Two cities run the departures and the villages in between run the scenery. Where you sleep decides how much of your day is spent getting to the vines, so settle it before you make an Alsace Wine reservation.
Strasbourg gives you the most departures and the widest range of them: a 90-minute tasting in town, four-hour runs to two cellars, eight-hour days on the Wine Route and a ten-and-a-half-hour village day. Three kerbs serve them — the station square at 8 Place de la Gare, the tourist office at 17 Place de la Cathédrale, and the coach station at Place de l'Étoile.
It is also a city in its own right, with a cathedral, the Petite France quarter and the biggest Christmas market in the region. The cost is distance: you are about 46 km from the castle in a straight line, and most of a wine day out of here is spent on the road south.
Colmar is the wine capital and it sits in the middle of the vineyard rather than at the end of it. Eguisheim, Turckheim, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé are all within about thirteen kilometres of the centre. The castle is 15 km away in a straight line, 26 km by road on the castle's own figure.
Departures leave from 2 Avenue de la Marne in front of the Hôtel L'Esquisse and from 6 Rue Turenne in front of Winstub Brenner, and the four-village day collects you at a point you choose in town. The open-top bus starts at the station. Colmar has fewer departures than Strasbourg, but the ones it has reach further into the vineyard.
| Base | What it puts you next to | Straight-line to the castle |
|---|---|---|
| Strasbourg | Three departure kerbs, the most tours and the most shapes of day, from 90 minutes to ten and a half hours | 46 km (the castle publishes 55 km by road) |
| Colmar | Two kerbs plus a pick-up point, the villages on the doorstep and the open-top bus | 15 km (26 km by road, the castle's own figure) |
| Obernai | The northern route, Mittelbergheim and Gertwiller; the Ophorus half day calls here | 25 km |
| Ribeauvillé | Riquewihr, Hunawihr and the bus route; nothing departs from here | 7 km |
| Riquewihr | The walled village itself and its wine trail; the guided walk meets at the Dolder | 10 km |
| Sélestat | The line 500 castle shuttle and the mainline station between the two cities | 7 km |
The straight-line figures come from the government's commune register and are there to compare bases, not to plan a drive. The road is always longer, and how long depends on the route your driver takes.
Obernai, Ribeauvillé and Riquewihr all take visitors, and a night inside a walled village after the coaches leave is the best hour of the day. Obernai is the largest and the best connected of the three; Ribeauvillé is a working town with restaurants that stay open; Riquewihr is the prettiest and the busiest.
The catch is that nothing departs from any of them. Every guided day here starts in Strasbourg, in Colmar or at an estate, so from a village you drive or take the bus to your start. In season that is the open-top bus, which stops at Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Turckheim and Eguisheim on a day ticket.
Sélestat is the practical choice if the castle is what you came for. It is on the mainline between the two cities, and shuttle line 500 runs from the SNCF station to the castle gate for €3 a journey. In a straight line the castle is 7 km away.
It is a town rather than a showpiece, which keeps rooms cheaper than Riquewihr in high season. You give up the departures: nothing leaves from Sélestat, so you will still travel to Colmar or Strasbourg for a guided day.
Read this before you book a hotel on the edge of town. Hotel pick-up is the exception here, not the rule, and a good few operators rule it out in their own exclusions.
| How you get to the start | What that means on the day | Which days work this way |
|---|---|---|
| Collected from your accommodation | The driver comes to you, inside Strasbourg | The private day by Tesla, and it is the only one |
| A pick-up point you choose in town | Agreed with the operator when you book; if your address is too far out, contact them after booking | The four-village day from Colmar |
| A fixed kerb, with pick-up and drop-off at that point | Be there ten to fifteen minutes early; the vehicle leaves on time | Both Ophorus kerbs in Strasbourg, the coach station, the two Colmar addresses |
| Hotel pick-up explicitly excluded | Ruled out in the tour's own exclusions, so do not wait in a lobby | Both Ophorus Wine Route days, the Colmar-and-castle day, the castle day from Colmar and the RHINE VALLEY day trip |
| You make your own way there | No lift at all, in either direction | The estate at Gertwiller, the vineyard walk, the Colmar walk and the Riquewihr walk |
| A roadside stop on a timetable | Six stops, hop on and off all day | The open-top bus |
If you want to be collected, the private day is the one that does it as standard. If you want the next best thing, the four-village day from Colmar lets you name the point you are picked up from. Everything else means walking to a kerb, so stay where the kerbs are.
A car turns the whole route into a day trip from anywhere, and every village has parking of some kind. The castle has 150 free spaces, six of them reserved. The two estates that take you without transport — at Orschwihr and at Ammerschwihr — both have their own free car parks, free to use.
The problem a car does not solve is the tasting. Somebody has to drive home, and French drink-driving limits are not generous. That is the argument for basing yourself in a village, parking the car and booking a day that pours. Weather, seasons and the bus timetable are on when to visit the wine route, and every meeting point is on the map.
Every kerb, pick-up rule and exclusion is read off the tour's own listing. The castle's road distances, its parking and the line 500 shuttle are the castle's own. Straight-line distances are calculated from the French government's commune register, which publishes each commune's centre. No drive time appears here, because no official source publishes one.
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
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An afternoon from Colmar: Hunawihr, an hour in Riquewihr and up to ninety minutes underground, with six wines poured for you before you come back.
From $113 per person
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A family estate at Gertwiller: the cellar, the barrel built for the 1900 Paris World's Fair, a guided tasting and a meal with a wine beside each course. You make your own way there.
From $74 per person
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