We agree, this town truly captured the beauty and spirit of Christmas. Zoe continued on with us for this stop, and we were all delighted by the over the top decorations, the wine, pretzels and sausages, and the crisp, cold weather.

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Leonor…a close 5 minute walk to the central part of town.

Strasbourg has many markets spread across the city center and we visited them all! Some are food focused, and some are craft focused. A short walk between each one, it is easy to navigate and find your way back to stalls you may want to revisit. The main market has the town’s Christmas tree, with a light and music show every hour in the evenings.

We started our stay here with another food focused walking tour, which was a great way to orient to the various markets around the city and taste some authentic Alsatian food.

We started our food tour with Bretzels and sausages with a taste of both local beer and wine, at a small charcuterie spot (went back there another day!). We then hit up a spot for a sampling of local cheeses. A sit down dinner included wine along with either spätzle in a creamy mushroom sauce or sausages, saurkraut and potatoes. A fluffy pastry filled with raisins followed, and a final stop for the guide’s favorite mulled wine (vin chard), a staple of Christmas markets.

Day 2 was a woozy doozy! We joined a group tour out into the countryside to visit 3 wineries, and spend a lunch hour wandering through the beautiful village of Ribeauvillé. We spent a lovely day with our guide, Camille (who comes from Provence, where her love of wine originated), along with some delightful travelers from Sonoma and New York! I can’t even recall how much wine we sampled (I know at our first stop it was at least 9 varieties, and in the next two stops I had to force myself to sip a taste and dump or I wouldn’t have been standing). Lunch was in a cozy small family owned spot with really comforting local food. The creamy vegetable soups in this region are amazing.

Day 3 in Strasbourg was a little slower as a virus I picked up (probably in London) finally hit me full force! Gary and Zoë headed out for some provisions, we made our final loops around the Christmas markets in town, and put Zoë on a train back to London so she could go to work the next day! I spent the evening in bed hoping to feel better as we head off to Heidelberg in the morning.