Riquewihr

Understand

Riquewihr is a small city in the east north of France, more precisely in the Grand Est, in Haut-Rhin.

In autumn the restaurants have signs proclaiming "La choucroute nouvelle est arrivée". Choucroute means sauerkraut, and is a signature Alsatian dish, piled high and laced with cuts of pork and sausage. The signs are a joking reference to those seen elsewhere in France in autumn, announcing the arrival of the new Beaujolais wine.

Parking is outside the town walls and entrance into the old town is through a series of old town gates in the large clock and watch towers.

Get in

The nearest train station is in Colmar.

A bus line #106 connects Colmar with Riquewihr via Beblenheim and Bennwihr, departures are roughly every 4 hours, online timetables.

You can go to Riquewihr by airplane to Strasbourg, which is at 68 km to Riquewihr, or to Colmar, which is the nearest, 14.3 km to Riquewihr.

Get around

The most common way to travel around here is by foot, hiking the Route Du Vin. If you drive in yourself, have an auto or camper, the parking is really hard to find. The city has paid parking via parksheins, which eat all your change quickly. There is public street parking around the perimeter of the 'Old City wall', but it goes quick, and is hard to find when you want it. There are several parking lots for Bus and RV campers, on the East end of town, near the Hotel le Riquewihr but these are paid lots. It is just about impossible to find parking inside the old city walls. Estimating about 20 parking spaces inside the walls puts a premium on these, and the locals seem to have a lock on them.

Buy

At Riquewihr, you can taste the traditional bretzel, an alsacian speciality or the Kougelhopfwhich is a typical cake from Alsace.

You can also find the famous plushies of stork, because stork is the mascot of Alsace, there are many storks in this region.

Eat

Eating in Alsace is mostly about choucroute, flammekuche (tarte flambée), baeckehoffe or kugelhopf. It is a place of earthly dishes to enjoy in autumn with a glass of Riesling, Gewurtztraminer or Pinot Gris. This is the same in Riquewihr and you will also find many tourist restaurants. La Table du Gourmet, 5 rue de la 1E armée, which has gastronomic food, typical cuisine. +33 389490909 Au Dolder, 54 rue du Général de Gaulle, alsacian food. +33 389479256

Sleep

The hotels in and around Riquewihr are as varied as the wine. Hotels inside the old city walls are typically old, and typical old European buildings (small sized, old, tilting, and original.) However, the hotels outside the city walls are more modern, and newer. The price seems to be similar where ever you stay, however the town restaurants, and gift shops are inside the old city walls. If you stay outside the walls, in a modern hotel, you will have to walk uphill a distance of approximately 1000 feet, or 300 meters to get back to a selection of food and shops.

The old city has cobblestones everywhere. If you are unsteady on your feet, this will be a chore to walk on. The whole city slopes downward from the west end (the old end) toward the east (the new end).

Go next

The whole area is riddled with vineyards, and small cities to visit. At the upper end of the Route du Vin is Strasbourg, and the lower end is Colmar. Both cities are worth a visit, to explore the Alsace region.

Some of the original Siegfried line/Maginot line is nearby around Selestat.