Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, sits on the Ill a few kilometres from the Rhine and the German border, and it has changed country four times since 1870. Its old town fills the Grande Île, an island ringed by the river and listed by UNESCO in 1988, with the red sandstone cathedral at its centre and the half-timbered houses of La Petite France at its western tip. North-east of it lies the Neustadt, the German imperial town added to the listing in 2017, and beyond that the European quarter, home to the European Parliament and the Council of Europe.
must30 covers the Christmas market on the France page. This page covers the rest of the year: the astronomical clock and the climb to the cathedral platform, a boat tour on the Ill, the Palais Rohan museums, a medieval wine cellar under the hospital, a winstub dinner, the Neustadt and the Orangerie park, and a bike ride over the Rhine to Germany.
Watch the astronomical clock strike noon in Strasbourg cathedral
Cathédrale Notre-Dame, Strasbourg
About an hour around middayNo booking needed
At 12:30 the astronomical clock chimes, the twelve apostles parade before Christ and a cockerel crows three times.
What it is
Strasbourg cathedral, built in red Vosges sandstone between 1015 and 1439, was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874, and its 142-metre spire still rises over the Alsace plain. The astronomical clock, whose mechanism Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué built from 1838 to 1842, chimes at 12:30, then the twelve apostles parade before Christ and a cockerel crows three times.
How to do it
The nave is free, open Monday to Saturday 08:30 to 11:15 and 12:45 to 17:45 and on Sunday afternoons, with a bag check at the door. Access to the clock opens at 11:30 by the Saint-Michel entrance on Place du Château, a short film runs at 12:00, and tickets cost €4, sold on the day only.
Climb some 330 steps to a platform 66 metres up for the Black Forest and the Vosges on clear days.
What it is
Some 330 steps lead up inside the cathedral's west front to its platform, 66 metres above the square, where the tower keepers' house still stands. From up there the roofs of the Grande Île spread out below, and on clear days you can see the Black Forest across the Rhine to the east and the Vosges to the west. Look for the names that visitors have carved into the stone over the centuries.
How to do it
The entrance is on Place du Château, on the right-hand side of the cathedral. Tickets cost €10, or €6 for ages 6 to 18 and students, and cannot be bought in advance.
Good to know
From April to September it opens 09:30 to 13:00 and 13:30 to 20:00, last climb 19:15; from October to March, 10:00 to 13:00 and 13:30 to 18:00, last climb 17:15.
Walk La Petite France to the Barrage Vauban terrace
La Petite France and Barrage Vauban, Strasbourg
Two hoursFree
Half-timbered houses lean over the Ill's channels, and the Barrage Vauban's roof terrace looks back over bridges and towers.
What it is
La Petite France is the south-western tip of the Grande Île, where the Ill splits into channels that once served the tanners, millers and fishermen of the medieval town. Half-timbered houses lean over the water, and tour boats work through the locks beside them.
How to do it
Walk on to the Ponts Couverts, three 13th-century bridges with four towers that lost their wooden roofs in 1784 but kept the name. Just upstream, the Barrage Vauban, a 120-metre dam built from 1686 to 1690 to flood the land south of the city in case of siege, has a viewing terrace on its roof with the best view of the bridges, the towers and the cathedral spire behind them. Inside it, a corridor holds casts of statues and gargoyles from the cathedral.
Good to know
Come early or in the evening, when the day crowds have thinned.
Time needed
Two hours
Best time
Early morning or evening, before and after the day crowds
Take a boat round the Grande Île and out to the European quarter
Batorama, Quai du Palais Rohan, Strasbourg
1 hour 10 minutesBook ahead
In 1 hour 10 minutes the boat circles the Grande Île through two locks, then runs out past the European Parliament.
What it is
The Red Tour runs round the Grande Île through La Petite France, works through two locks under the Ponts Couverts and the Barrage Vauban, then heads along the water through the Neustadt, the German imperial district, to the European quarter, where you pass the European Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe and the Arte television headquarters. An audio guide in several languages, with a story version for children, plays throughout.
How to do it
Batorama's tour boats leave from below the Palais Rohan, next to the cathedral, and its Red Tour shows you the city in 1 hour 10 minutes. In October 2026 an adult ticket costs €16.20, the reduced fare €14.70 and a child's ticket €8.90.
Good to know
Check your boarding point: boats leave from Dock D at the Cathédrale stop or from the Quai au Sable, 100 metres away.
