Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace region and the Bas-Rhin département of France, located on the western bank of the Rhine River directly opposite the German city of Kehl — a city whose entire urban history is defined by the French-German border conflict that ran for 300 years (French under Louis XIV from 1681; German under the Holy Roman Empire and later the German Empire from 1871-1918 after France lost the Franco-Prussian War; French again from 1918; German again under Nazi annexation 1940-1944; French from the liberation in 1944). The result of this alternating sovereignty is the most distinctive urban culture in France: the Alsatian dialect (Elsässisch — a High German dialect closely related to Swiss German and Alemannic German, spoken by approximately 500,000 Alsatians, officially recognised as a regional language of France); the colombage architecture (the half-timbered facade tradition from the German Fachwerkhaus, the most extensive surviving urban landscape of half-timbered buildings in France); and the Alsatian cuisine that synthesises French culinary technique with German ingredient tradition (choucroute garnie (braised sauerkraut with Strasbourg sausages, smoked pork belly and Montbéliard sausage), tarte flambée (Flammekueche — the thin-crust flatbread with crème fraîche, lardons and onions, baked in a wood-fired oven), kouglof (the Alsatian yeast cake baked in the distinctive fluted ring mould), and the Alsatian white wines (Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris) from the Route des Vins d'Alsace 170 km long wine road). Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament (the Parliament meets in Strasbourg for 4 plenary sessions per year, the remaining sessions in Brussels), the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights — the most significant concentration of European institutions outside Brussels. The Strasbourg Christmas market (Christkindelsmärik — the oldest Christmas market in France, documented since 1570) draws 2+ million visitors annually.
Strasbourg Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg — built 1015-1439 in Vosges pink sandstone; the Gothic spire (142 m) was the tallest structure in the world from 1647 to 1874 when the Washington Monument surpassed it; Victor Hugo called it "a prodigious monument, immense and delicate" and compared it to a man who had eaten too many German sausages then grew up into a steeple; the 400 carved stone figures on the West Portal (the sculpture programme of the Incarnation of Christ and the Last Judgement, the three-door portal with the finest quality of 13th-century Gothic portal sculpture outside Paris); the platform at 66 m (333 steps — the panoramic view over the Alsatian plain, the Rhine, the German Black Forest (Schwarzwald), the Vosges mountains to the west, the cathedral roof up close); the interior: the Pilier des Anges (the 13th-century Angel Column — the slender pillar in the south transept supporting a spiral staircase, the figures of the Last Judgement in four tiers above the column capital).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Strasbourg Astronomical Clock (the Horloge Astronomique — the third clock installed in the cathedral (the first 1352, the second 1547, the current 1842 by Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué; Schwilgué spent 50 years solving the engineering problem that had defeated all previous clockmakers: how to make the Easter computation (the moveable feast calculated on the lunar calendar) run automatically on a mechanical clock); the performance at 12:30 (solar time, which differs from French legal time by up to 30 minutes): the Death figure strikes the quarter-hours, the figures of the Ages of Life pass before Death, the Apostles file past Christ, the rooster (the automaton cock) crows three times; the perpetual calendar mechanism (the clock tracks the Gregorian calendar with its leap year corrections and will run correctly for centuries without manual adjustment); the planetarium sphere (the silver globe showing the positions of the planets and the phases of the moon, running in real time).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuidePetite France (the historic tannery, fisherman and miller district in the bend of the Ill River at the western end of the Grande Île — the most photographed neighbourhood in Strasbourg; the district takes its name from a 16th-century hospital for soldiers with syphilis (the Maison des Bateliers — the disease was called "the French disease" in Germany and this hospital was known as "Petite France"); the half-timbered colombage houses (the finest collection of Alsatian timber-frame architecture in the city; the overhanging upper stories, the carved wooden details and the flower boxes full of geraniums reflected in the narrow Ill canals below; the houses date from the 16th-17th century and were the workshops and residences of the tanners who used the Ill river water for curing leather); the Covered Bridges (Ponts Couverts — the 3 medieval bridge-towers on the western water-gate of the Grande Île; originally covered with wooden roofs (removed 18th century), the towers are the finest remaining element of Strasbourg's medieval fortification).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBarrage Vauban (the 17th-century fortified dam built by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (Louis XIV's military engineer, the greatest fortification designer in European history — he designed or rebuilt 300 fortresses for France and his work is recognised as a UNESCO collective World Heritage Site) to flood the approaches to Strasbourg if attacked; the dam is now a pedestrian crossing of the Ill River with the finest panoramic view of the Petite France waterfront (the view from the Vauban terrace is the classic postcard image of Strasbourg — the medieval towers, the colombage houses and the cathedral spire in a single composition); the interior of the Vauban dam houses a lapidary (the stone sculpture and tombstone museum with the cathedral sculptures removed from the exterior for conservation and replaced with copies)).
