Colmar

Introduction

Colmar

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Colmar is a city in the Haut-Rhin deparment in the Alsace, located in the northeast of the country, close to the border with Germany and is the capital of the department as well. It calls itself the wine capital of the Alsace region and has about 70,000 inhabitants.

Colmar has also attained popularity by being the birthplace of Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty. Colmar has well preserved its rich cultural and architectural heritage and has a number of Medieval and early Rennaisance buildings. The streets of Colmar have a lot of twists and turns as they wind through the historic centre. Most of the tradional houses are half timbered and have flower boxes in the window during the summers.

Neighbourhoods

Sights and Activities

• Well preserved old town
• Many architectural landmarks, including fountains, monuments and statues
• The Unterlinden Museum
• Churches: Église Saint-Martin, Église des Dominicains, Église Saint-Matthieu
• Musée d'histoire naturelle et d'ethnographie
• Musée Bartholdi
• Little Venice, with canals of course
• Maison des Tetes (House of the Heads) - Renaissance building and old wooden house

Events and Festivals

Colmar holds wine festivals nearly every month of the year offering wine samples accompained by a locally made cake.

In summers(mid-May to mid-September) folk dance performances are held every Tuesdays place de l'Ancienne douane

Weather

Colmar has a relatively mild climate with comparatively dry weather, a good micro-climate for the famous Alsace wines. Average precipitation throughout the year is about 600 mm, mostly falling during the warmer summermonths from June to September. Temperatures are around 24 degrees Celcius during the day during these months, while from December to February temperatures are just around 5 degrees with nightly frost most common in January. Snow is possible as well during this time.

Getting There

By Plane

Colmar is about 60 kilometers south of Strasbourg and even much closer to Mulhouse. The Euro Airport Mulhouse/Freiburg/Basel has most flights with many lowcostairlines serving the area, including flights to Turkey, other southern Europe destinations as well as many cities throughout the west and central parts of the continent.

Strasbourg Airport (SXB) is another option (with no lowcostairlines though) with Air France and a number of other airlines operating flights throughout west and south Europe, as well as Tunis, Casablanca and Algiers.
Colmar has an Airport itself but is usually not used by travellers.

By Train

Colmar is located along a railway route between Strasbourg and Basel with trains running frequently, usually every hour. From Freiburg im Breisgau, a train goes to the border at Breisach. French Railways, SNCF goes to Colmar (35 to 60 minutes, 35 daily weekdays, 22 daily weekends).

By Car

Colmar is about half way between Strasbourg and Basel, just west of the A35 highway, that runs north to south through the Alsace, more or less parallel on the German border. When coming from Germany, you can follow the A-5 Autobahn, until exit 64a, Bad Krozingen, and follow the L162 and the 31 until Breisach, where you need to cross the Rhine. There the 31 become the D415, that leads to Colmar.

By Bus

From Germany, there are buses from the border at Breisach, which has a trainlink with Freiburg.

By Boat

Getting Around

By Car

By Public Transport

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

The town offers a lot of eating options for both the budget and luxury travellers.

If your are of the more adventurous kind, step out of the town to get a taste of exotic cuisines. If you are visiting the hills, make sure to lunch at a 'ferme auberge'(a framhouse that serves hearty meals with local wines). When in the countryside, look for a 'caveau' ( a wine cellar that serves meals). Try the tarter flambee a loignan with its thin crust, sliced onions, creamy sauce and other garnishes.

Drink

Sleep

Budget

Mid-Range

Upscale

Work

Learn

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

La Poste in France is also referred to as the PTT (short for postes, télégraphes et téléphones). The mailboxes are painted bright yellow and often there is a slot for local city mail and another slot for "outside mail". Normally there is a queue in the post office, but most of the post offices have the self service machine installed which is quite easy to operate. Nowadays many of the tabac and even some of the souvenir shops also sell postage stamps. Normally an overseas postcard costs almost as much as sending a letter.
Post offices are generally open from 8:00am to 7:00pm Monday through Friday, and 8:00am to noon on Saturdays. Apart from the basic job of mailing letters, most of the post offices do some banking activities also and some even have photocopy machines and cyber cafes for internet access.