Time needed
1 hour 10 minutes
Best time
Morning or early evening; book ahead in summer and in December
See the bishops' apartments and paintings of the Palais Rohan
Palais Rohan, 2 place du Château, Strasbourg
Two to three hoursNo booking needed
The Baroque palace that hosted Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon now holds three museums beside the cathedral.
What it is
The Palais Rohan, built from 1732 to 1742 to designs by Robert de Cotte for the prince-bishops of the Rohan family, is the Baroque palace beside the cathedral, and it has hosted Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon. It now holds three city museums, each with its own ticket: the Decorative Arts museum on the ground floor, with the bishops' state apartments; the Fine Arts museum on the first floor, a survey of European painting up to 1870; and the Archaeological museum in the basement.
How to do it
All three open every day except Tuesday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 18:00 at weekends, and tickets cost €9, or €5 reduced.
Good to know
Until 19 November 2026 only part of the Decorative Arts museum is open, so every visitor pays €5 there.
Time needed
Two to three hours
Best time
Any day except Tuesday, when the museums are closed
Cave Historique des Hospices, 1 place de l'Hôpital, Strasbourg
45 minutesFree
A barrel in this hospital cellar still holds some 300 litres of wine from 1472, opened only a few times.
What it is
Under the city hospital, south of the Grande Île, the Cave Historique des Hospices de Strasbourg has made and kept wine since 1395, when the hospital lived partly on what its vineyards produced. The vaulted cellar covers 1,200 square metres and is lined with huge carved oak casks. Behind a grille stand three historic barrels dated 1472, 1519 and 1525, and one still holds some 300 litres of the 1472 vintage, which the cellar calls the oldest wine in the world kept in a barrel. It has been opened only a few times, once for General Leclerc after he freed the city in November 1944.
How to do it
Entry is free, Monday to Friday 08:30 to 12:00 and 13:30 to 17:30, and Saturday 09:00 to 12:30.
Good to know
Since the late 1990s, Alsace winegrowers have kept it going with the hospital, and sell their wines there.
Share a wood-fired tarte flambée, then choucroute or baeckeoffe, in the traditional wine taverns of Strasbourg.
What it is
A winstub, Alsatian for wine room, is the traditional tavern of Strasbourg and the wine villages, named after the main room of old Alsatian houses, heated in winter by a tiled stove.
How to do it
Start with tarte flambée, flammekueche in Alsatian: very thin bread dough spread with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, onions and lardons, baked in a wood-fired oven rather than set alight, and made for sharing. Then order choucroute garnie, sauerkraut with sausages, salted meats and potatoes, or baeckeoffe, mutton, beef and pork marinated overnight in white wine and slow-cooked with potatoes in a casserole sealed with bread dough. Drink a riesling or a pinot blanc from the wine route with it.
Good to know
You will find winstubs all over the Grande Île, and the best known fill up on weekend evenings, so book a table.
Place de la République and the Neustadt, Strasbourg
Two hoursFree
Broad avenues and monumental buildings laid out after 1871 make one of the most complete districts built under the German Empire.
What it is
After 1871, when Strasbourg became the capital of the German province of Alsace-Lorraine, the new rulers tore down the old fortifications and laid out the Neustadt, a new town of broad avenues and monumental buildings. In 2017 UNESCO added its heart to the Grande Île listing as one of the most complete districts built under the German Empire, since comparable quarters in Germany were bombed in the Second World War.
How to do it
Start at the Place de la République, the former Kaiserplatz, a round garden ringed by the domed Palais du Rhin, built as the Kaiser's palace, the National and University Library and the national theatre. Then walk down the Avenue de la Liberté towards the university palace. The walk is free, and the République tram stop makes a good start.
Good to know
From the Ill, look back at the twin spires of the Église Saint-Paul.
Spot the storks of Alsace in the Parc de l'Orangerie
Parc de l'Orangerie, Strasbourg
One to two hoursFree
White storks, the symbol of Alsace, nest in the trees and on the roofs and stalk the lawns close to the paths.
What it is
The Parc de l'Orangerie is the city's favourite park, 26 hectares of lawns, plane trees and paths opposite the Council of Europe's Palais de l'Europe. It takes its name from the 140 orange trees the city inherited during the Revolution, for which the Pavillon Joséphine was built in 1804, named after Napoleon's empress. The storks are the reason to come. The white stork is the symbol of Alsace, and the park has a stork reintroduction centre, so the birds nest in the trees and on the roofs and stalk the lawns close to the paths.
How to do it
Entry is free. Pair it with a Neustadt walk or with the European quarter, which is next door.
Good to know
In spring and early summer you can watch the parents feeding their young. A small farm and playgrounds keep children busy.
