Dec 9, 2025
Découvrir et visiter l ‘Alsace
This is due to the region having belonged to the Holy Roman Empire until the 17th century, and also to the fact that the region has passed between German and French control four times between 1870 and 1945. Since 1972, it has been compulsory for wine to be bottled in the region where it is produced. The region has one of France’s lowest unemployment rates (8.4% in 2011). With an annual recorded rainfall of 530mm, Colmar and its region take advantage of one of France’s driest climates, making it ideal for vines to grow on the southern slopes. To the south, the Jura mountains mark the border with Switzerland from Basle to the vicinity of Porrentruy. Being the smallest administrative region of continental France, Alsace stretches from south to north along the Rhine, which borders its eastern flank.
It crisscrosses through the Alsatian vineyards from north to south from Marlenheim to Thann. Alsatian folk music is essentially orchestral and is closely linked to German, Swiss and particularly Austrian music, due to the history of the region. This traditional symbol of the Alsace region can often be admired at tourist and cultural events. It can change from one village to another, and some areas have their own characteristic costumes which may differ greatly, in particular in the Vosges mountains, the Sundgau and Alsace Bossue. The Alsatian costume as we know it today developed during the 18th century and is reminiscent of rural Alsace, of the region’s history and religious beliefs. However, attendance at Protestant and Catholic services is reflected by the number of churches still open and which can still be visited throughout the region.
Munster is still being made on either side of the Vosges mountains in Alsace and in Lorraine. In the Vosges mountains, many farmhouses (fermes-auberges) serve an authentic traditional farm meal called “marcaire”, which features pie as a first course and roïgabrageldi (potatoes with smoked pork shoulder) as a main. However, because of its small size compared to the average French region, Alsace ranks 20th for the number of tourists who spend at least one night in the region (11.7 million in 2011). It is estimated that 28,000 jobs are generated by tourism in Alsace, which represents 3.5% of the regional workforce in summer. As in most French regions, the service sector is growing rapidly at the expense of the first two sectors.
Alsacea is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. ① Ideas & inspiration ② Maps of France ③ Explore by region ④ Route planner ⑤ Places (by dept.) See details of the Alsace Wine Route that visits many of the most popular vineyards and villages Hunspach is one of our favourite Alsace villages, in part because of the many well maintained gardensSee Hunspach Just one of many beautiful villages in Alsace, Eguisheim has numerous traditional half-timbered housesSee Eguisheim As well as its fabulous wine Alsace has some hearty food specialities.
Alsatian does not have official status in France and can only be offered as an optional language at school. Locally known as Elsässisch, it is an Alemannic dialect, part of the High German language. The Alsatian dialect is estimated to be spoken by a slotrize casino no deposit bonus population of 400,000 to 700,000.
- At that time, the French trunk road left of the Rhine not been built, so that traffic would cross into Germany to use the Karlsruhe-Basel Autobahn.
- There are also numerous picturesque villages, among them some that are also classified among the ‘most beautiful villages of France’ (Eguisheim, Hunawihr and Riquewihr).
- It is estimated that 28,000 jobs are generated by tourism in Alsace, which represents 3.5% of the regional workforce in summer.
- However, in a Decree of 18 December 1952, supplemented by an Order of 19 December of the same year, optional teaching of the German language was introduced in elementary schools in communes in which the language of habitual use was the Alsatian dialect.
- Alsacea is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland.
- It crisscrosses through the Alsatian vineyards from north to south from Marlenheim to Thann.
Deep restructuring has affected main activities such as car manufacturing (Peugeot is the region’s first employer with an important site in Mulhouse). The alsatian industry has been facing diversification, particularly since 2004 when many potassium mines (Mines de potasse d’Alsace or MDPA) were closed for good. However, because of its concentration in wine-growing, tobacco, hop, hemp and sauerkraut cabbage production, agriculture in Alsace is reputed to be high-value-added.
Storks of Alsace
Alsace is also the main beer-producing region of France, thanks primarily to breweries in and near Strasbourg. Alsace is also well known for its foie gras made in the region since the 17th century. A gastronomic symbol of the région is the Choucroute, a local variety of Sauerkraut. The festivities of the year's end involve the production of a great variety of biscuits and small cakes called bredela as well as pain d'épices (gingerbread cakes) which are baked around Christmas time. In recent times, villagers started to paint the rendering white in accordance with Beaux-Arts movements. The traditional habitat of the Alsatian lowland, like in other regions of Germany and Northern Europe, consists of houses constructed with walls in timber framing and cob and roofing in flat tiles.
Sister regions
Alsace is a prosperous region, ranking third in France after Ile-de-France and Rhône-Alpes. Alsace is the first export region of France based on the export value per inhabitant. Taking the shape of a crescent, this “blue banana” is a continuous corridor of urbanisation with a population of 110 million, which adds up to three-quarters of the EU’s purchasing power. The Upper Rhine region, of which Alsace is part, is located at the heart of the European Megalopolis, which stretches from Liverpool to Geneva. Until the 1st January 2016, when it was integrated into the Grand-Est region, Alsace was the smallest region of metropolitan France. White storks are one of the region’s most beloved symbols, and for many centuries, they return every year from Africa to announce the coming of spring in France.
