These are the best places to travel this summer

Colmar

France Travel Guide

Shop

Get even more with a Lonely Planet guide.

Shop Book
City center Of Colmar, Alsace, France

Getty Images

LONELY PLANET’S RECOMMENDED eSIM

Stay connected in Colmar

with

Saily is an affordable eSIM service that helps you stay connected and secure, anywhere in the world.

Get your eSIM

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

    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…

  • Old colorful half-timbered houses in the quatrer Petite Venise (Little Venice) in Colmar, France.; Shutterstock ID 748217683; your: Sloane Tucker; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI
748217683

    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…

  • Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi Museum in Colmar, Alsace, France.

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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…

Plan with a local

Get a book. Get inspired. Get exploring.

in partnership with getyourguide

Book popular activities in Colmar