Time needed
One to two hours
Best time
Spring and early summer, when the storks are nesting
Jardin des Deux Rives and Passerelle Mimram, Strasbourg and Kehl
Half a dayNo booking needed
Ride a hired bike east to a footbridge over the Rhine, whose two decks meet mid-river between France and Germany.
What it is
Strasbourg has more than 500 km of cycle paths, and the CTS transport company rents Vélhop bikes, which makes a ride to Germany the easiest trip out of town.
How to do it
Follow the paths east from the centre to the Jardin des Deux Rives, a park laid out on both banks of the Rhine on the site of an old racecourse, where the Passerelle Mimram, a cable-stayed bridge for walkers and cyclists, joins France and Germany. Its two decks meet at a platform in the middle of the river, and that is where, at the 2009 NATO summit, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy met for the official photo. On the far side is Kehl, a German town with a promenade along the Rhine.
Good to know
If you would rather not ride both ways, tram D also crosses the river to Kehl Rathaus, and you can simply walk over the bridge.
Eight Christmas markets across Strasbourg's old town island, with vin chaud in a deposit cup and calmer weekday evenings.
What it is
Strasbourg's market claims a tradition going back to 1570, and in 2026 it runs from 27 November to 24 December. It is not one market but eight, spread across the Grande Île, the island that holds the old town: the Christkindelsmärik on Place Broglie, the stalls around the cathedral, La Petite France, the great tree on Place Kléber, a market of Alsace producers and the alternative Marché OFF among them. More than 300 wooden chalets sell food and crafts.
How to do it
Leave the car behind: the city publishes its own guide to getting around without one. Vin chaud is served in a cup with a small deposit, refunded when you hand it back.
Good to know
Expect security checkpoints on the way into the Grande Île. Weekday evenings are far calmer than Saturdays.
Time needed
An evening, or a day with the old town
Best time
A weekday evening, 27 November to 24 December 2026
TGVs from Paris Est reach Strasbourg in under two hours, and direct trains also run from Lyon, Marseille and Frankfurt. Strasbourg airport, at Entzheim 10 km west-south-west of the city, has a train link to the main station; Basel-Mulhouse and Frankfurt are the larger airports within reach. The main station is about a 15-minute walk from the cathedral.
Getting around
The Grande Île is compact and largely closed to through traffic, so walk. Six tram lines, A to F, and the buses of the CTS network cover the rest, and tram D crosses the Rhine to Kehl in Germany. With more than 500 km of cycle paths, Strasbourg is easy by bike: rent a Vélhop from the CTS. Driving into the centre is slow, so leave the car at a park-and-ride by a tram line.
How many days
In must30's view, two days cover Strasbourg: one for the cathedral, its clock and platform, La Petite France and a boat tour, and one for the Palais Rohan, the Neustadt, the Orangerie and a winstub dinner. Add a third to cycle to Kehl or to start on the Alsace wine route, whose southern villages around Colmar are about half an hour away by train.
When to go
May to September brings long evenings on the terraces along the Ill and the clearest views from the cathedral platform. The Christmas market, from 27 November to 24 December 2026, is the busiest time of the year, with security checks on the way into the Grande Île, so book a room months ahead. The rest of the winter is cold and quiet, a good time for the museums.
Where to base yourself
Stay on the Grande Île to walk everywhere; the streets around the cathedral and La Petite France have the most character and the highest prices. Hotels around the station are cheaper and 15 minutes on foot from the cathedral. The Neustadt and the Krutenau, across the Ill, are quieter, with restaurants and bars, and both are on tram lines.
Questions travellers ask
How many days do you need in Strasbourg?
Two days are enough for the cathedral and its clock, La Petite France, a boat tour, the Palais Rohan and the Neustadt. Add a day for a bike ride to Kehl or a trip down the Alsace wine route.
What time does Strasbourg's astronomical clock perform?
Every day at 12:30, when the apostles parade before Christ and the cockerel crows. Access opens at 11:30 by the Saint-Michel entrance on Place du Château, a film runs at 12:00, and tickets cost €4, sold on the day only.
Can you go to Germany from Strasbourg?
Yes, easily. Kehl is just across the Rhine: take tram D to Kehl Rathaus, or walk or cycle through the Jardin des Deux Rives and over the Passerelle Mimram footbridge.
Is Strasbourg a good base for the Alsace wine route?
For the northern villages, such as Obernai, yes. For Riquewihr, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg, Colmar is closer: regional trains from Strasbourg reach it in about half an hour, so you can move base or go for the day.
,_Petite_France_--_2011_--_1759.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
