The Alsatian wine route

At first sight, the Alsatian Wine Route offers a true picture-postcard image; fresh vines climbing to the forests of the Vosges, ruins of castles dating back to the Middle Ages, villages with old ramparts that only protect the happiness of the flowered lanes, hospitable winstubs, lively cellars. But it also pictures ancient abodes, Romanesque churches or fountains generously left by the Renaissance.

With all these unforgettable pictures, the Alsatian Wine Route is well worth a visit; but it will only uncover its most secret paths to the curious traveller who dares getting off the beaten track. From the gate of Marlenheim until that of Thann, take your time while discovering the core of the Route; meet wine-growers, taste their wines, wander in the streets of the medieval city, then, far from the multitude, go through the wine-growing paths and admire, in perched vineyards, the panorama that will belong to you just long enough to have a break. 

At last, let yourself be surprised, at each step, by the Alsatian art of living and its cooking creativity that makes of Alsace, one of the tastiest area of France.

If you want to have more information about Alsatian wines, go on www.vinsalsace.com to have an overview of Alsatian wines and vineyards; description of a wide range of Alsatian wines through their vines and appellations, information about food and wine matching, information about the vineyard, its history, its environment, the wine making of the Alsatian wines, the tourist appeals of the vineyard (festivals, tourist meetings, wine brotherhoods, prize list medals of the great Alsatian wine contest of Colmar, trademark of the Saint Etienne brotherhood...).

Inaugurated in 1953, it is used each year by half of the 11 millions of tourists and day-trippers who visit Alsace.

It is a real route, accessible and signposted. It enables you to have access to the wine-growing council estates.

Its assets:

-Transition landscapes between the Rhine plain and the Vosges.

-Numerous villages with a medieval architectural and Renaissance heritage.

-Various wine-growing cellars.

-Many hotels-restaurants and thematic gites.

-Remarkable sites; the Haut Koenigsbourg castle, the Hohlandsbourg castle, Museum of Vineyard and Wine, Ecomuseum...

-Picturesque towns with a very special architecture.