Strasbourg Tourist Train: Two Routes, and Who It Suits

The little tourist train has a poor reputation among experienced travellers, and yet it solves three real problems: visiting with young children, lasting the day when it is 34C or raining without a break, and fixing the geography of an unfamiliar city in your head in 45 minutes.

Here is exactly what it offers, and when it earns its fare.

Two circuits, not one

This is what most visitors never discover: there are two separate routes, leaving from two different points.

• The Petite France circuit, roughly 35 to 40 minutes, leaving from place de la Cathedrale, in front of the tourist office. The classic loop through the timber framing, the canals and the Covered Bridges.
• The Grande Ile and Neustadt circuit, around 45 minutes, leaving from place du Chateau, on the right-hand side of the cathedral, in front of the 5e Lieu. This one leaves the island to cross the German imperial quarter, on the UNESCO list since 2017. It is the more interesting of the two if you already know what half-timbering looks like.

Departures run about every half hour, 60 seats a train, with recorded commentary available in 16 languages, English included.

Tickets, and when it runs

Tickets are bought on the spot, at the departure point. Individual visitors cannot book: you turn up and get on the next departure. Only groups reserve in advance.

Fares are among the cheapest paid activities in the city. Children from six to fourteen pay less than adults, under-fives ride free, and groups of twenty and over get a reduced rate on prior booking. The Strasbourg City Card gives 20 to 50% off here as it does on the boat and the cathedral platform.

It does not run all year. The Petite France circuit has the longest season, running daily from the end of winter to mid autumn, and the Neustadt circuit opens later in the spring. Both shorten their hours at each end of the season.

In December there is a Christmas market version, and the important detail is that departures then move: they leave from in front of the Palais Rohan, not from the usual points. Check the current calendar before you build a morning around any of this.

Is it worth it?

Let us be honest, it depends who you are.

Yes, if you are visiting with children under ten, you have reduced mobility, it is very hot or raining, or you have arrived for a short stay and want to understand the city before walking it. In that last case, do it first: the 45 minutes of the Neustadt circuit save you half a day of wandering.

No, if you have two full days, you walk without difficulty, and you prefer detail to overview. Strasbourg is small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes, and our guide to what to see covers the same ground with far more substance.

Our tips

• Avoid the early afternoon in July and August. That is when the queues are longest and the heat is worst in open carriages.
• Follow it with the cathedral. Both departure points are less than two minutes from the portal. Climb to the platform afterwards and you will recognise from above everything you have just been driven past. The detail is in our cathedral guide.
• In December it is a good deal. The route runs through the lit streets, the city centre is pedestrianised and walking through the crowd becomes genuinely tiring.
• Sit on the right in the direction of travel on the Petite France circuit. That is the canal side.

Tourist train or boat trip?

This is the real decision, because both sell the same promise: a commentated overview with no effort. They are not equivalent, and they do not win on the same criteria.

• The train runs through the streets, gets close to the facades and reaches the Neustadt, takes 35 to 45 minutes and costs less than the boat. Open carriages: perfect in spring, punishing in a heatwave or a downpour.
• The boat takes around 70 minutes, follows the Ill around the Grande Ile and continues by water down to the European quarter, covered and heated in winter. It is the better choice in bad weather and the more restful at the end of the day, but you see the city from water level, often below the quays.
• With young children, the train wins: 45 minutes hold better than 70, and you get off where you got on, two minutes from the cathedral.

The eight circuits, the two piers and the seat to aim for are all in our guide to the boat trip on the Ill.

The verdict in one sentence

Three quarters of an hour to put the map of the city in your head, keep children occupied and spare yourself the heat: a good purchase on the day you arrive, a pointless one on the day you leave.

Sources: petit-train-strasbourg.fr for the circuits, fares, calendar and commentary languages. End-of-season hours and the December arrangement do change: check the day before.