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5 Day Trips from Strasbourg by Train and Bus

By The Travel FieldbookPublished on Updated on 7 min read
Canal-side houses in Petite Venise, Colmar, viewed from a bridge.
Houses in Petite Venise, Colmar, seen from the rue Turenne bridge. (Flocci Nivis · CC BY 4.0 · Edited)

Choose Obernai or Colmar for a half-day town visit, but give the castle and German outings a full day. From Strasbourg station, you can reach medieval squares, Colmar’s canals, Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, Baden-Baden’s thermal baths or Freiburg’s minster without hiring a car. The main difference is what happens after the train: a short walk, a connecting shuttle or a local bus.

Five trips by train and connecting bus

CriterionObernaiColmarHaut-KoenigsbourgBaden-BadenFreiburg
Outward travel legs from Strasbourg stationabout 39 minutes; market squareabout three quarters of an hour; Petite Veniseabout three quarters of an hour; castlejust over an hour; Caracalla Spaabout an hour and a half; minster
Services and changesDirect TER A07 + walkDirect TER + walkTER + line 500 at SélestatDirect ICE + line 201TER + ICE 279 at Offenburg + walk
One-way fare components—€7.90 with Fluo cardBus €3; cash onlyRail from €19 second class with Carte Avantage; bus €3.70 adult—
Departure patternDaily; up to 2 trains/hour at peaks—TER up to 2/hour; shuttle roughly hourly on operating days1 direct ICE/day each way, year-round—
Last return link——15:35 castle → Sélestat station, 16:05——
Time for the outingHalf dayHalf dayFull dayFull dayFull day
Defining paid attraction——Castle: €12 adultCaracalla bathing: €21/2 hours; €25/3 hours; €35/day—

Obernai suits a compact medieval-centre visit, while Colmar adds canals and half-timbered streets. Choose Haut-Koenigsbourg for furnished rooms and armouries, Baden-Baden for bathing, or Freiburg for its minster and small water channels. Colmar, Baden-Baden and Freiburg have outward travel legs totalling less than two hours. Allow connection waits as well as the travel legs, especially for the castle shuttle and spa bus.

Alsa+ Groupe Journée costs €28 for Bas-Rhin or Haut-Rhin, or €45 for all Alsace. It gives 2–5 people unlimited travel on trains, coaches, buses and trams within the selected area, in second class on trains. It is valid on the ticket’s date, a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, until midnight. Bas-Rhin covers Strasbourg–Obernai, while all Alsace covers Strasbourg–Colmar. Both Bas-Rhin and Alsace cover line 500. Alsa+ 24h solo covers one person for 24 hours on the selected area’s trains, coaches, buses and trams.

Obernai

Obernai is the choice for a small-town half day with time for lunch. Place du Marché brings together the town hall, the belfry and traditional Alsatian façades, so you can concentrate on the medieval centre rather than spend the visit crossing town. Look at the buildings around the square, then explore the neighbouring lanes and the surviving ramparts.

Place du Marché in Obernai, with buildings lining the town square.
Place du Marché, the central square in Obernai.
Hermann Luyken · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Edited

Take the direct TER A07 from Strasbourg to Obernai, about 31 minutes. From Obernai station, Place du Marché is about 600 metres away, a walk of about 8 minutes. The daytime departures from Strasbourg are generally around ten minutes past the hour. That pattern makes Obernai a straightforward outing when you want to return to Strasbourg for the afternoon.

Obernai lies on the Alsace Wine Route, but you do not need a vineyard excursion to enjoy the town. Spend your time on the square and architecture, with a meal before walking back to the station. Keeping the visit within the centre leaves room to linger rather than turning a half-day outing into a series of transfers.

Colmar

Colmar suits you if canals and half-timbered streets are the main draw. Start at Petite Venise, meaning Little Venice, where houses line the Lauch canal. Continue into the old town towards the Koïfhus, the former customs house: its trading history gives the visit another focus beyond the canal views.

Half-timbered houses beside the canal at Petite Venise in Colmar, viewed from a bridge.
Petite Venise, Colmar, seen from the bridge on rue des Écoles. The previously assigned view is not reused.
Gzen92 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Edited

The direct TER from Strasbourg to Colmar takes about 33 minutes. From Colmar station, the walk to Petite Venise is about 950 metres and takes about 13 minutes. You arrive at the canal quarter on foot, with no local bus needed before beginning the town visit.

The comparison’s discounted rail fare requires a Fluo card, so treat it as a cardholder fare, not a price available to every traveller. The Alsace-wide group day ticket offers a different option for an eligible group travelling on its permitted days.