European Parliament Strasbourg (the official seat of the European Parliament — the Parliament meets here for 4 plenary sessions (about 48 days per year) and the remaining sessions in Brussels; the Palace of Europe complex (the EP building by Architecture Studio (1999); the Louise Weiss Building is named for the French European federalist and journalist; the Parliamentary hemicycle (the plenary chamber — when Parliament is not in session, free guided tours available (book in advance at europarl.europa.eu); the tour covers the hemicycle, the lobbies, the interpretive exhibition on the history of the European Parliament and the explanation of the legislative procedure); the Alsace House (the Strasbourg wine bar within the Parliament complex where MEPs drink Alsatian Riesling and eat tarte flambée between legislative sessions); the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights buildings are in the same Quartier Européen north of the station.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRiquewihr (40 km south of Strasbourg — the most complete medieval Alsatian wine village: the 12th-century walls intact, no building in the historic centre post-dates 1900, the main street (Rue du Général de Gaulle) is a continuous facade of 15th-16th century half-timbered houses behind the coloured geranium boxes; the Dopff & Irion estate and the Hugel & Fils estate (the Hugel family has made Riesling in Riquewihr since 1639); Ribeauvillé (8 km north of Riquewihr — three ruined hilltop castles (Girsberg, Saint-Ulrich and Haut-Ribeaupierre) visible from the village; the Pfifferdaj festival (the first Sunday of September — the most ancient popular festival in Alsace, the pilgrimage of medieval musicians to the ruins); the Alsatian wine tasting: the Riesling (the grand cru Riesling from the Schoenenbourg vineyard in Riquewihr — the finest dry Riesling in France), the Gewurztraminer (the signature Alsatian aromatic grape), the Crémant d'Alsace (the Alsatian sparkling wine made by the traditional method: the finest and least expensive French sparkling wine outside Champagne).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMusée Alsacien (the Alsatian Museum in the Neustadt neighbourhood — the most important collection of traditional Alsatian material culture in France; housed in three interconnected Renaissance burghers' houses (17th century); the collection of 35,000 objects: the painted furniture (the characteristic Alsatian wardrobes and dowry chests with the red, yellow and green painted floral decoration); the traditional costume (the Alsatian female headdress — the Schapel (the elaborate ribbon and bow headdress for Protestant women) and the Barett (the Catholic equivalent); the pottery (the Soufflenheim earthenware — the distinctive brown and cream terracotta of the Alsatian kitchen tradition, produced in the village of Soufflenheim 30 km north of Strasbourg since the Bronze Age); the Jewish Alsace section (the mikveh (ritual bath), the Shabbat objects and the Torah covers from the Alsatian Jewish communities that were among the most significant in pre-war Europe).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Strasbourg winstub (the Alsatian wine tavern — the most authentic Strasbourg dining format; the word derives from the German Weinstube (wine room); the winstub has wooden panelling, close tables, the patron circulating with the wine, and the menu that changes seasonally but always includes: the choucroute garnie (the braised sauerkraut (Sauerkraut — the fermented white cabbage that the Alsatian tradition perfected with Riesling wine added to the braising liquid) with the Strasbourg sausage (the Knack — the thin-skinned, subtly smoked pork sausage that snaps when cut), the smoked pork belly (Bauchspeck), the Montbéliard sausage and the boiled potatoes); the baeckeoffe (the Monday washing-day stew of lamb, pork and beef marinated in Riesling and baked in a sealed terrine for 3 hours); the munster cheese (the pungent washed-rind Alsatian cow's milk cheese, one of the most strongly flavoured in France).
