguisheim
Half dayCircular wine village
Built in concentric rings of lanes around its castle and chapel, Eguisheim is one of the prettiest villages in France, all flowers, half-timbering and wine cellars. Walk the ring road of houses, then taste in the family wineries.
Getting there
car | bus
About 15 minutes by car or bus, or an easy bike ride south
Riquewihr and Kaysersberg
Full dayWine Route villages
The two star villages north of Colmar: Riquewihr, walled and near-perfect inside its gates and belfry, and Kaysersberg, with a ruined castle above a river bridge and Albert Schweitzer's birthplace. Add Ribeauville or Hunawihr to make a loop through the vineyards.
Getting there
car | tour | bus
20-30 minutes by car or on a Wine Route tour, some regional bus links
Haut-Koenigsbourg
Half dayHilltop castle
A red sandstone castle on a Vosges spur, rebuilt in full medieval style for Kaiser Wilhelm II in the early 1900s. The furnished rooms and armoury are fun, but the view over the Alsace plain to the Black Forest is the real reward.
Getting there
car | bus
About 40 minutes by car, with a shuttle bus from Selestat station in season
Strasbourg
Full dayRegional capital
The Alsatian capital has the soaring Gothic cathedral, the canals and half-timbering of La Petite France, and a university-city buzz. An easy rail hop from Colmar, and an obvious companion trip.
Getting there
train
About 30 minutes by regional train or TGV
Freiburg im Breisgau
Full dayGerman university city
Across the Rhine at the edge of the Black Forest, Freiburg has a red sandstone Gothic minster, a lively market on the cathedral square and little Bachle streams running along its streets.
Getting there
car | bus | train
About an hour by car across the Rhine, or longer by bus and train via Breisach
A little history of Colmar
Colmar grew up on the plain below the Vosges and became a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire in the 13th century, later joining the Decapole, the league of ten Alsatian imperial towns. Wine traded down the Lauch and the Rhine made its merchants rich, and their Gothic and Renaissance houses still line the streets. The painter Martin Schongauer worked here in the 15th century.
Taken by Louis XIV's France in the 17th century, Colmar changed hands four times between France and Germany from 1871 to 1945, which shows in its language, food and architecture. The Revolution brought the Isenheim Altarpiece to town, and the city's own Frederic Auguste Bartholdi went on to design the Statue of Liberty. Colmar was the centre of the Colmar Pocket, one of the last German footholds in France, and came through the war with its old town largely spared.
Colmar becomes a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire
The town joins the Decapole, the alliance of ten imperial cities of Alsace
Martin Schongauer paints the Madonna of the Rose Bower
Louis XIV's troops take Colmar and pull down its walls; the town becomes French
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, future sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, is born in Colmar
The Unterlinden Museum opens in the former Dominican convent
Alsace is annexed by the new German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War; it returns to France in 1918
Allied forces liberate Colmar in February, ending the Colmar Pocket
Know before you go
Payment
Cards everywhere
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / E
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+33
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
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FAQs about Colmar
▸ When is the best time to visit Colmar?
April to October brings the most comfortable weather, and Colmar sits in the rain shadow of the Vosges, among the driest towns in France. Early autumn adds the grape harvest along the Wine Route. December and January are cold and grey, but December is also Christmas market season, Colmar's most famous time of year, so expect crowds rather than sunshine.
▸ Are the Colmar Christmas markets worth it?
Yes, if you are ready for crowds. Several markets spread through the old town, and the lit-up half-timbered facades are the real spectacle. Weekends are packed and rooms go early, so go midweek, book well ahead, or stay in a Wine Route village and come in for the evenings.
▸ Is Colmar worth visiting without a car?
Yes. The old town is compact and walkable from the station, and Strasbourg, Mulhouse and Basel are easy by train. A car or a tour makes the Wine Route villages far easier, as local buses are infrequent, though cycling to the nearest villages is a pleasant alternative.
▸ Colmar or Strasbourg?
Strasbourg is a real city, with a great cathedral, European institutions and more going on at night. Colmar is smaller, prettier and closer to the vineyards. Many visitors base themselves in one and day-trip to the other, as they are only half an hour apart by train.
▸ What language is spoken in Colmar?
French, though you will hear Alsatian, a Germanic dialect, among older locals, and see it on street signs alongside French. German is widely understood and English is common in hotels and the busier restaurants.
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