Honestly, I could have spent way more time then one day in Colmar and not have ever grown tired of it. As one of France’s cutest little towns, and one of the most preserved historical towns in all of Europe, this is an absolute must on your next visit.
Located in the Alsace region, Colmar is easy enough to see in a short amount of time, and that’s with spending time relaxing outside little bistros or taking hundreds of photos. Actually, our favourite time spent in Colmar was just sitting outside a restaurant enjoying a glass of wine and the people passing by.
You could spend your entire day in Colmar just walking around and have the best day. I felt like I was in a live version of the Beauty and Beast movie, walking through the little town. I swear I was waiting any minute for Belle to pop out and start singing “Little town, in a quiet village …” That song was stuck in my head the entire day!
So what’s the best way to spend a day in Colmar, France? We’ve laid out the itinerary below:
Getting there:
Flying: If you plan on flying into Colmar from within Europe than the easiest airport would be the Strasbourg airport or Basel. We flew into Basel and took the train right into Colmar, it was really easy. Plus we got the chance to see an extra city in the process.
Train: The main train station in Colmar is pretty centrally located. You can definitely walk from the station to the city, we did this and it took us about 10 minutes to get to our hotel located in the city centre. I would strongly recommend taking the train as I find it the easiest way to travel throughout Europe.
What to do in Colmar:
Get up first thing in the morning and get outside. As I love to run and keep fit during my vacations, I got up early and ran around the small cobblestone streets. It was perfectly quiet, making it the best time to snap some photos. My only advice is to make sure you know where your hotel is, I definitely got a bit lost a few times making my way through the windy little streets!
Walk through the old town:
Of course, if you do nothing else during your one day in Colmar than wandering the old town then you’ve done plenty. I was awestruck the entire time I was in Colmar. It was like every turn had a different and even more beautiful street in front of you. The buildings are also something straight from a movie set.
Having been to Paris and having a preconceived notion that French people are not the most polite, I was surprised in Colmar. While there was some language barrier in many cases, Ben and I can both get by with the French we learned in school and put it to work. We found the people in Colmar to be much more hospitable and willing to help tourists out.
You’ll find many of the streets in the Old Town are also incredibly pedestrian friendly. In fact, many of them are protected areas where cars are not allowed. This is definitely handy for those *cough me* who can’t help but stop every 5 seconds to take a photo.
Tour La Petite Venise:
Having never been to Venice (yet) this is the closest I’ve come to taking a gondola ride. You’ll find the start of these tours at the foot of the bridge Saint Pierre. We happened to get lucky as there was no line up for us when we arrived.
The boat rides are 30 minutes in length an take you all the way through the centre of Colmar with some fantastic historical information as you go along. The tour guides speak many different languages. Because it was a bit of a slow day we had 3 different languages spoken throughout our tour: German, French and English.
The ride costs 6 Euros and honestly it’s the best money you’ll spend your whole trip. We had such a wonderful time floating down the canal.
Try some local wine:
Of course, what trip would a trip to France be without drinking delicious wine? Because Colmar is located along the Alsatian Wine Route, it considers itself to be the capital of “Alsatian wine”. While I can’t say if this is true one way or another, I can vouch for the wine being fantastic.
With so many little patios (is that what they call them in France?) in the old town you can’t go wrong finding a table outside and enjoying the views. Make sure to try Flammekueche, a flambeed tart that is made with cheese and topped with bacon and onions.
St. Martin’s Church:
While there are a number of religious buildings in Colmar, Saint Martin’s Church is by far the largest. The main theme of the church is a Gothic style but you do get some Rennaissance styles mixed in as well, especially with the stained glass windows.
Even if you choose not to actually walk into the church the exterior is still quite impressive. The streets surrounding the church weren’t that busy during our trip which made it all the grander as you came in full view of it.
Relive scenes from Beauty and the Beast:
It’s definitely unconfirmed but speak to anyone who’s been to Colmar and they’ll tell you that it’s for sure what the Disney movie is based on. I mean, think about it, the setting in the movie is a small provincial town with cobblestone streets, colourful buildings and quaint shops. You can’t get much closer than that.
Take a stroll to Fontaine Schwendi and you’ll see exactly what we mean. The beautiful foundtain looks just like the one Belle sits upon while reading a book in the first scenes of the movie!
Where to stay
There are so many cute hotels that you can stay at when you’re in Colmar but we’ve listed out a few of our favourites. The key when looking for a hotel is location and rating. I always make sure to look at what a hotel gets for ratings on TripAdvisor before booking it!
Luxury stay: James Boutique Hotel | $182CAD / night
Best value: Hotel Turenne | $90CAD / night
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