Alsace

Alsace carries the charm of a cultural crossroads. Timbered villages, vineyards, cathedral towns and Franco-German heritage create a region whose identity feels intimate, decorative and deeply rooted in place.

Alsace has passed between France and Germany several times since the seventeenth century, and its language, architecture and cooking reflect both. Strasbourg, its capital, is home to the European Parliament and to a cathedral whose spire dominated Christendom for centuries; its Grande Île and Petite France district are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Alsace Wine Route runs for about 170 kilometres along the foothills of the Vosges, linking villages such as Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Eguisheim and Ribeauvillé. Colmar keeps the Unterlinden Museum and the Isenheim Altarpiece. Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris grow on the slopes, and the region’s tables are among the most celebrated in France.

Late spring and summer bring warm days, storks on church roofs and wine festivals in the villages, with walking and cycling through the vineyards. September and October are the season of the harvest, when new wine and onion tart appear in the winstubs and the vines turn gold on the hills. The Vosges above offer walking, forests and lakes.

From late November to the end of December, Alsace becomes the capital of Christmas. Strasbourg’s Christkindelsmärik, held since 1570, is among the oldest Christmas markets in Europe, and Colmar, Kaysersberg and Riquewihr light their own. Winter afterwards is cold and quiet, the time for the region’s great kitchens and its quiet winstubs.

Alsace has few large luxury hotels; its finest stays are small houses built around celebrated kitchens. In the northern Vosges, Villa René Lalique at Wingen-sur-Moder occupies the glassmaker’s former villa beside the Lalique museum, with a handful of suites and a dining room of high reputation. On the Wine Route, Le Chambard in Kaysersberg pairs comfortable rooms and a spa with the cooking of Olivier Nasti, among the most respected chefs in the region.

Both make good bases for the villages, vineyards and Christmas markets, with Strasbourg and Colmar within easy reach. Rooms are few in both houses, so the weeks of the harvest and of Advent are best reserved early. LVXVRY advises on combining them, on the right season for each, and on adding a night in Strasbourg, and arranges every stay directly with the hotel.