La Grande Île (UNESCO World Heritage 1988 — the first city centre in the world to receive UNESCO World Heritage designation as an entire urban area rather than a specific monument; the island formed by the two channels of the Ill River; the complete historic urban fabric from the medieval period to the early 20th century; the Gutenberg Place (the central square of the old city, named for Johannes Gutenberg who lived and worked in Strasbourg 1434-1444 and refined the moveable-type printing press technology that he later deployed in Mainz — Strasbourg was the site of the first experiments with moveable type; the Gutenberg Monument (1840) in the square with the bas-relief showing the printing press and the caption "Et la lumière fut" (And there was light)); the Place Kléber (the largest square in Strasbourg — the main gathering point of the city; the statue of Jean-Baptiste Kléber (1753-1800) the Alsatian general who commanded the French Army of Egypt after Napoleon left for France and was assassinated by an Egyptian conspirator in Cairo).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Neustadt (the "New City" district built north and west of the Grande Île during the German annexation period (1871-1918) after France lost the Franco-Prussian War; Kaiser Wilhelm I and the German Imperial government decided to transform Strasbourg into a model German imperial city; the architect Hermann Eggert designed the new city in the neo-Renaissance style with the wide boulevards, the German neo-Baroque public buildings (the Imperial Palace (Palais du Rhin — now the Strasbourg court of appeal), the main railway station (Gare de Strasbourg — the original 1883 German neo-Renaissance station with the rose window and the clock tower, now enclosed in a 2007 glass dome by the architect Guy Clapot), the university buildings and the German high schools); the Neustadt was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 as an extension of the Grande Île designation, making Strasbourg the only city in France with two distinct UNESCO districts in different architectural styles.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideChristkindelsmärik (the Strasbourg Christmas Market — the oldest Christmas market in France, documented continuously since 1570 (one of the oldest in Europe after the German markets in Nuremberg 1628 and Dresden 1434); the market runs from the last Saturday of November to December 31; 300+ stalls spread across 11 squares and streets of the Grande Île; the Strasbourg bredele (the Alsatian Christmas biscuits: the anise-flavoured springerle, the spiced Lebkuchen (pain d'épices), the hazelnut Nussbredele and the vanilla crescents (Vanillekipferle)); the Strasbourg Christ Child (the Christkindel — the female figure in white and gold who opens the market ceremonially on the Place de la Cathédrale); in summer: the Place de la Cathédrale has an outdoor café culture; the same squares host the Tuesday-Saturday food market year-round.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBatorama boat tour (the covered boat tour of Strasbourg on the Ill River — the 70-minute circuit of the Grande Île waterway; the route passes: the Petite France tannery waterfront (the most photographed angle of the half-timbered houses reflected in the calm Ill channels), the Ponts Couverts towers (the covered bridges viewed from under the arch), the Barrage Vauban (the fortified dam from river level), the European Parliament building (the reflective glass facade of the 1999 building from the Ill), the Palais Rohan (the 18th-century Prince-Bishop's palace facing the Ill — the most important French Rococo interior in Alsace, with three museums inside: the Archaeological Museum, the Decorative Arts Museum and the Fine Arts Museum); the boats have audio commentary in 12 languages; the evening departure (19:30 in summer) sees the Grande Île illuminated).
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