Choosing an Alsace Wine Tour: Half Day, Full Day, Private or Walking

This guide settles the first choice you make on the Alsace Wine Route: the format. A half day, a full day, a private day or a walk each buy a different day, and the fare tells you less than you think. Compare them here, then pick your Alsace Wine guided tours.

What does a half day on the route cover?

Four hours from Strasbourg, or three and a half from Colmar. The Ophorus half day leaves 8 Place de la Gare in the morning or the afternoon and pours at two growers in two wine towns. The listing sold on another platform gives about 95 minutes around Obernai and a 45-minute tasting in a cellar.

The Colmar half day is an afternoon only. It leaves 6 Rue Turenne at 1:45pm and gives you 45 minutes in Hunawihr, an hour in Riquewihr and about an hour in a grower's cellar, where you taste at least six wines. You are back around 5:30pm.

A half day suits you if you have one free morning in Strasbourg, or want your afternoon in the vines and your morning in Colmar's museums. It does not reach the castle, and it gives each village less than an hour. Our half day from Strasbourg page walks through it stop by stop.

What does a full day add?

A third tasting, and the southern villages. The Ophorus full day leaves 17 Place de la Cathédrale at 9:00am for eight hours. It starts at Mittelbergheim, among three grand crus, then pours at Dambach-la-Ville and in the Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr area. Each tasting runs about 70 minutes, with 90 minutes free for lunch.

The long village days go further still. They run ten and a half hours, spend about an hour in each of Ribeauvillé, Kaysersberg and Eguisheim and longer in Riquewihr, and pour at one winemaker. You see more villages and taste less.

From Colmar, the 4 Wonders day spends eight hours in Eguisheim, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg, and our 4 Wonders day page covers it in detail. Its tasting at the cave is bought on the spot.

Is a private tour worth it for two people?

For the plan, yes; for the price, not often. The Tesla day costs $878 for up to four people. With four aboard, that is about $219 a head, close to a seat on a shared full day. With two, each of you pays about $439.

What you buy is control. The driver collects you where you stay in Strasbourg, the day is built with you, and the castle entry and the wine are in the fare. If that matters more than the money, book it. The other private option is ninety minutes of tasting in Strasbourg at $146 a head, which is a different thing altogether. The private Alsace wine tours page compares the two.

What does a walking tour miss?

The villages beyond one, and the castle. A walk covers one place in two or three hours: Colmar's old town, Riquewihr inside its walls, or an estate's own vines near Colmar. You see that place properly and you taste at the end on two of them.

A walk also gives you no lift. You reach Riquewihr and the estates on your own, and somebody has to drive home after the glass. The Alsace walking tours with wine tasting page sets out how to reach each start.

Is the hop-on bus a wine tour?

No. The KUT'ZIG open-top bus lists winery tours and tastings among its exclusions. It is transport: a day ticket from 8:30am to 7:00pm between Colmar, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Turckheim and Eguisheim, with an audio app. It runs only from 3 April to 11 October 2026.

That makes it good value if you want to plan your own day and taste where you choose. Our guide to the wine route without a tour shows how.

Which tours include the tasting?

Most of them. The half days, the full days, the long village days, the Colmar castle day, the private days, the Gertwiller estate lunch, the Colmar walk and the vineyard walk all put it in the fare. Four do not:

• The castle day from Strasbourg pours nothing. It is a sightseeing day.
• The open-top bus excludes tastings.
• The 4 Wonders day stops at a wine cave where you buy the tasting.
• The Riquewihr walk sells the tasting as an extra you choose at booking.

Read our post on whether the tasting is in the fare for the wording to look for.

Which include Haut-Kœnigsbourg?

Three days carry the ticket to Haut-Kœnigsbourg, the castle above the vines at Orschwiller: the castle day from Strasbourg, which gives it three hours; the castle day from Colmar, which gives it 90 minutes; and the private Tesla day, which gives it 40. Every other day that passes the castle leaves it out.

Paid on its own, the adult ticket is €12, or €16 with the audio tour. Last entry is one hour before closing.

How small is a small group here?

Smaller than the word usually means. The Colmar walk takes six, the 4 Wonders day seven, and every Ophorus day eight in a minivan. The Colmar half day also caps at eight. The Tour.Alsace minibus takes 17, and the open-top bus 28.

A small group changes the tasting. With eight people the grower talks to you, not at you, and there is room at the counter.

Which tours take children?

Fewer than you might expect. Both Ophorus wine days and the private tasting are for adults only, 18 and over. The castle day from Strasbourg and the RHINE VALLEY village day take children from four, and the Colmar half day asks for their ages so it can fit booster seats. The Tesla day takes strollers and infant seats.

No one under 18 is served wine. A family day works best with the castle in it.

What does each format cost per hour on the ground?

Divide the fare by the hours and the ranking changes. Here is what an hour costs you on each format.

The long village days are the cheapest hours you can buy with a guide and a tasting. The private tasting is the dearest, because every minute of it is spent pouring.

The formats side by side

Which one should you book?

• One morning free in Strasbourg: the Ophorus half day, two growers in four hours.
• A whole day, and wine is the point: the Ophorus full day, three tastings, three grand cru areas.
• The villages matter more than the glass: a long village day from Strasbourg, or the 4 Wonders day from Colmar.
• You want the castle too: the castle day from Colmar, which pours as well.
• Your plan, your pace: the Tesla day. Compare it with the shared days on the Alsace wine tours from Strasbourg page.
• Based in Colmar: start with the Alsace wine tours from Colmar, which spend less of your day in a van.
• A sit-down meal with the wine: the estate lunch at Gertwiller, the one fare that feeds you.

Still weighing the money? Our guide to prices lists every fare with what it leaves out.

Frequently asked questions

Tours that fit this choice

Alsace Wine Route Small Group Half-Day Tour with Tasting from Strasbourg

Four hours out of Strasbourg with two wine towns, two tastings and a cellar, all inside the fare. Eight seats, morning or afternoon, adults only.

From $114 per person

Check Availability

Alsace Wine Route Wineries & Tasting Small Group Guided Tour from Strasbourg

Eight hours given wholly to the Route des Vins, with three tastings in the fare and stops at Mittelbergheim, Dambach-la-Ville, Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr.

From $193 per person

Check Availability

FULL DAY ALSACE PRIVATE TOUR : Tailored by your Friendly Driver

A private day for up to four, castle entry in the fare, then Riquewihr, Eguisheim and Colmar's Little Venice. The car is a Tesla and the driver plans the day with you.

From $878 per group, up to 4

Check Availability