Colmar

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Overview

The capital of the Alsace wine region, Colmar looks for all the world as though it has been plucked from the pages of a medieval folk tale. At times the Route des Vins d’Alsace fools you into thinking it’s 1454, and here, in the alley-woven heart of the old town, the illusion is complete. Half-timbered houses in chalk-box colours crowd dark cobblestone lanes and bridge-laced canals, which have most day-trippers wandering around in a daze of neck-craning, photo-snapping, gasp-eliciting wonder.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Musée d’Unterlinden

Colmar

Gathered around a Gothic-style Dominican cloister, this revamped museum hides a prized medieval stone statue collection, late-15th-century prints by…

Petite Venise

Colmar

If you see just one thing in Colmar, make it the Little Venice quarter. Canal connection aside, it doesn’t resemble Venice in the slightest, but it's…

Musée Bartholdi

Colmar

In the house where Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was born in 1834, this museum pays homage to the sculptor who captured the spirit of a nation with his…

Statue of Liberty Replica

Colmar

Prepare for déjà vu as you approach Colmar on the rte de Strasbourg (N83), 3km north of the old town, and spy the spitting image of the Statue of Liberty,…

Église St-Matthieu

Colmar

Quintessentially Protestant in its austerity, this Franciscan church has something of a split personality. From 1715 to 1987, a wall divided the soaring…

Maison Pfister

Colmar

This Renaissance pile was built in 1537 for Ludwig Scherer, a wealthy hatter from Besançon. With its delicately painted panels, elaborate oriel window and…

Église des Dominicains

Colmar

Lit by late-medieval stained glass, this desanctified Gothic church shelters the celebrated triptych La Vierge au Buisson de Roses (The Virgin in the Rose…

Collégiale St-Martin

Colmar

Delicate stonework guides the eye to the polychrome mosaic roof and Mongol-style copper spire of this Gothic church. Its jewel-like stained-glass windows…

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