GOUGENHEIM, 20kms west from STRASBOURG, is a pretty village of 520 inhabitants,nested between fields and a little forest where will be arranged a pedestrian path.It is a small village with an old chapel from 1524,crosses and martyrdoms, several old half-timbered farms but also a place with storks and a restaurant of alsatian specialities only open on W.E. Around the village, cereals, asparagus, hop and winegrapes are cultivated.
Gougenheim and the villages around are connected by ways allowing shorter or longer walks and often marked out by the Club Vosgien, and some accessible to horses, but it’s also a country of cycling with hills and levels of Kochersberg ( name given to our area by a hill of 301m) or the flat cycle track along the Marne to Rhin Channel toward Strasbourg or Saverne.
It is an ideal situation to visit Alsace and its diversity :
mountainous landscapes of the Vosges, forests of leafy or coniferous trees, mosaic of meadows and fields favourable to stroll or make more sportive excursions, alternate with cultural cities with prestigious past.
STRASBOURG, is 20 kms far, with the cathedral listed by UNESCO, the Petite France and its half-timbered houses, all the museums, the European institutions, the boat or small train sightseeing tours (another way to see the town).
To visit the town, the best is to put the car on a carpark relay and take the tram. This way you’ll avoid traffic jams and the search of a parking place and, for a little price, the car is parked all the day and you’ll get as many tickets as passengers in the car. The nearest carpark relays are Rotonde and Ducs d’Alsace.
SAVERNE, is 19 kms far, with its vestiges of gallo-roman civilizations, castles, churches and ramparts but also craft industry such as crystal or marquetry, without forgetting the neighbourhoods with 200 kms of marked out paths to go on by foot, bicycle, VTT or horse and its nautical center OCEANIDES to have fun or relax.
HAGUENAU, is 24 kms far, with the vestiges of its past of city of Barbarossa, then chieftown from the Decapole but also its beautiful forest and all the small villages located beyond this onewith their specificities (potteries, glasspaintings, vestiges of the Maginot line etc..) and to have fun or relax, the nautical center NAUTILAND and an open air swimming-pool.
BRUMATH, small city at the crossing of roman roads and administrative center from the roman legions, is 13 kms far. In the cellars of the old castle is the historical museum with its vestiges of the roman past of the city and in the church from that castle, you’ll find the classified Stiehr Organ. To have fun, there is a multiplex Cinema and in the forest beside the lake, where bathing is supervised in Summer, you’ll find an adventure park arranged in the trees with courses of different levels including a initiation course and courses for children. A picnic place makes it possible to stay there for a whole day of sport and relaxation.
MARLENHEIM, at the beginning of the wine road, is 15 kms far, with its old center and architectural curiosities but also its wine path which curves among its 132 hectares of vineyard and offers a panoram on the villages of the gold crown and on the plain of Alsace. On the old railroad which connected Molsheim to Saverne, a cycle track takes you along to Strasbourg without the shade of a car.
FOR LONGER TRIPS,
Take the wine road going toward to south, with several fortified castles as the imposing Haut-Koenigsbourg, and many archeological vestiges of the tumultuous past of Alsace.
With children, you can go to the Mountain of the Monkeys or the castle of the eables, beside Kintzheim, or to the aquarium Les Naiades in Ottrott.
And don’t forget, Mulhouse and its National Car museum wich has one of the most beautiful car collection of the world, its museum of the railroad or its museum of electricity, but also Colmar and its small Venice, the Unterlinden museum and Bartholdi museum or Selestat and its humanistic library.
In 35 minutes, you are in Europapark, the biggest german amusement park, to spend a ludic day with their many attractions as good for children as for adults and you’ll find activities for all tastes and all courages but it is also possible to eat there with restaurants, snacks-bars or picnic areas.
This inventory is not complete but it might give you an idea of the assets of our nice region.
You will be charmed by this area in the heart of Europe.
If Alsace is nice in Summer and often very hot ( but we have lakes and swimmingpools to satisfy every desire of water pleasures), you can also come :
in Spring, when the nature wakes up, the trees flower and the fields get green.
in Autumn, when the trees have many colors, when hop is ready for harvest, grapes are ripe and there are many fetes in the villages of the wine road.
And in Winter, with the Christmas markets. The Christmas market from Strasbourg is certainly the most famous (open from the last Sunday of November since the 24 of December) but we have many others in small towns and villages (generally only open during the Week-ends of December), who might be more typical.
All over the year, there is something to see or to do,
The Tourism Agency has edited a tourist brochure repertoring all the events and manifestations all around the year, so to get this informations, have a look at :
| Bas-Rhin | Haut-Rhin |
| www.tourisme67.com | www.tourisme68.com |
SO COME TO SEE BY YOURSELF.
MAYBE SOON IN ALSACE.