Author: Déco Alsace

From 1582 to 1683, in Bergheim - the very village voted France's Favourite Village in 2022 - 40 women were accused of witchcraft and burned alive. This is no legend. This is history. A journey into the darkest and most fascinating chapter of Alsatian history.

Between French traditions and Germanic influences, Alsatian cuisine is one of the richest, most generous and most distinctive in France. Choucroute, flammekueche, baeckeoffe, kougelhopf, bretzel, munster - every dish tells a story, a terroir, a way of life. The complete guide to the unmissables.

Between golden vineyards, cobbled lanes and colourful half-timbered houses, Alsace is home to some of the most beautiful villages in France - and Europe. Three Alsatian villages have been voted "Favourite Village of the French". Our selection of unmissable stops, from north to south.

The second most visited destination in Bas-Rhin after Strasbourg, Obernai packs everything Alsace has to offer into a few cobbled streets : half-timbered houses, a medieval square, belfry, ramparts, vineyards and a sacred mountain. The complete guide to a perfect day in Obernai.

170 kilometres, over 70 communes, 7 emblematic grape varieties, 51 Grands Crus and hundreds of half-timbered villages - inaugurated in 1953, the Alsace Wine Route is the oldest wine trail in France. From Marlenheim to Thann, at the foot of the Vosges, it crosses some of Europe's most beautiful landscapes and villages. The complete guide.

For more than seven centuries, the Kappelturm has dominated Obernai's Market Square with its 60 metres of Vosges sandstone. Former bell tower of the Chapel of the Virgin, civic belfry, watchtower, guardian of medieval bells - this monument is the beating heart of one of Alsace's most beautiful squares. A journey through history and architecture.

11 kilometres long, 5 to 6 metres high, 2 metres thick, 300,000 cyclopean sandstone blocks linked by unique dovetail wooden tenons - the Pagan Wall surrounding Mont Sainte-Odile is one of Alsace's most impressive and mysterious archaeological structures. Who built it? When? Why? Historians are still debating.

With their exposed beams, colourful facades and flat-tiled roofs, half-timbered houses are Alsace's most recognisable architectural symbol. But why the exposed wood? Why the vivid colours? And what did they really mean? A journey into the fascinating history of a living heritage.

Born blind around 660, probably in Obernai, rejected by her father the Duke of Alsace Etichon-Adalric, miraculously healed at her baptism, founder of the abbey of Hohenbourg on the mountain that bears her name, canonised in 1049 and proclaimed patron saint of Alsace in 1946 - Saint Odile is one of the most fascinating spiritual figures of the Middle Ages.

With its white plumage, black wingtips and long red bill, the white stork is Alsace's most iconic bird. But this symbol came close to vanishing forever : by the 1970s, only a handful of breeding pairs remained in the region. The story of a fascinating bird, caught between medieval legends, ecological crisis and a remarkable comeback.

Soufflenheim and Betschdorf are Alsace's two great pottery villages, just a few kilometres apart - yet completely different. Colourful glazed earthenware on one side, grey and cobalt-blue salt-glazed stoneware on the other. Two traditions, two histories, two aesthetics. A complete guide to understanding both and choosing the right one.

From August 11 to 16, 2026, Obernai's Market Square hosts the 56th Wine Festival, organised by the Corporation des Vignerons d'Obernai. Six days of free wine tastings, the famous crémant-based vigneron cocktail, a folklore evening and a winegrowers' ball - free admission, daily from 10 am to 8 pm.