Alsace Wine Route Map and Meeting Points

One road, 170 km of it, with two cities off to the east and a castle on the ridge halfway down. Work out where you are meeting and how far you are going before you buy Alsace Wine tickets.

The route: Marlenheim to Thann

The Route des Vins d'Alsace was inaugurated in 1953 and runs more than 170 km through 119 communes, from Marlenheim in the north to Thann in the south, with a separate enclave around Wissembourg at the top of the region. It follows the foot of the Vosges, and the vineyard is the strip between the hills and the plain.

Strasbourg is not on it: the city sits out on the plain, about 20 km east of the northern end, which is why a day from there spends time on the road before it starts. Colmar is different — it sits level with the middle of the route with villages on three sides, none of them more than about thirteen kilometres away.

A diagram, not a road map: each place is drawn at the centre point its commune registers with the French government, north at the top. The line joins the villages in order down the route; the real road bends far more than that.

The kerbs, with their full addresses

The shared departures meet at a fixed address and leave on time. Put the address into your phone rather than the name of the operator — two of them are a fifteen-minute walk apart in Strasbourg and both belong to the same company.

The estate car parks, and the walk that starts in Riquewihr

Four days here give you no lift at all. The Alsatian meal and cellar visit meets at 156 Route de Strasbourg in Gertwiller, at the estate gate. The guided vineyard walk meets at Domaine Camille Braun in Orschwihr on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and at Domaine Étienne Simonis in Ammerschwihr on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays — check which day you booked.

The Riquewihr walk meets at the Musée du Dolder, inside the walls. The Colmar old-town walk sets its meeting point by the language you book. Both estates have their own free parking, which is the practical answer if you are driving; if you are not, the walks that start in a town centre are the easier pair to reach.

Distances that decide your day

These are straight-line kilometres between commune centres, calculated from the government's own register, and they are here to compare one plan with another. The road is always longer. We publish no drive times, because every operator takes its own route and the traffic on a December Saturday is not the traffic on a Tuesday in March.

The six bus stops

The hop-on convertible bus is the one way to move between villages without a car or a guide, and its day ticket is valid from 8:30am to 7:00pm. Its stops run from Colmar out through the vineyard and back.

• Colmar station — the start, and the easiest stop to reach by train
• Colmar tourist office, Unterlinden — beside the museum, in the old town
• Ribeauvillé bus station — for the town and its three ruined castles
• Riquewihr post office — just outside the walls
• Kaysersberg Porte Basse — at the lower gate, by the fortified bridge
• Turckheim Porte de France — at the gate tower
• Eguisheim town hall car park — a short walk from the rings

It runs a season rather than a year, and it pours nothing: winery tours and tastings are in its exclusions. Its dates are on when to visit the wine route.

Driving it yourself

The route is a public road, it is signposted, and nobody charges you to be on it. Every village has parking of some kind, the castle has 150 free spaces, and the two estates that take walk-ins have their own. In a car you can do the northern half from Strasbourg or the southern half from Colmar in a day, but not both.

The catch is the same one the whole site is built on: somebody has to drive home. If that is you, pick a day with a driver instead, or base yourself in a village and walk to the cellar. Bases are compared on where to stay on the wine route.

Map questions

Where these facts come from

The route's length, its 119 communes and its two ends come from the regional tourist board at visit.alsace. Every kerb, estate and bus stop is read off the tour's own listing. The straight-line distances are calculated from the French government's commune register, which publishes each commune's centre; the castle's 26 km and 55 km by road, its parking and the line 500 shuttle are the castle's own figures.

Tours that meet at these points

From Strasbourg: Medieval Villages & Wine Tasting Day Trip

The fullest day from Strasbourg: nearly six hours on the ground across four villages, an hour with the winemaker, and a tasting in the fare. Cancelling free needs two days' notice, not one.

From $143 per person

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Near Colmar: Guided visit of vineyards and cellar + Tasting of 6 Alsace wines

Three hours at one estate near Colmar: an hour in the vines, an hour in the cellar and the vat room, then six Alsace wines at the table. You arrive under your own steam.

From $65 per person

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The true heart of Alsace in Riquewihr with optional wine tasting

Two hours walking Riquewihr with a local guide, as long or as short as you ask. The wine tasting is an optional extra here, not part of the price.

From $36 per person

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