Colmar

Unterlinden, Petite Venise and a side trip to Eguisheim

Colmar's old town takes one day; the wine villages take the next. On day one, see the Isenheim Altarpiece at the Unterlinden Museum at opening, then walk past the Maison des Têtes, the Koïfhus and the Maison Pfister to the Quartier des Tanneurs and Petite Venise. On day two, visit the Bartholdi Museum and ride or take a bus to Eguisheim on the wine route.

Day one, morning. Be at the Unterlinden Museum for opening time and go straight to the chapel holding the Isenheim Altarpiece before school groups arrive. Grünewald's panels are displayed so you can walk around them and see the hinged wings that were opened on feast days. Leave an hour for the rest of the collection, including panels by Holbein the Elder and the modern wing across the square.

Day one, afternoon. Walk south past the carved faces of the Maison des Têtes to the Dominican Church for the Schongauer Madonna, then round the pink sandstone Collégiale Saint-Martin. Cross to the Koïfhus, the old customs house, and continue down Rue des Marchands past the painted oriel of the Maison Pfister. The Quartier des Tanneurs leads straight into Petite Venise; take a boat on the Lauch if the queue is short, or simply stand on the bridge on Rue de Turenne.

Day one, evening. Dinner at a winstub in Krutenau, the old market-gardeners' quarter.

Day two. Spend the morning at the Bartholdi Museum, then hire a bike or catch a bus to Eguisheim, whose streets circle the castle in concentric rings. Taste at a family cellar, ride back through the vines, and keep the late afternoon for Kaysersberg or Riquewihr if you have a car.

Winstub dishes, Munster cheese and Alsace wine in Colmar

Eat in a winstub in Colmar: flammekueche to start, then choucroute garnie, baeckeoffe or fleischschnacka. Munster cheese comes from the Vosges valley west of town and is served with cumin. The Marché Couvert, an 1860s hall by Petite Venise, sells cheese and wine by the glass. Alsace wine is labelled by grape.

Alsatian cooking is at its best in a winstub, a wood-panelled wine tavern with chequered cloths and a short menu of regional dishes. Begin with flammekueche, baked thin with fromage blanc, onion and lardons, then choose between choucroute garnie, sauerkraut cooked in Riesling and loaded with sausages and smoked pork, and baeckeoffe, a sealed earthenware pot of marinated pork, beef and lamb baked slowly over potatoes. Lighter eaters can order fleischschnacka, spirals of pasta rolled around minced meat and pan-fried.

Munster is the local cheese, made in the Vosges valley of the same name west of town; it smells far stronger than it tastes, and is traditionally served with cumin seeds and potatoes. For something sweet, every bakery sells kugelhopf, the fluted yeast cake with raisins and almonds, and in December the counters fill with bredele, small spiced Christmas biscuits.

The Marché Couvert, a brick and iron hall from the 1860s on the edge of Petite Venise, is the best place to graze: cheese, charcuterie, pastries and wine by the glass, with tables by the canal. Wine is white and labelled by grape. Riesling is dry and mineral, Pinot Gris richer, Gewurztraminer perfumed, and Crémant d'Alsace is the local sparkling wine.

Colmar's wine fair, Christmas markets and dry winters

Colmar is one of the driest towns in France, sheltered from westerly rain by the Vosges. Early July brings the Festival International de Colmar, late July into August the Foire aux Vins d'Alsace, and September and October the grape harvest. Christmas markets run from late November until just before New Year; come midweek.

Sheltered by the Vosges from the westerly rain, Colmar is one of the driest towns in France. Winter is the dry season, with only about 30 to 45 mm a month from November to March, while May to August bring 60 to 70 mm, often as short thunderstorms. Summers are properly warm, with July and August highs around 27C, and winters cold: January averages highs of about 6C and lows just below freezing.

Spring arrives early on the vineyard slopes, and by late April the terraces are open. The town fills up in early July for the Festival International de Colmar, a classical music festival in churches and halls around the centre, and again from late July into August for the Foire aux Vins d'Alsace, the regional wine fair with tastings by day and concerts by night at the exhibition grounds. September and October bring the grape harvest; Wine Route villages hold their own festivals, and the light on the vines is at its best.

From late November until just before New Year, the Christmas markets take over. Separate markets fill Place des Dominicains, Place de l'Ancienne Douane and Place Jeanne d'Arc, with a children's market in Petite Venise and a craft market inside the Koïfhus. Saturdays are packed with coach parties from Germany and Switzerland, so come midweek and stay after dark, when the lights go on.