A holiday for all the family in Alsace

The region of Alsace in France has the perfect recipe for a family holiday to suit even the most demanding of tastes. Take the region’s many annual events, including festivals of cars, clowns, flowers and music, add a wide range of attractions, friendly locals and wonderful food, and set it in the second driest region in France and some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe and it is easy to see why family holidaymakers who have already discovered Alsace come back for more.

The Vosges Mountains bordering the west of Alsace provide the perfect playground for the more active family. Within one of the two nature parks, one of which is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, it is possible to go hiking, mountain biking, dog sledging, horse riding, paragliding and skiing through some breathtaking countryside.

Alsace has several adventure parks for younger families. A favourite is ‘Lac Blanc Parc d’Aventures’(lac-blanc-parc-aventure.com), situated overlooking the Kaysersberg Valley in the heart of the Vosges Mountains. The park offers seven grouped activities dependent on age, starting with the ‘Bear Cub’ and culminating in ‘The Lynx’ which includes activities such as tightrope walking and rock climbing.

One of the most interesting safari parks in the region is Monkey Mountain (montagnedessinges.com) situated near Colmar. There are a whole range of animal attractions at the park, one of which involves walking amongst 280 free roaming monkeys!

Young princes and budding historians will enjoy exploring the 34 castles found throughout Alsace. Perhaps the most impressive is the Chateau du Haut Koenigsbourg a massive medieval castle built 700 metres up in the hills overlooking the Alsace plain (monum.fr).

Families may also enjoy a holiday on the canal systems that run through Alsace. Bareboat or skippered, cruiser or barge, the opportunity to kick-back and enjoy life at four mph, combined with the comfort of having your own living space and making your own agenda, can offer great rewards. The cruising route travels through a host of historic sites with beautiful fortified towns and citadels set in a landscape of rolling hills.

For the sporting family Alsace has eleven 18-hole golf courses including those rated second best and third most difficult in France. All ability levels are catered for and two of the courses have special nine-hole courses that are designed for children. The Wantzenau course (golf-wantzenau.fr) offers the opportunity for the whole family to improve their French as well as their golf with instructors teaching the language during and after a round.

The cities of Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse are perfect locations for family city breaks. As well as having a wide range of fascinating museums and art galleries there is also a lot to keep the children entertained. Le Vaisseau (levaisseau.com) in Strasbourg, for example, is a science and technology museum in the city that has over 100 hands-on exhibits.

A special area for children aged between three and six years even allows them to build a house! Alternatively, the Schlumpf car museum (collection-schlumpf.com) in Mulhouse, which is the largest private car collection in the world, has small golf carts in which families can drive amongst the exhibits.

The Route des Vins is probably the most beautiful wine route in Europe. It winds its way over 170 km and passes through fairy-tale villages such as Euigisheim and Ribeauville. Families can explore the vineyards and adults can enjoy tasting the wine whilst children help pick the grapes or roll up their socks and help crush them. For more information, including maps of the wine route, please visit: Civa.fr.

For further information on all of these activities plus much more visit the Alsace Tourist Board at: Tourisme-alsace.com.

Air France fly from London Gatwick to Strasbourg, Ryan Air from Stansted to Karlsruhe Baden in Germany, just 30 minutes drive from Strasbourg while British Airways, Swiss and Easyjet fly to the European Airport at Mulhouse-Basel.

On June 10th the TGV Est high speed train link opens between Alsace and Paris. This will reduce rail journey times by almost half. For example, a journey between London and Strasbourg currently takes eight hours but, after June 10th, this will be reduced to just four hours and twenty minutes.