How To Get To Riquewihr in Alsace, France?
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 Alsace one of the most delightful places to visit in all of Europe.
Most of our vacation rentals are located in Riquewihr, in the heart of Alsace. Riquewihr is one of the prettiest villages in France and is easily accessible. It is a very practical base to visit all Alsace, the Vosges mountains and even nearby Germany and Switzerland.
How to travel to Riquewihr or La Vancelle in Alsace (France)?
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 and Strasbourg airports are approx an hour driving only from Riquewihr.
For long haul or intercontinental flights, the best airports to come to us are located in Switzerland and Germany: Zurich (90
minutes), Frankfurt / Main (approx 3 hours).
For airport transfers, our partner Best-of-Alsace.com (Pierre) can pick you up and drive you to our place. This is definitely an option to consider when 3 or 4 people are travelling together + luggages. Paris Charles De Gaulle
is quite far away although there are direct TGV train connections to Strasbourg and Colmar. Driving from CDG is a long way (more than 6 hours driving).
Hereafter we mention some cheap but reliable flights as well as good car rental. This information is given as an example. Since flights are changing constantly, please check with airlines and airport websites.
FROM anywhere in the world you can fly to Basel Airport
– 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 with Easyjet
- Barcelona with Easyjet
- Berlin with Easyjet
- Bucharest with Wizzair
- Copenhagen with Cimber Air
- Hamburg with Easyjet
- London (all airports) with Easyjet
- Madrid with Easyjet
- Manchester with Swiss
- Stockholm with Ryanair
- Tel-Aviv with Easyjet
Download Basel Airport new app for smartphones and tablets here
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). Using Google Maps will make it easy. Here we are, Remparts de Riquewihr Vacation Rentals: https://bit.ly/Riquewihr-map
For our Mountain Hiker apartment in La Vancelle, drive North on motorway A35, bypass Colmar and take exit number 17 to St-Dié. Using Google Maps will make it easy. Here we are, Rosa Gallica Rentals (the Mountain Hiker apartment): https://maps.app.goo.gl/jwsSiuUtjW3qqrpJ8
Other flights available to / from Zurich airport (90 minutes drive), Strasbourg (45 minutes drive) and Karlsruhe-Baden (90 minutes drive).
Our partner Pierre runs an excellent private company specialized in airport transfers and private day trips.
Do not hesitate to contact him here: https://best-of-alsace.com
TRAIN – TGV
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). 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.
Make your TGV train bookings on the following site: https://www.sncf-connect.com/
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. We are recommending the following online service: 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! The airport is easily
accessible from the main station with a frequent train shuttle. The airport is south-west of the city, towards our direction. You will save the traffic jams driving out or to Strasbourg. Choice and business hours are broader and
rates often cheaper. 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:
https://best-of-alsace.com
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.