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Nearest Airport to Colmar: Basel or Strasbourg?

By The Travel FieldbookPublished on Updated on 4 min read
Half-timbered houses along a canal in Colmar, with an excursion boat on the water.
A canal-side view of Colmar, Alsace. (Adrien Olichon · Pexels License · Edited)

EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg is the nearer of Colmar’s two main scheduled-flight gateways by road. Strasbourg Airport is the other practical option: the better choice depends on which flights serve your departure point and how you want to continue to Colmar.

Colmar-Houssen Airport is closer to town, but it is not a regular scheduled-passenger gateway. For an airline journey, compare flights to EuroAirport and Strasbourg, then allow for the onward transfer to Place Rapp in central Colmar.

EuroAirport or Strasbourg Airport?

CriterionEuroAirportStrasbourg Airport
Scheduled passenger flightsYesYes
Road distance to Place Rappabout 58 kmBestabout 68 km
Driving time, excluding car collection and parkingabout 41 minutesabout 52 minutes
Public-transport travel components to Place Rapp, excluding waiting and arrival processingabout an hourabout an hour
Public-transport changeBus to train at Saint-LouisTrain to train at Strasbourg
Airport-access ticket, adult one way per person€3, Distribus Line 11€4.70, combined train + Strasbourg tram/bus
Onward rail ticket, adult one way per person—From €6, 2nd class; selected trains/dates, subject to availability
Airport-access departuresWeekdays: every 15–30 minutes; weekends/public holidays: every 30–50 minutesDaytime: every 20 minutes; peaks: every 5–10 minutes
Onward TER departures—Roughly every 30 minutes; up to three per hour
Last airport-access departure23:45 daily—

Choose EuroAirport for the shorter road transfer when both flights suit you. Choose Strasbourg when its flight fits better. With luggage, the distinction is a bus-to-train change versus a train-to-train change. Neither component total includes baggage collection, boarding or connection waits, so flight arrival time matters as much as proximity.

Both rail journeys finish at Colmar station. Place Rapp is about 850 metres away, about 11 minutes on foot. Allow for this final walk with your luggage, rather than treating arrival at the station as arrival in the centre.

Colmar-Houssen Airport and CMR

CMR identifies Colmar-Houssen Airport, about 5 km north of central Colmar. It serves business and tourism aviation, with leisure flights among its activities. This is the local aerodrome you may encounter when searching for an airport in Colmar itself.

Colmar-Houssen does not advertise regular scheduled passenger services. A CMR listing is not a scheduled airline route you can assume is bookable. For a conventional flight-and-transfer journey, use EuroAirport or Strasbourg Airport as your gateway, because Colmar-Houssen’s proximity is relevant to private or leisure aviation rather than the airline options compared above.

EuroAirport codes and the French exit

Basel, Mulhouse and Freiburg refer to the same EuroAirport, not three separate airports. BSL, MLH and EAP are identifiers used for it in booking searches. For the onward journey to Colmar, head to the French exit rather than following the Basel connection.

Board Distribus Line 11 at the French-sector Arrivals forecourt. It runs directly to Saint-Louis railway station, taking about 11 minutes. Keep your luggage manageable for the next boarding step: you leave the bus and carry it to your train platform.

From Saint-Louis, take a direct SNCF TER Fluo Grand Est train to Colmar. This leg takes about 36 minutes, with no further train change. At Colmar station, continue on foot to Place Rapp as described above, because the train does not deliver you directly to the old-town centre.

FlixBus also runs a direct EuroAirport–Colmar coach, with at least one trip daily. The direct coach removes the Saint-Louis change when its departure fits your arrival. That can be useful with bulky luggage, but its departure needs to work with the time you are ready to leave the terminal.

Entzheim-Aéroport and onward trains

SXB identifies Strasbourg Airport, also called Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport. Unlike EuroAirport’s bus connection, this route begins with a walk to Entzheim-Aéroport station. Follow the covered pedestrian walkway from the terminal, and allow about five minutes on foot, with extra room for handling luggage.

Name
Entzheim-Aéroport station
Location
Entzheim Maps
Essential fact
The railway station serving Strasbourg Airport in Entzheim.
Entzheim-Aéroport railway station viewed from the footbridge.
The railway station at Strasbourg Airport, Entzheim.
Kevin.B · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Edited

Take an SNCF TER Fluo Grand Est train to Strasbourg station. The airport train journey takes 8 minutes. At Strasbourg, change to a direct Colmar train: TER and TGV INOUI both offer direct services. The TER leg to Colmar takes about 33 minutes.

The change is within Strasbourg station, but you still need to get yourself and your luggage from the arriving train to the onward platform. Leave a comfortable connection rather than choosing solely by the shortest combined train-ride time. Once you reach Colmar station, the final walk to Place Rapp is the same as for the EuroAirport route.

You can buy the Entzheim-Aéroport–Colmar journey as a through TER rail ticket. This is a different purchase from the combined airport train and Strasbourg tram/bus product in the comparison. If you are continuing straight to Colmar rather than using Strasbourg’s urban transport, select the full rail journey to Colmar.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: services, fares and charges, and key figures.

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