Things to do in Alsace
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Écomusée d'Alsace
Écomusée d’Alsace is great for keeping little minds active. France’s so-called biggest ‘living museum’ is a fascinating excursion into Alsatian country life and time-honoured crafts. Smiths, cartwrights, potters and coopers do their thing in and among 70 historic Alsatian farmhouses – a veritable village – brought here and meticulously reconstructed for preservation (and so storks can build nests on them). The Écomusée is in Ungersheim, 17km northwest of Mulhouse (off the A35 to Colmar).
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Bioscope
Bioscope makes learning about the environment fun. Tots are kept on their toes at this eco-conscious theme park with hands-on activities, including a virtual journey to the depths of the South Pacific, a recycling-focused labyrinth and the Macroscope garden where everything (roots, apple trees etc) seems larger than life. It’s situated 5km by road northeast from the Écomusée.
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Mémorial de l’Alsace-Moselle
The Mémorial de l’Alsace-Moselle, 50km southwest of Strasbourg in Schirmeck, takes an unblinking but reconciliatory look at the region’s traumatic modern history, which saw residents change nationality four times in 75 years.
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Regioscope
For minibus tours of the Route des Vins (reservations can be made via Colmar’s tourist office) try these agency.
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Parc Naturel Régional des Ballons des Vosges
Head away from the crowds into the serene Parc Naturel Régional des Ballons des Vosges, 3000 sq km of pristine greenery in the southern Vosges.
In summer, hang-gliders take to the skies, cyclists roll through pristine countryside and walkers can pick from 10,000km of marked paths, including GRs (grandes randonnées; long-distance hiking trails). When the snow settles, three dozen inexpensive skiing areas offer modest downhill and superb cross-country skiing.
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Neuf-Brisach
Shaped like an eight-pointed star, Vauban’s fortified town of Neuf-Brisach was commissioned by Louis XIV in 1697 to strengthen French defences and prevent the area from falling to the Habsburgs.
A Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008, the citadel has remarkably well-preserved fortifications. The Musée Vauban, below the porte de Belfort gate, tells the history of the citadel through models, documents and building plans. Neuf-Brisach is just 4km from its German twin Breisach am Rhein on the banks of the River Rhine.
To reach Neuf-Brisach, 16km southeast of Colmar, follow the signs on the D415.
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Natzweiler-Struthof
About 25km west of Obernai stands Natzweiler-Struthof, the only Nazi concentration camp on French territory. In all, some 22,000 (40% of the total) of the prisoners interned here and at nearby annexe camps died; many were shot or hanged. In early September 1944, as US Army forces approached, the 5517 surviving inmates were sent to Dachau.
Today, the sombre remains of the camp are still surrounded by guard towers and concentric, once-electrified, barbed-wire fences. The fourcrématoire (crematorium ovens), the salle d’autopsie (autopsy room) and the chambre à gaz (gas chamber), 1.7km from the camp gate, bear grim witness to the atrocities committed here.
To get there fr…
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Musée Vauban
The Musée Vauban, below the porte de Belfort gate, tells the history of Neuf-Brisach through models, documents and building plans. Neuf-Brisach is just 4km from its German twin Breisach am Rhein on the banks of the River Rhine.
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Musée Judéo-Alsacien
The Musée Judéo-Alsacien with exhibits related to Alsatian Judaism is housed in a converted synagogue in Bouxwiller, 40km northwest of Strasbourg.
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LCA Top Tour
For minibus tours of the Route des Vins (reservations can be made via Colmar’s tourist office) try this agency.
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Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté
The Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté near Natzweiler-Struthof pays homage to Europe’s Resistance fighters.
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Bicyclette Go
Bicyclette Go, 12km south of Colmar, arranges all-inclusive half-day to two-week cycling tours.
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