Things to do in Strasbourg

Strasbourg is an island city. The Ill splits and closes around the Grande Ile, which carries the whole historic centre. UNESCO listed it, then extended the listing to the German imperial quarter beyond.

What the island carries

Everything old sits inside a twenty-minute walk.

• The cathedral. Pink Vosges sandstone with one asymmetric spire, the tallest building on earth from 1647 to 1874.
• The astronomical clock. Its apostles process at half past twelve each day, driven by a mechanism finished in the 1840s.
• Petite France. The old tanners' and millers' quarter, half-timbered gables leaning over canals and locks.
• The covered bridges. Four medieval towers and the Barrage Vauban terrace above them, with the best view back at the spire.
• The Neustadt. Broad German avenues built after 1871, added to the UNESCO listing later.

The other Strasbourg, and what lies past it

The other Strasbourg is a tram ride north. The Council of Europe has sat here since 1949, in a district of glass and flags. The European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights stand alongside it.

• Germany. Tram D crosses the Rhine into Kehl, so another country is twenty minutes and a normal ticket away.
• The wine route. It runs south through Obernai and Riquewihr towards Colmar, an easy full day by car.
• The table. Tarte flambee, choucroute and baeckeoffe in a winstub, with dry Riesling rather than beer.
• On foot. Self-guided phone routes take the cathedral, Petite France and the bridges for the price of a coffee.

Practical

• Christmas. The market runs from late November to Christmas Eve and claims 1570 as its founding date, which makes it the oldest in France. Rooms vanish months ahead and prices double.
• Weather. Cold and damp in winter, warm in summer. Spring on the wine route is the quiet pleasure.
• Arriving. The airport has its own rail halt, and the train reaches the central station in under ten minutes. One combined ticket covers the train and the tram beyond it.
• Getting about. The centre is pedestrian and the tram handles the rest, cheaply and often.
• Money. A glass of Riesling is about four euros, a tarte flambee ten, a set lunch fifteen. Service is already in the price, so small change is the whole of it.
• Kitchen hours. Many kitchens shut between lunch and seven in the evening, which catches visitors out.