Strasbourg or Colmar: which one, and when

The question comes up in almost every Alsace trip, and it is usually asked the wrong way round. Strasbourg and Colmar are not rival destinations at opposite ends of a region: they are 26 to 35 minutes apart by train, with departures every 30 minutes during the day.

Most visitors can and should do both. The decisions that genuinely matter are where you sleep, and which day of the week you go to Colmar.

That said, if you really do have to pick one, the differences are real. Here they are, without the usual diplomacy.

The comparison in one table

Choose Strasbourg if

You want a city, not a set piece. Strasbourg has a real centre, real neighbourhoods, students, a nightlife and a working port. Colmar is smaller and quieter, and by the second evening you will have seen it.

You want two architectures instead of one. The medieval island and the monumental German quarter of 1871 to 1918 are twelve minutes apart on foot, and the contrast is the most interesting thing in Alsace.

You are arriving from far away. Direct trains from Paris in 1 hr 45 min, from Basel in 1 hr 17 min, from Stuttgart in 1 hr 23 min. You can reach Colmar from all of those places too, but you will change or continue.

You are staying more than two nights. Strasbourg has the hotel stock, the restaurant range and the rail links to act as a base for the whole region.

Choose Colmar if

You have come for the Isenheim Altarpiece. Grünewald's altarpiece at the Unterlinden museum is the single strongest artwork in Alsace, and for anyone interested in art it justifies the journey on its own. Allow at least an hour and a half.

You want the postcard, undiluted. Colmar's old town is more uniform than Strasbourg's, and the Petite Venise canals are the most photographed thing in the region for a reason.

You are heading for the wine route villages. Riquewihr, Ribeauvillé, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg are reached from Colmar, not from Strasbourg, by seasonal shuttle or regular bus.

You are coming between Christmas and New Year. Strasbourg's markets stop on 24 December. Colmar's keep going.

The day of the week that ruins a Colmar trip

This is the part that costs people their day, and almost nobody warns them.

The Unterlinden museum closes on Tuesdays. The Bartholdi museum closes on Mondays, and for the whole of January.

So a Tuesday in Colmar costs you the Isenheim Altarpiece, which is the main reason most people make the trip. A Monday in January costs you both museums at once.

If your dates are flexible, go to Colmar between Wednesday and Sunday. If they are not, the town is still lovely without its museums, but plan a walking day rather than a museum day.

What Colmar costs

The flat bottomed boat trips on the Lauch, run under the name Colmar au fil de l'eau, last 25 to 30 minutes. We do not publish an adult price for them because no reliable figure is available for the current season, so check at the tourist office.

How long Colmar actually needs

Three hours is what a relaxed morning departure leaves you, and it is enough for the old town and the Petite Venise on foot, plus a fast pass through Unterlinden aimed at the altarpiece and the main hall. You will eat standing up and you will miss the Bartholdi museum.

A full day is the right format. Old town and canals late morning, a proper sit down lunch, Unterlinden in the afternoon once the coach groups have left, then Bartholdi or the boats if there is time. Back in Strasbourg for dinner.

Half a day works if you drop the museums entirely and treat Colmar as a walking town. That is a legitimate choice, and the old centre carries it easily.

One practical detail that nobody mentions: Colmar has no tram and no metro. Everything is done on foot from the station, which is comfortable in a town this size but worth knowing if you have limited mobility or heavy bags.

Eating in either town

The same rule applies in both, and it is sharper in Colmar. The terraces along the Petite Venise and rue des Marchands are openly calibrated for passing visitors, exactly as the ones at the foot of the Strasbourg cathedral are.

Walk two streets away from the photogenic stretch and the quality changes. That single habit does more for a day in Alsace than any restaurant list.

Book ahead in both towns at weekends and throughout December. A table at 12.30pm without a reservation, in season, does not exist.

The Christmas market question

In December the comparison changes shape, and one factor decides more cases than any other: your dates.

Strasbourg runs 8 official markets from late November to 24 December, open 11.30am to 9pm. It is the oldest and the largest in France, and it draws several million visitors in under five weeks.

Colmar runs six sites in a much smaller centre, and it stays open past Christmas, with a food market and a big wheel running into the new year.

So if your trip falls in the week between Christmas and New Year, there is no debate: Strasbourg's chalets are gone and Colmar's are not.

Do not believe the myth of the peaceful Colmar, though. Friday afternoons and December Saturdays are saturated there too, on a much smaller footprint. The difference is the time slot you choose, not the town. Our Christmas section goes through the crowd management in detail.

Doing both, which is what we actually recommend

Sleep in Strasbourg, visit Colmar for the day. The reasoning is simple.

You pay for one hotel instead of two, Strasbourg is far better served for your arrival and departure, and the train takes 26 to 35 minutes with departures every 30 minutes. Colmar's station is a fifteen to twenty minute walk from the historic centre.

Leave around 9am, do the old town and the canals before lunch, sit down to eat, then take Unterlinden in the afternoon when the morning groups have left. You are back in Strasbourg for the evening.

One exception is worth knowing. In December, Colmar hotels are usually less stretched than Strasbourg ones. If you are booking late and Strasbourg is full, reversing the plan can save the trip. Our accommodation section covers the neighbourhoods.

Our verdict, case by case

• One day, first visit to Alsace: Strasbourg. The cathedral, the island and the scale of the place are what you came for.
• Two or three days: both. Base yourself in Strasbourg, take a half day or a full day in Colmar.
• You are here for art: Colmar has to be in the plan, on any day except a Tuesday.
• You are here for the wine villages: go through Colmar, that is where the shuttles start.
• Between Christmas and New Year: Colmar, without hesitation.
• You want quiet in December: neither on a Saturday. Pick a weekday morning, in either town.

Once you have decided, the remaining question is how to fit it into your stay. Our page on how many days to spend in Strasbourg shows where a Colmar day sits in a two or three day trip, and is Strasbourg worth visiting answers the prior question honestly.