For intercontinental and long-haul flights, Zurich Airport is my favorite airport. Alsace is at the meeting point of three countries: France, Germany and Switzerland. Zurich Airport is located in Switzerland while Alsace is in France, but taking a long-haul flight to Zurich will take you only 90 minutes from our home in Riquewihr or La Vancelle.

Although Zurich Airport is the largest airport in Switzerland, it remains on a human scale, a comfortable place where the traveler does not walk for miles in endless corridors. There are sofas everywhere where you can rest for a few moments. It remains to be seen whether, from your home, a direct and non-stop flight is offered to Zurich.

Sometimes a direct flight to Zurich will be more expensive than another flight via London for example. But do not forget to take into consideration that the duration of the trip will be shorter than the one with a stopover and the fatigue less great. Not to mention the problems associated with connecting flights: delays, lost luggage, etc.

Flights to Zurich airport from North America: New-York, Chicago, Miami, Boston, Newark, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington.
Other long-haul flights from Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Singapore, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Dehli, Hong Kong, etc.

👉 More about Zurich airport on their official website

👉 Private airport transfer and pick-up to our vacation rentals in Alsace with our partner Best Of Alsace. This is definitely an option to consider when 3 or 4 people are travelling together + luggage.

👉 Rent a Car at Zurich airport. All major car rental companies have premises there. Check availabilities and offers with our recommended booking engine.

Frankfurt am Main Airport is the most important German airport. It is also the third largest airport in Europe serving the largest number of international destinations after London Heathrow Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. 

Obviously, compared to Zurich, it is a larger hub, which often means greater walking distances and longer waits.

Frankfurt Airport is only 275 kilometres away, or about a 3-hour drive, from our holiday apartments in Alsace.

Flights to Frankfurt depart from almost all major airports worldwide. On the same route, the destination is often served by several competing airlines. You should be able to find a flight at a good price from your home.

Unfortunately, unlike Paris CDG airport, there is no really convenient train connection. Most of our visitors arriving in Frankfurt rent a car at the airport or use the services of Best Of Alsace for their transfer.

However, if you are traveling on a Lufthansa flight, there is a shuttle bus between Frankfurt airport and Strasbourg. The bus journey is an integral part of the flight. It must be booked with the flight. You cannot take the bus without a reservation by paying the driver. Once you arrive in Strasbourg, you would have to rent a car or a taxi / Uber.

👉  More about Frankfurt-am-Main airport on their offic ial website

👉  Private airport transfer and pick-up to our vacation rentals in Alsace with our partner Best Of Alsace. Interesting option when 3 or 4 people (maximum 6) are travelling together + luggage.

👉  Rent a Car at Frankfurt airport. All major car rental companies have premises there. Check availabilities and offers with our recommended booking engine.

Paris CDG Airport

Paris Charles De Gaulle airport is one of the major European hubs but unfortunately is quite far away from Alsace. Riquewihr is 466 kilometers (290 miles) away from Paris airport. Driving from CDG is a long way (more than 6 hours driving including the necessary stops).
But there are excellent and fast direct TGV train connections to Strasbourg and Colmar.

If you have planned a long tour of France, it may be worth renting a car when you arrive at the airport. But above all, do not venture into the city center of Paris with your rental car. It would quickly turn into a nightmare. Use public transport (or an Uber / taxi) if a stay or visit to the city of Paris is part of your travel plans. Return to the airport to rent your car after your visit to Paris (or to return it before visiting Paris). By renting your car at the airport (and not in the city), the choice of vehicles available will be greater, the rates better and you will avoid the hassle of traffic.

👉  Rent a Car at Paris airport. All major car rental companies have premises there. Check availabilities and offers with our recommended booking engine.

At Paris CDG airport (Terminal 2) there is a great high speed train station (TGV) where you will find TGV trains that will take you to Strasbourg in 2 hours and beyond to Sélestat and Colmar. No need to go to Paris downtown to catch the train!

