A Private Christmas Journey Through Alsace

We arrange the order of the itinerary around your travel dates so that the village markets included in your journey are actually open. The city markets open at the end of November and run to just before Christmas in Strasbourg, a few days longer in Colmar. The village ones are shorter, and several are weekends only: Kaysersberg opens on the Advent weekends, Friday to Sunday. Tell us the dates you have in mind and we will tell you plainly what will be open and what will not, before anything is booked, then rebuild the days around what is. Outside that season the villages are still there and the hotels are quieter, but the markets are the reason for this journey, and we would rather say so than sell it to you anyway.

Your hotel change becomes a sightseeing day rather than a transfer day. The chauffeur collects you at the hotel, the luggage stays in the vehicle, and the road south goes through Haut-Koenigsbourg, Riquewihr and a wine estate before setting you down outside your Colmar hotel with the bags. The train is half an hour of rail, but it means checking out, getting to the station, minding the luggage at the other end and losing the middle of the day. If you would rather travel by rail, say so and we will build it that way instead.

He covers the arrival transfer from Strasbourg airport or station, four hours on the afternoon of day 2, the whole of day 3 including the luggage between the two hotels, four hours on the afternoon of day 4, and the departure transfer on day 5. The vehicle is a private van sized for four travellers and their luggage. He is a chauffeur, not a guide: he drives, carries the bags and knows the roads, and the commentary comes from the licensed guides in Strasbourg and in Colmar. A guide on the excursion afternoons can be added, see the options.

French, English or Mandarin. Both two-hour walks, in Strasbourg and then in Colmar, are led by local licensed guides, and the language is fixed when the guide is booked rather than chosen on the day. Tell us which one you want at the same time as your dates and we hold a guide who works in it. The chauffeur is a different person and does not comment on what you are seeing, so this choice is what decides how much of Strasbourg and Colmar you actually take home.

Yes. The published price of €1,390 per person is calculated on 4 travellers sharing two double or twin rooms, because that is what makes a private chauffeur and private guides add up: the same vehicle and the same guide are shared between four. For two people the same programme costs more per person, and beyond four we quote. Tell us how many you are and we will give you the exact figure.

Expect genuine winter weather: typically around 0 to 8°C during the day, damp rather than dry, properly cold once the sun goes down, and snow is possible in the villages and on the Haut-Koenigsbourg ridge. Bring a real coat, gloves, and shoes that cope with wet cobbles. Christmas is Alsace’s busiest season, and crowds are part of the experience. What the itinerary does about it is structural rather than verbal. A private driver sets you down at the entrance to each village and waits, instead of a car park half an hour out. The two guided walks are booked in advance rather than queued for. And both hotels are inside the old towns, so you walk out into the market in the evening instead of driving into it.

A family-run wine estate around Mittelwihr, in the middle of the Wine Route. You see the cellar, then sit down to a hosted tasting of Alsace wines accompanied by regional specialities, kougelhopf or a pretzel, as it is done here rather than as a formality. At this time of year the vines outside are bare and the work has moved indoors, which makes the cellar the interesting half of the visit rather than a stop on the way to a view. The estate is chosen with your dates. If part of the group does not drink, say so while we are building the trip: the visit stands perfectly well as a cellar visit, and we can replace the afternoon with something else. The same goes for the day-4 tasting in Colmar, which finishes on an eau-de-vie: the charcuterie, the Munster and the bredele are enough on their own, and the alcohol is simply left aside.

Once, on day 3, and you never carry the luggage yourself. Two nights in a 4★ hotel in the historic centre of Strasbourg, then two in a 4★ hotel in the centre of Colmar, both close enough to the old town to walk out to dinner and to the market. Two nights per city is a choice: it gives each one a full day and two evenings, and it avoids the one-night-per-village rhythm that turns Alsace into a circuit.

From whichever suits the rest of your journey, and it does not change the price. Colmar station puts you on the TGV network via Strasbourg or Mulhouse. EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is about an hour away and is often the better option for an international flight. Tell us how you are getting home before we book: that is what decides how long your last morning in Colmar can be.

Breakfasts are, all four mornings, along with the wine tasting on day 3 and the tasting of Alsace specialities on day 4. Lunches stay flexible so you can enjoy the markets at your own pace. For dinner, we suggest restaurants that match your preferences and reserve them in your name: an authentic winstub, a contemporary Alsatian table or fine dining. The meals themselves are settled on the spot.

It works well from about eight. Haut-Koenigsbourg is a real castle with ramparts and a keep, the markets themselves hold children easily, and the villages are small enough that nobody tires of them. Two things to plan for: the guided walks last two hours and are pitched at adults, and neither tasting is a children’s activity, since the estate serves wine and the Colmar stop finishes on an eau-de-vie, which is a spirit. There is plenty at both to keep them occupied. On walking: enough to need good shoes, not enough to train for. The two guided walks are two hours each on flat cobbles, wet more often than dry. Riquewihr, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg each take twenty minutes to cross, with some slope in the upper half of Riquewihr and under the Kaysersberg keep. Haut-Koenigsbourg has stairs and uneven ground, and a shuttle runs up from the car park. The cathedral platform is reached by a staircase with no lift: it is included, and there is nothing wrong with leaving it to the rest of the party. If someone in the group walks with difficulty, say so and we will tell you frankly which stops to replace.