My Recommendations for a Strasbourg Vacation
A view from the La Petite France neighborhood in Strasbourg, France. August 1, 2023.
You won’t need more than a long weekend to discover all the treasures of central Strasbourg, though you’ll want more days in the city than just a handful if you’d like to include visiting the world-renowned holiday markets or would like to use Strasbourg as a base of stay for day trips into the rest of the region (on both sides of the French-German border!).
We’ve visited Strasbourg twice and will inevitably return. (After all, I still haven’t seen the can’t-miss holiday markets.) On our first visit, we had only a day—and we didn’t get to see nearly all that we’d wanted to see. Our second visit, for which we had day trips planned, gave us more time to revisit the sites we’d loved and see the ones we had to skip on our last trip to town.
In a long weekend in Strasbourg, you’ll have all the time you need to see the must-see sites below plus at least one or two of the mix-and-match options as well based on what interests you and what time you have. (Note: Everything we did in Strasbourg that we decided wasn’t worth the time no matter your level of interest in the subject or activity, I didn’t list in this article.)
And if you have enough time to take a few day trips during your stay, here are my recommendations for great one-day places to see from Strasbourg. (You’ll love seeing the region more broadly, I promise!)
Must-See Strasbourg Sites
A view overlooking the Strasbourg Notre-Dame Cathedral’s roof, with the city stretching beyond it, taken from the staircase to and from the cathedral’s spire. August 1, 2022.
You won’t have really seen even a glimpse of Strasbourg if you don’t cover the following three attractions and activities on your visit:
Notre-Dame Cathedral: If you have the strength, buy the ticket to climb the winding stairs to the top of the spire crowned Notre-Dame Cathedral: We found the view well worth the workout. The cathedral, started in the early 1000s in the Roman style and under varied stages of construction all the way up to the late 1400s, the church is a storybook of history. Elaborately decorated inside and out, it passed ecclesiastical hands from Catholic to Protestant (Lutheran) and back again and its evolving elements reflect the changes across the great religious wars.
La Petite France and the Barrage Vauban Overlook: The neighborhood called La Petite France, meticulously restored, has winding, cobblestoned medieval streets, flower covered railings along the canals, and white-and-wood houses in the traditional regional style. Wander through and enjoy the ambience—and stop for food, if you’d like!—and then traipse across the way to climb the flight of stairs on the Barrage Vauban to get an unmissable view over the area from the top (check out the panoramic video I captured below!).
Tourist Office Walking Tour: On our first visit, we booked a walking tour via an independent tour operator; the experience paled in comparison to the variety and the quality of the guides and the tours we had on our second visit, which we booked through the Strasbourg Office de Tourisme. You’ll have more choice of tours in French than in English, but you’ll find options in English as well. While you’re in the office to book your tours, you can also gather information from the staff about other areas of interest tailored specifically to your tastes.
Mix-and-Match Sites in Strasbourg
The clocks room in the Strasbourg Museum of Decorative Arts (housed in the Rohan Palace), showcasing pieces from mechanical clocks, a globe of the skies, and the oldest automaton believed to still exist (the rooster). Strasbourg, France. August 3, 2023.
Based on your interest in different subjects and the travel time you have, consider adding one, more, or all of the following sites on your Strasbourg visit:
The Historical Museum: The History Museum of the City of Strasbourg covers three major and definitive eras in Strasbourg’s history: the free city of the Holy Roman Empire, the reattachment of Strasbourg to France, and then the evolution of Strasbourg as a major metropolitan area beginning in the 19th century. A visit to this museum will help you understand what makes the city so unique. We bought tickets and opted for the audio tour; however, I would have preferred to navigate the museum on my own, without the audio guide, and found trying to read the explanations on the exhibits and listen to the audio frustrating. (I’d recommend just a visit without the audio guide, but someone more auditory than me might opt for the opposite.)
Modern and Contemporary Art Museum: The Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has a so-so permanent collection, though the temporary expositions, of which the museum has several always underway, make a visit well worth the trip. (And the museum’s café is a delicious option for lunch!) We saw several fun, insightful, and thought-provoking pieces that I returned to more than once during our visit, to see them “one more time before we go.” One example: The animatronic spider by Alain Séchas, L’Araignée Les Riches, le retour, which I captured on video during out visit (video below!).
The Rohan Palace Museums: The Rohan Palace comprises three museums: one featuring the decorative arts (and showcasing the palace), one showcasing the region’s archaeological history, and one displaying fine arts. The first two museums didn’t hold a ton of interest for me—other than a room in the decorative arts museum featuring old clocks and automatons—but I spent far more time in the fine arts museum than I expected I would. The fine arts museum in Strasbourg has an astounding collection, including art of the late-medieval and early-renaissance periods in Italy and the Netherlands and with showcase pieces from other masters from other art epochs, including El Greco and Goya.
The European Quarter and the Strasbourg European Union Parliament: Strasbourg is one of the capitals of the European Union and features several of the Union’s major institutions. If you can visit and get a guided tour, you’ll have the best possible experience. However, even if guided tours aren’t possible due to what’s happening with governmental affairs at the moment, you’ll find a visitor area on site that has audio guides and informational posters to help you better understand the European Union as a whole and the role of its institutions in Strasbourg as well.
Where to Stay and What to Eat in Strasbourg
Though you’ll find the areas around the heart of town lovely, you’ll have the best and most convenient experience for a visit to Strasbourg if you stay in a hotel or rental apartment within the city center—fortunately, you should have plenty of options for both!
And if you’re wondering what to eat and where to find it, read my post on all the best eats we found in Strasbourg. The region (and town!) has so many specialties, you can’t leave without at least trying one or two. On our last visit, my husband revisited the tarte flambée and I tried the Strasbourg spin on sauerkraut (choucroute strasbourgienne).
You’ll love Strasbourg. The city has unique-to-the-region architecture and history and an equally unique blend of French and German cultures that makes for an entirely different flavor of experience than you could have in any city of its size anywhere else in this part of Europe. Enjoy!