Travel report: Cycling tour in Alsace

Alsace by racing bike

Our cycling holiday destination this year was Alsace - however, we wanted to get there with our own road bikes but didn't want to lug our own luggage from stop to stop, so Radweg-Reisen was the perfect choice. This was our second trip with Radweg-Reisen after the Five Rivers Cycle Route two years ago. It was also no problem at all to customize the route slightly according to our wishes (route length, hotels, ...). The starting point was Strasbourg, a very pretty city with several Christmas stores open all year round, countless restaurants (tarte flambée! sausages with sauerkraut!) and a cathedral with a breathtaking façade.

The final stop on the first stage was Sélestat, a charming medieval village. What impressed us most on this stretch were the many storks - we come from Burgenland and are always very proud of the stork offspring in our village (this year triplets), but the Alsatians would laugh at us, we counted 30 storks (!) in a meadow near Sélestat. We had lunch in Benfeld, a small village with a pretty clock tower, otherwise the area along the route seemed a bit deserted that day.

On the second day, we went from Sélestat to Colmar, the route runs mostly along the canal and there are only a few places that are directly on the way. For our lunch stop, we deviated slightly from our route for the Town of Four Flowers (an award for particularly beautifully flower-decorated villages) Marckolsheim.

The next day was the shortest stage (32 kilometers) from Colmar to Guebwiller. We used the extra time to go to the excellent swimming pool in Guebwiller. We then spent the night in Jungholtz, about 7 kilometers away, in a hotel with a huge spa area. Incidentally, all of our hotels on the route had a sauna area, which was always fantastic after a hard day's pedaling.

From Guebwiller, or Jungholtz, we then went to Riquewihr, a very scenic route along vineyards and many villages. However, there was little pure cycle path, but you ride a lot on "normal" roads, but with relatively little traffic. Eguisheim was perfect for our lunch stop, it has been named one of the "Most Beautiful Villages in France" and is also a Town of Four Flowers.

On the last day, we headed back from Riquewihr to Strasbourg, the route is characterized by vineyards and countless medieval towns. It is also the most strenuous stage - at 90 kilometers, it is the longest (we combined two stages due to lack of time) and while all the others were relatively flat, there were several climbs up to Obernai. But thank goodness there are also good train connections - I just got on the train in Obernai and saved myself the last 40 kilometers! Flo, on the other hand, was more ambitious and cycled the rest of the stage despite the onset of rain.