Northern Alsace
In more recent years, the Alsatian language is again being promoted by local, national and European authorities as an element of the region's identity. The Alsace region is divided into two French 'departments' with Bas-Rhin to the north and including Strasbourg and Haut-Rhin to the south and including Colmar. It is the smallest region in France and very pretty in its location between the Vosges mountains and the Rhine. Alsace is found in eastern France, on the border with Germany to the east and the Lorraine region of France to the west.
Long a center of the German-speaking world, after the end of the Thirty Years' War, southern Alsace was annexed by France in 1648, with most of the remainder conquered later in the century. For more than 300 years, from the Thirty Years' War to World War II, the political status of Alsace was heavily contested between France and various German states in wars and diplomatic conferences. On 1 January 2021, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin merged into the new European Collectivity of Alsace but remained part of the region Grand Est. Territorial reform passed by the French Parliament in 2014 resulted in the merger of the Alsace administrative region with Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine to form Grand Est. Until 1871, Alsace included the area now known as the Territoire de Belfort, which formed its southernmost part.
Que faire en Alsace en avril ?
As is customary for regional languages in France, neither Alsatian nor the Frankish dialects have any form of official status, although both are now recognized as languages of France and can be chosen as subjects in lycées. Since the 17th century, the region has passed between German and French control numerous times, resulting in a cultural blend. Alsace became one of the French regions boasting a thriving Jewish community and the only region with a noticeable Anabaptist population. Multiconfessional villages appeared, particularly in the region of Alsace bossue. Landowners, who as "local lords" had the right to decide the religion that was allowed on their land, were eager to entice populations from the more attractive lowlands to settle and develop their property. It has regularly increased over time, except in wartime and shortly after the German annexation of 1871 (when many Alsatians who had opted to keep their French citizenship emigrated to France), by both natural growth and immigration.
Happily a successful breeding programme has succeeded in re-introducing them to the region and they are again a popular sight, and a number of towns also have a 'stork park'. At one time every tall roof and steeple seemed to have a resident stork, but these then suffered a serious set-back and almost disappeared from Alsace. To the north-west of Bas-Rhin the landscape changes as you enter the Regional Natural Park of Vosges du Nord. As elsewhere in Alsace you will also find a lot of very pretty villages to explore including Hunspach and Mittelbergheim among the most popular with visitors. Combined with the fertile ground this creates an ideal environment for grape growing and wine production. This blog is run by Pierre Guernier for French Moments Ltd, a company founded by Pierre and Rachel Guernier and based in the south coast of England.
France began an aggressive policy of expanding eastward, first to the rivers Rhône and Meuse, and when those borders were reached, aiming for the Rhine. Though little is known about the early history of the Jews of Alsace, there is a lot of information from the 12th century onwards. Strasbourg began to grow to become the most populous and commercially important town in the region.
- The Alsatian costume as we know it today developed during the 18th century and is reminiscent of rural Alsace, of the region’s history and religious beliefs.
- Between 100,000 and 130,000 Alsatians (of a total population of about a million and a half) chose to remain French citizens and leave Reichsland Elsaß–Lothringen, many of them resettling in French Algeria as Pieds-Noirs.
- Like the rest of France, only the spire of the parish church signals the presence of colourful and elegant villages between two hills.
- In 1951, Article 10 of the Deixonne Law (Loi Deixonne) on the teaching of local languages and dialects made provision for Breton, Basque, Catalan and old Provençal but not for Corsican, Dutch (West Flemish) or Alsatian in Alsace and Moselle.
- In order not to antagonize the Alsatians, the region was not subjected to some legal changes that had occurred in the rest of France between 1871 and 1919, such as the 1905 French law on the separation of Church and State.
Notable people
However, while French is the major language of the region, the Alsatian dialect of French is heavily influenced by German and other languages such as Yiddish in phonology and vocabulary. The Ministerial Memorandum of 21 June 1982, known as the Circulaire Savary, introduced financial support, over three years, for the teaching of regional languages in schools and universities. In 1951, Article 10 of the Deixonne Law (Loi Deixonne) on the teaching of local languages and dialects made provision for Breton, Basque, Catalan and old Provençal but not for Corsican, Dutch (West Flemish) or Alsatian in Alsace and Moselle. Although Alsace has been part of France multiple times in the past, the region had no direct connection with the French state for several centuries.
According to a 2022 study, 46% of the population of Alsace still describe themselves as dialect-speakers. While 39% of the adult population of Alsace speak the dialect, only one in four children speak it, and only one in ten children uses it regularly. However, visitors to Alsace can see indications of renewed political and cultural interest in the language – in Alsatian signs appearing on hoardings and in car windows, as well as in new official bilingual street signs in Strasbourg and Mulhouse.