Hello, I am looking into visiting next year and was thinking of staying in Colmar for 7 days, making several day trips to Strasbourg, Basel and maybe some of the smaller towns like Riquewihr by train.
Is this advisable? It would be nice to have a base and not have to move about our luggage all the time, I%26#39;m just worried that we might get stuck somehow, or spend far too much on train fares. Otherwise, I could just stay at the Cerf D%26#39;or in Strasbourg and then maybe just visit Basel as a day trip from Colmar.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
-UF
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As you rely on public transport, Strasbourg would be the better base for your trips than Colmar. Both Basel and Colmar, are easy day trips from Strasbourg by train. Strasbourg is also a good base for possible trips to the black-forest, e.g. Baden-Baden.
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Thank you! Just wondering if Colmar and Basel are only worth a day trip, that%26#39;s one of the issues. Colmar looks like I%26#39;ll need at least 2 days but I%26#39;m not sure about Basel. It looks pretty but so far, my research tells me that everything is expensive and kind of sterile, too clean, lacking in character. I%26#39;m I way off base on this?
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%26gt;I%26#39;m I way off base on this?%26lt;
I fear so :-) Colmar is not exactly big , and re Basel, it has a very nice and lively old town and lots to see.
%26gt;kind of sterile,lacking in character.%26lt;
It%26#39;s only true for the outskirts, as it is all over the world. Hotels are expensive, daily need prices are comparable to France and Germany.
Too clean? You won%26#39;t escape. Colmar is very neat, as well as the old town of Strasbourg, the Alsace villages and the German towns in this area.
As Basel is so far, I was going to suggest trips to Baden-Baden and/or Freiburg, but alas, they are even cleaner:-)
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Thanks again. By %26quot;too clean%26quot;, I just meant that from what I saw online, a lot of the older buildings in Basel (and frankly in most German towns I%26#39;ve seen online) look as thought they%26#39;ve been %26quot;restored%26quot; to look brand new on the inside, instead of taking the time to preserve the wonderful old details like wooden beamed ceilings, doors and flooring. They end up looking like Ibis hotels (all IKEA inside). Very disappointing.
From what I%26#39;ve seen in Strasbourg and Colmar, it appears that they%26#39;ve done a wonderful job preserving their old buildings and have lots of hotels with character to stay in. I don%26#39;t doubt I will love it there.
Basically, we have lots of new buildings here in the west, when I come to Europe, I want to see old and quaint things we don%26#39;t have back home.
I found Paris to be %26quot;too clean%26quot; in a lot of areas, wheras I loved Bruges, Ghent and Amsterdam for the way they%26#39;ve preserved their buildings.
Hope that%26#39;s clearer.
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Basel, i mean the old town, is a jewel ....
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%26gt;and frankly in most German towns I%26#39;ve seen online) look as thought they%26#39;ve been %26quot;restored%26quot; to look brand new on the inside, instead of taking the time to preserve the wonderful old details like wooden beamed ceilings, doors%26gt;
I agree. Most German towns have been heavily bombed in WWII and the reconstruction assigned other priorities. People wished back their old hometowns as soon as possible. Sure enough towns like e.g. Freiburg are sterile and %26quot;too clean%26quot; in a way.
But I still disagree with you re Basel:-)
%26gt;I want to see old and quaint things we don%26#39;t have back home.%26lt;
So I get back to Baden-Baden as a day trip suggestion. It hasn%26#39;t been bomb-damaged, the town center is largely classic style, you can still feel the ambience of the typical 19th century European spa town.
http://www.baden-baden.de/en/index.html
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Thank you. I will consider it for sure. My co-worker%26#39;s family is from Rhein Bischofsheim, so I will ask him his opinion as well. I believe he went to the casino there (Baden-Baden) on his last trip. And yes, it%26#39;s unfortunate about the damage (all over Europe really) I saw some old postcards online of what Frankfurt once looked like. Wow.
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