👉  With this link you will learn how to find your way to the railway station within the airport according to the terminal your airline is operating from.

👉  With this link you can check and book your TGV high speed train from Paris airport to Strasbourg, Sélestat and Colmar.

From Sélestat or Colmar train station, take a taxi or Uber to Riquewihr. If you want to rent a car for the rest of your stay, I recommend that you only take the TGV train to Strasbourg and then the train that shuttles between Strasbourg train station and the airport (very frequent trains). It is smarter to rent a car at the airport. The airport is south of Strasbourg and so are we. You will save yourself the hassle of traffic when leaving Strasbourg, returning the vehicle will be easier and the car rental companies have longer hours than in the city.
👉  Rent a Car at Strasbourg airport, even when arriving by train.

👉  More about Paris airport on their official website

Strasbourg airport is over 100 years old (1923). It is located south-west of the city and is connected with the main train station in Strasbourg by shuttle train (5 times / hour, 8 minutes for the ride, cost less than EUR 5).
Strasbourg airport is 64 km away from Riquewihr and only 57 km from La Vancelle.

The largest airline at Strasbourg Airport is Volotea, a Spanish airline based in Barcelona and founded in 2011. Its fleet consists of 45 Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

Volotea was recognized by Skytrax in its global passenger satisfaction survey as the “Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe” at the World Airline Awards 2023 and 2024. Volotea has also won the award for Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe three times at the World Travel Awards in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

For example, Volotea operates flights from the south and west of France (Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Marseille, Ajaccio, Bastia, Nantes, Brest), Spain (Barcelona and Malaga) and Italy (Rome, Palermo) but also from London Gatwick and Berlin, to Strasbourg.

What I really like about the airport of Strasbourg is that within minutes only after the plane has landed, one is on the road to the final destination.

👉 More about Strasbourg airport on their official website

👉 Private airport transfer and pick-up to our vacation rentals in Alsace with our partner Best Of Alsace. This is definitely an option to consider when 3 or 4 people are travelling together + luggage.

👉 Rent a Car at Strasbourg airport. All major car rental companies have premises there. Check availabilities and offers with our recommended booking engine.

Basel-Mulhouse Airport is a much bigger airport than Strasbourg. It is binational (Swiss-French) in its operation and status, although it is entirely located on French territory (the airport is unique in the world in this status). When you come to us in Alsace, you will exit on the French side, not the Swiss side. This is important for customs clearance but also for car rental.

EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is 72 km away from Riquewihr and 99 km from La Vancelle.

FROM anywhere in the world you can fly to Basel Airport. But make sure to allow enough connecting time after your long-haul flight.

• with British Airways and American Airlines via LHR London Heathrow.
• with Air France, Delta and KLM via Amsterdam, CDG Paris Charles De Gaulle or with Air France via ORY Paris Orly.

Examples of direct flights to Basel from: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Copenhagen, Hamburg, London (all airports), Madrid, Manchester, Stockholm, etc.

‼️ If you do not wish to rent a car, please note that a free shuttle bus leaves regularly from the airport terminal to the SNCF train station of St-Louis located 2 km away. From the Saint-Louis train station you will have trains to Colmar. From the Colmar train station, bus or taxi to Riquewihr.

👉  More about EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse on their official webs ite. They also have a special app that you can download here (3 languages, English, French, German).

👉  Private airport transfer and pick-up to our vacation rentals in Alsace with our partner Best Of Alsace. Interesting option when 3 or 4 people (maximum 6) are travelling together + luggage.

👉  Rent a Car at EuroAirport airport. All major car rental companies have premises there. Make sure you select the French part of the terminal: MLH and NOT BSL.

Schengen Agreement: about customs & visa requirements

The Schengen agreement was signed in 1985 on the Princess Marie-Astrid boat, on the river Moselle, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, where the territories of France, Germany and Luxembourg meet.