A half day gives you the canal quarter, the Koïfhus and nearby old-town streets. Add lunch if you want a less hurried visit. During the Christmas-market period, allow longer: stalls and seasonal displays become a reason to choose Colmar in their own right, rather than an extra to squeeze between the station walks.

Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle

Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle is the full-day choice for furnished rooms, armouries and towers. The visitor circuit shows a restored medieval stronghold, with views across the vineyards and Alsace plain. Give the rooms time rather than treating the castle as a viewpoint alone.

The entrance to Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, with its stone walls and tower.
The entrance to Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg in Orschwiller.
Gzen92 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Edited

From Strasbourg, take the TER to Sélestat, about 22 minutes, then line 500 to the castle, about 32 minutes. The rail service has 27 daily round trips. The shuttle has six or eight return trips per operating day, so leave room for the connection. Pay its €3 single fare in cash. Children under four travel free. Sélestat’s Humanist Library, with its historic book collection, is another possible interest if the connections leave time in town.

Individual self-guided visitors can buy tickets on arrival. Advance booking applies only to events and activities that specify it. Pushchairs cannot enter the circuit: an unattended storage area is available in the ticket-office basement. A baby carrier is recommended, and the circuit includes 300 steps.

January, February, November, December
09:30–12:00 and 13:15–17:15
March and October
09:30–17:45
April, May and September
09:15–18:00
June–August
09:15–19:00
Monday opening
10:30
Family admission
€30; up to four people, no more than two adults
Under-six admission
Free
Free-admission occasions
First Sunday monthly, November–March; European Heritage Days; European Museum Night
Name
Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle
Location
Above Orschwiller, near Sélestat, Alsace Maps
Site
haut-koenigsbourg.fr
Hours
Mon 10:30–17:00
Tue–Sun 09:30–17:00
Essential fact
A restored hilltop castle above Orschwiller in Alsace.
Price
€12 adult
€8 ages 6–17
€6 reduced rate · visitors with disabilities (conditions apply)
4 more faresFree under 6 · first Sunday monthly November–March · European Heritage Days · European Museum Night€30 Family ticket · up to 4 people, max. 2 adults€4 Adult audio guide · per device · supplement€2 Child audio guide · per device · supplement

Baden-Baden

Caracalla bathing area: two hours
€21
Caracalla bathing area: three hours
€25
Caracalla bathing area: all day
€35
Children
Admission from age seven; under-14s accompanied by an adult

Baden-Baden suits a full day built around thermal bathing. Caracalla Spa gives you the bathing stop, and the Kurhaus and Lichtentaler Allee, the town’s riverside park promenade, add a walk before or afterwards. Leave space for both rather than heading straight back to the railway station after the baths.

The main entrance to the Caracalla Therme in Baden-Baden.
The entrance to the Caracalla Therme in Baden-Baden.
3268zauber · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Edited

The direct ICE from Strasbourg takes about 39 minutes to Baden-Baden station. Continue on bus 201 towards Leopoldsplatz, then walk to Caracalla. The onward journey to the spa area is about 26 minutes. Allow for the bus connection as well as those travel legs.

The direct ICE has only one departure each way daily, so its timing shapes the outing more than the local bus does. A seat reservation is compulsory and included in the ticket. The discounted second-class rail fare in the comparison is a Carte Avantage floor price, not an unrestricted fare: its 30% discount applies to Standard fares, and the price varies with the date, train and availability. The local-bus child fare is €2 for ages 6–14. The single ticket allows transfers towards your destination within its validity.

You can buy individual spa admission at the ticket office without advance booking or an online reservation. Choose your bathing duration before entering, leaving time for the town walk and the bus back to the station.

Freiburg

Choose Freiburg for a full day centred on its minster and old town, rather than a trip into the Black Forest. Freiburg Minster’s Gothic tower is the main landmark. Around it, explore the market square and streets threaded by Bächle, the small open water channels that are a distinctive feature of the city.

Freiburg Minster, a large church with a tall tower rising above the surrounding buildings.
Freiburg Minster in Freiburg im Breisgau.
Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Edited

From Strasbourg, take the TER to Offenburg and change to ICE 279 for Freiburg main station. The rail journey takes about an hour and a quarter. A seat reservation on this ICE leg is optional. From the station, Freiburg Minster is about 1000 metres away, a walk of about 14 minutes.

The Black Forest rises beside Freiburg, but keeping this outing in town leaves room to look closely at the minster, follow the water channels and enjoy a relaxed lunch or café break. Return through Offenburg after the city visit, allowing space for the change rather than extending the day with a separate mountain excursion.

Sources & fact-checking

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

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