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What to Do in Alsace When it Rains - Guide to Indoor Activities
What to Do in Alsace When it Rains - Guide to Indoor Activities
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Rain in Alsace? No panic! The region offers a multitude of indoor activities that allow you to fully enjoy your trip...

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Homemade Gingerbread Recipe - The Alsatian Tradition from Gertwiller
Homemade Gingerbread Recipe - The Alsatian Tradition from Gertwiller
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Homemade gingerbread is one of the finest gifts you can give your Alsatian kitchen. Scented with honey, cinnamon,...

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Alsatian Gewurztraminer - The Royal Grape with Bewitching Aromas
Alsatian Gewurztraminer - The Royal Grape with Bewitching Aromas
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Gewurztraminer is undoubtedly the most expressive and recognisable grape variety in Alsace - and perhaps in the...

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Kaysersberg - Complete Guide to Visiting Albert Schweitzer's Village
Kaysersberg - Complete Guide to Visiting Albert Schweitzer's Village
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Kaysersberg - literally "Emperor's Mountain" - is one of the most captivating villages in Alsace. Nestled in the...

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Mulhouse - Complete Guide to Visiting Alsace's Industrial and Museum City
Mulhouse - Complete Guide to Visiting Alsace's Industrial and Museum City
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Mulhouse is the great misunderstood of Alsatian tourism. The region's third city with 110,000 inhabitants, it is too...

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What to Do in Alsace When it Rains - Guide to Indoor Activities

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Alsace in the Rain: Another Way to Discover the Region

Alsace benefits from a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters, but also rainy spells that can catch visitors off guard in any season. These grey days, far from being a calamity, are in fact the ideal opportunity to discover the region's interior riches: its exceptional museums, its wine cellars smelling of wood and wine, its winstubs where one warms up over a steaming baeckeoffe, its lively covered markets and its many craft workshops that perpetuate regional traditions.

Rain slows the pace, invites indoor wandering and creates a particularly warm atmosphere in Alsatian villages. Cobbled lanes in the rain, illuminated winstub windows, smells of mulled wine and tarte flambée wafting from restaurants: rainy Alsace has an undeniable charm that the hurried visitors of fine days never know.

Getting Well Equipped Before Going Out

Even in rainy weather, Alsace can be explored outdoors. The lanes of medieval villages, open-air markets and walks along canals retain all their charm under light drizzle. A good waterproof or light poncho, a sturdy umbrella and waterproof shoes are enough to enjoy Alsatian villages even when the weather is not at its best.

Museums, Alsace's Hidden Treasure

Alsace is one of the richest French regions in quality museums. Mulhouse alone houses three technical museums unique in Europe: the Cité de l'Automobile with the Schlumpf collection of 430 cars including 123 Bugattis, the Cité du Train with its 50 locomotives covering 150 years of railway history, and Electropolis, the museum of electrical energy.

In Strasbourg, the Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame houses one of France's finest collections of medieval sculptures and Gothic stained glass. In Colmar, the Musée Unterlinden, housed in a 13th-century Dominican convent, houses Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, one of the major works of 16th-century European painting. Its visit is an extraordinary aesthetic and spiritual experience that alone justifies a stay in Alsace.

Wine Cellars, an Invitation to Tasting

Rain is the ideal pretext for pushing open the door of an Alsatian wine cellar. The Wine Route boasts dozens of estates that welcome visitors for tastings, often free or very affordable, in centuries-old cellars with authentic settings. It is the opportunity to meet the winemakers, understand the terroir and the grape that give the wines their character, and leave with a few carefully chosen bottles.

For a more original experience, several estates offer introduction to tasting workshops where a winemaker guides participants through the different Alsatian grape varieties with olfactory and taste exercises. These workshops, generally lasting two hours, are an ideal introduction to the world of Alsatian wines for beginners and confirmed enthusiasts alike.

Winstubs and Alsatian Gastronomy

Rain is the perfect excuse to settle into a winstub and take the time to savour Alsatian cuisine in all its generosity. These traditional taverns, with their dark wood decor, solid wood tables and subdued lighting, are the warm heart of Alsatian social life. Steaming baeckeoffe, overflowing royal choucroute, crispy tarte flambée and melted Munster with caraway: a winstub menu is a journey into Alsatian culinary tradition.

In Strasbourg, the Rue des Dentelles and the Krutenau district group together the most authentic winstubs of the Alsatian capital. In Colmar, the Little Venice quarter houses several renowned establishments in 16th-century half-timbered houses.

Covered Markets and Boutique Shopping

Alsatian covered markets are places of local life that deserve a visit in all weathers. Colmar's covered market, in a 19th-century neo-Gothic building, offers on Saturday mornings the products of local market gardeners, cheesemakers, charcutiers and bakers in a lively and colourful atmosphere.

Alsatian villages are full of craft boutiques that allow regional specialities to be discovered and bought under cover. Soufflenheim pottery, Alsatian pewter, traditional embroidery, wines and spirits, artisan jams, gingerbread and bredele: the craft and gastronomic richness of Alsace expresses itself fully in these boutiques that are as many living conservatories of regional tradition.

Workshops and Creative Activities

Rain invites creativity and learning. Many Alsatian craftspeople and artists offer discovery workshops open to visitors: introduction to Soufflenheim pottery with wheel throwing and hand decoration, bredele making workshop with an Alsatian pastry chef, tasting and food-wine pairing course with a sommelier, or traditional Alsatian embroidery workshop.

 

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