Three of the signatories, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, had already abolished common border controls earlier.

In 1990, the Agreement was supplemented by the Schengen Convention which proposed the complete abolition of systematic internal border controls and a common visa policy. The Schengen Area operates very much like a single state for international travel purposes with external border controls for travellers entering and exiting the area, and common visas, but with no internal border controls. It currently consists of 29 European countries covering a population of over 450 million people and an area of 4,595,131 square kilometres (1,774,190 sq mi).

In 1996, two non-EU member states, Norway and Iceland, signed an association agreement. In 2009, Switzerland finalised its official entry to the Schengen Area.

👉 More about the Schengen Agreement and Convention from the official website of the European Law. 

Colmar is the nearest train station to Riquewihr accessible by TGV trains (High Speed Trains) from Paris (Gare de l’Est), Paris CDG airport, 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).

Colmar is less than 2h40 from Paris thanks to the TGV Est. There are also direct TGV trains to Strasbourg from Paris-Charles-De-Gaulle airport (no need to go to central Paris to take the train). There are even TGV trains to Alsace from Nantes or Rennes. If you take the trouble to book your train tickets 3-4 weeks in advance, you can benefit from very attractive rates.

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 at Strasbourg airport than in Colmar.

From Colmar station, there is a bus (1 per hour except on Sundays) to Riquewihr but generally, we prefer to use the bus to get around during the stay, when we do not have luggage to carry.

From Colmar station, to reach our vacation rentals at les Remparts de Riquewihr, I recommend taking a taxi (or Uber). It is practical and quick, especially if you have a lot of luggage because the taxi will take you directly to our place. 

👉 Interesting: the new website set up by the local authorities of Alsace offers you all the possible combinations in terms of public transport in Alsace, train, bus, etc.

The number of TGV trains from Paris to Strasbourg is much greater than on Paris – Colmar. The prices are also often more attractive. To make the most of your stay in Riquewihr, do not hesitate to combine TGV and car rental. If you arrive in Strasbourg by TGV and want to rent a car, I recommend that you pay close attention to the geographical location of the rental company and its opening hours. Do not rent your vehicle from an agency located north of Strasbourg when we are in Riquewihr or La Vancelle, heading south! You would waste a lot of time on the way for the pick up as well as the return.

‼️ Even if you arrive by train at Strasbourg central station, I recommend that you rent your car at Strasbourg airport rather than at the station or in the city center. Why? Because the range of vehicles is greater there, but above all because the collection or return of the vehicle is possible 7 days a week, while many other agencies are closed on Sundays. Another advantage: the airport is located southwest of Strasbourg, towards Colmar and Riquewihr, easily accessible from and to the motorway that will take you to us. You will avoid traffic jams to leave the city or to return your vehicle.

The airport and the central station are served by a fast train several times an hour. You don’t even need to leave the station to board the train to the airport. It works almost like a metro!

👉  To book your rental car from Strasbourg airport, you can visit the Holiday Auto comparison website and book your vehicle online.

👉 Book your TGV train on the official website of the French railway company (in English).

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 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 Switzerland 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.

👉 Although we have no commercial agreement with them, we are recommending the online service of holidayautos.com

Good to know: This may seem illogical but my recommendation is when arriving by train from Paris to Strasbourg, the best option is to require your car from … Strasbourg airport! (see above). 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.

‼️ When booking a car rental at Basel airport, make sure you choose a company based on the French side (FR) of the airport as your destination Riquewihr is in France. You will save time and the rates are often cheaper.

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, it will be more comfortable to find a taxi at the Colmar train station.

👉 Our partner Pierre runs an excellent private company specialized in airport transfers and private day trips. Do not hesitate to contact him here on our behalf.

When preparing your trip, kindly note that our apartments are available earliest at 4:00 pm but sometimes, depending on occupation, an early check-in or check-out might be possible. Do not hesitate to ask.