Tucked away in the north east corner of France, in the Alsace region is a group of small cities and towns that remind one of the quaint fairy tale towns we see in Disney movies. More specifically, Beauty and the Beast. Colourful half timbered houses, cobbled streets, pretty fountains with quiet rivers running through, it does look like it has been brought to life from a fairy tale!

The most popular among these is Colmar. About 45 minutes from Basel airport and roughly an hour from Strasbourg, the major town in this area. Colmar is actually a busy city but the area known as Little Venice is where you find some of the most beautiful buildings and streets

This region has been shuttling between being part of Germany and part of France several times. Hence you’d find heavy German influences in the cuisine, architecture and even language. 

We found it easy to park near the sport complex just behind the Little Venice district and headed out to explore the area.The covered market was our first stop. There were neat little shops selling all kinds of merchandise from fresh produce to cheese, preserves and baked goods.

We then walked out to see the famed area that’s been on every postcard of Colmar. The Pont Rue des Ecoles. 

The town was less crowded than other places we have been to in France. Probably because this was not anywhere close to Paris, the most important city on an itinerary to France.

However, as we walked further to where there were more shops and restaurants we encountered far more crowds. Rue Turenne was the busiest with many restaurants that had outdoor seating. The bridge here was also one of the most popular photo spots.

Boat trips on the river Lauch started from Port Saint Pierre but with our limited time we decided to skip it. We then walked back to the area known as the Tanning district. There were more pretty buildings, decorated in pastel colours with a small canal of its own. The store fronts had wonderful displays and some buildings were even decorated with more embellishments.

The Scwhendi fountain, surrounded by half timbered houses looked exactly like a Disney set and it appeared as if Belle had stepped away for a minute.

The tanning district was also busy with a lot of restaurants and tourists. After getting ourselves some ice cream to cool down on this hot day we made our way back to the carpark for our drive back to Basel airport. We did not have much time to spend here as we missed our route on our drive from Zurich but it was still a memorable walk through this enchanting little fairy tale town!

Walking route

The Little Venice is a very small part of the city of Colmar. A couple of hours would be ideal to explore this little part. Click on the image below for