How To Get There
Alsace is in eastern France on the Rhine River border with Germany. It is unquestionably spectacularly beautiful. A very special combination of history, culture, scenery, and especially food and wine makes it one of the most delightful places to visit in all of Europe. Riquewihr is the jewel in the crown and looks today exactly as it did in the 16th Century. Riquewihr is also a very practical base to visit all Alsace, the Vosges mountains and even nearby Germany and Switzerland.
How to travel to Riquewihr in Alsace?
BY AIR – Airports and flights
Do you wish to get the most out of your holiday in Riquewihr, La Vancelle and Alsace? Fly to one of the nearby and convenient airports and rent a car: Basel, Strasbourg or Karlsruhe-Baden are approx an hour driving only from Riquewihr. Other interesting airports (intercontinental flights) are Zurich (90 minutes), Frankfurt / Main and Frankfurt-Hahn (approx 3 hours) and Paris Charles De Gaulle (TGV train connection to Strasbourg and Colmar or 5 hours driving).
Hereafter we mention some very interesting links to cheap but reliable flights as well as cheap but good car rental. Since flights are changing constantly, please check with airlines and airport websites.
Basel airport is actually on the French territory and only a 45 minutes easy and comfortable drive to our vacation rental apartments in Riquewihr near Colmar and one hour to La Vancelle.
For Riquewihr, drive North on motorway A35, bypass Colmar and take exit number 22 (Ostheim, Riquewihr). Continue on the road D3 to Riquewihr (heading west to the Vosges mountains).
For La Vancelle, drive North on motorway A35, bypass Colmar and take exit number 17 to St-Dié. For the remaining 12 kilometers check our check-in / driving info.
Download Basel Airport new app for smartphones and tablets here: https://www.euroairport.com/en/passengers/mobile-app.html
FROM Anywhere in the world fly to Basel Airport with British Airways and American Airlines via LHR London Heathrow.
Anywhere in the world fly to Basel Airport with Air France, Delta and KLM via CDG Paris Charles De Gaulle or with Air France via ORY Paris Orly.
- Amsterdam fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
- Barcelone fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
- Berlin fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
- Bucharest fly to Basel Airport with Wizzair
- Copenhagen fly to Basel Airport with Cimber Air
- Hamburg fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
- Karlsruhe-Baden Airport with Ryanair from Alicante, Bari, Cagliari, Girona (Barcelone), London-Stansted, Porto, Rome (Ciampino), Stockholm
- London (all airports) fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
- Madrid fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
- Manchester fly to Basel Airport with Swiss
- Moscou fly to Zurich Airport with Swiss or Aeroflot
- Oslo fly to Zurich Airport with SAS
- Stockholm fly to Basel Airport with Ryanair
- Tel-Aviv fly to Basel Airport with Easyjet
Basel airport is only a 45 minutes easy and comfortable drive to our apartments in Riquewihr near Colmar. Drive North on motorway A35, bypass Colmar and take exit number 22 (Ostheim, Riquewihr). Continue on the road D3 to Riquewihr (heading west to the Vosges mountains).
Other flights to / from Zurich airport (90 minutes drive), Strasbourg (45 minutes drive) and Karlsruhe-Baden (90 minutes drive).
TRAIN – TGV
Colmar is the nearest train station to Riquewihr accessible by TGV trains (High Speed Trains) from Paris (Gare de l’Est), London, Brussels and Amsterdam, Zurich and Basel and now also with direct trains from the South of France (Provence-Cote d’Azur is only 4-6 hours away depending on where you start from). But if you wish to rent a car a better choice might be to take a train to Strasbourg. Coming from Paris there are more trains to Strasbourg and the rates are often cheaper. Car rental offer is also larger in Strasbourg than in Colmar.
Make your TGV train bookings on the following site: oui.sncf/en/home
Note that prices vary according to a number of parameters: how long in advance you book, schedule of the train, day of departure or return, etc. Try several options before choosing.
CAR RENTAL – RENT A CAR
You do not absolutely need a car when staying in Riquewihr but it helps a lot in discovering Alsace. Actually it depends on how long you will be staying, in which season and whether you want to discover larger areas (Alsace, nearby Germany with the Black Forest and Swizerland are easily accessible from Riquewihr) or only the nearby vineyards and cities.
Renting a car is easy and rather cheap if you follow the link hereafter. You will be able to move around easily, avoid waste of time waiting for buses and trains, finally making a maximum out of your highly valuable time. We are recommending the following online service: holidayautos.com/
The best option is to require your car from Strasbourg if you arrive from Paris by train. Then drive to Riquewihr or La Vancelle. You may also have your car rental at any major airport near us: Basel, Strasbourg, Frankfurt or Zurich.
RMK: Another good idea, depending on how long you wish to stay, is – when arriving by train at Colmar, take a taxi, get to Riquewihr, allow a day or so to explore the village and get your car the day after in Colmar. Having then no luggage to carry and being aware of your surroundings, it will be easy to take the bus from Riquewihr to Colmar, collect your car and drive back.
AND WHAT IF I HAVE NO CAR?
If you have no car, there are several bus services per day (except on Sundays) from Colmar train station to Riquewihr. The bus needs approx. 25 minutes from the station to Riquewihr. Visit the dedicated website for public transportation in Alsace (English version available, including schedules and timetables).Should you have some heavy luggage, you will also find taxis at the train station.
Our Check in procedure Our apartments are available earliest at 4:00 pm, latest 6:30 pm unless otherwise agreed.
As we are not a hotel or a B&B, there is no permanent reception desk. A precise meeting time should be agreed with us at least the day before arrival. Call our house manager on +33670089783 in order to agree about a meeting time in Riquewihr.
Driving instructions to reach our meeting lounge in Riquewihr With a GPS, enter RIQUEWIHR and STECKGRABEN as the street and follow as below. Once you will arrive in Riquewihr, continue to the medieval city. You will face the old gate of the Hôtel de Ville (city hall) giving way to the main street. DO NOT ENTER THE OLD CITY. Take right (without passing the gate) and then left in front of the Schoenenbourg restaurant. Follow the road up to the third pedestrian passage through the ramparts (flight of stone stairs on the left, our stairs are after the wooden staircase with a roof). Park your car and climb the stairs. Our lounge is just the first door on your left.
Check your personal booking file for precise and personalized check in / meeting procedure.