Since moving to Strasbourg in 2022, I've had friends and family visit a few times. I found myself putting this guide together for them and figured I may as well share it with the rest of y'all. If you've got suggestions or corrections, please send 'em my way.

Getting around

Walking

Strasbourg's a very walkable city. You can cross the longest side of the Grande Île (about 1.5km) in 20 minutes or less, there are a lot of pedestrian-only streets, and sidewalks are generally wide with dedicated bike lanes. Do watch out for bikes as the average French cyclist doesn't know what a bell looks like, let alone how to use one, and today is not going to be the day that changes.

Biking

There are vel'hopfr rental bikes available from stations around the city, but you must return them to their stations. The bike infrastructure here is an impressive investment, tons of separation and dedicated space, and it feels like there are as many bike commuters as there are cars.

Transit

The city's transit system, operated by CTSen, offers excellent coverage of tram and bus linesen. You can buy single, 24 hour, or 3-day tickets from vending machines all over the city. If you plan on more than one round trip, just get a day ticket or the 3-day.

Tap your card at tram stops as you enter the platform, and board buses at the front so you can tap your card at the reader(s) there.

Some bus lines are infrequent (30 minute intervals) but all stops have real-time signs and I've never seen an early bus in almost 2 years, though they are occasionally late.

You can also buy tickets via the CTS mobile appen (iOS, Android) and if you're exclusively using the tram this may be a good option. If you're using the bus, be warned that you may need to scan a QR code and it can be extremely finnicky as the readers are very particular.

Neighborhoods

I'm bad at this and it can be a bit tough to really define the boundaries but I'll give it a go. There's a good food and interesting sights outside the old town core, but you can also have a pretty good few days of wandering around without venturing too far.

1. Quartier de la Gare

You're probably arriving at the main station here. Lots of hotels, some restaurants. It's convenient for arrival and departure, and you can get into the old town easily via tram lines and buses, but not much else is going on. It is, in my opinon, definitely one of the least anxiety-inducing and cleanest train station districts I've encountered in Europe.

2. Grande Île

The main tourist district, this is where most people spend most of their time. One of the tallest cathedrals in Europe, museums, canals, and tons of restaurants and bars, many hidden off the main street in courtyards and squares.

3. Petite France

Embedded in the southwest corner of the Grande Île, this is formerly a poor industrial quarteren that's now home to tons of really old half-timbered buildings. There are canal locks, some former water powered industries, and some ancient fortifications. Barrage Vauban, a 17th century covered bridge slash defensive work, has a top deck that gives great views of the city.

4. Krutenau, Bourse

To the south of the Grande Île, across the canal, these are somewhat newer. The canal walk is wonderful to walk along, with a good pedestrian-only stretch, and there's some really good coffee and food down here. Not super scenic once you get off the canal, I guess? A lot of these districts are given over to hospital and university grounds.

5. Neustadt

A district built by the Kaisersen while Germany owned the city during the late 19th century. Lots of big, imposing structures, many of them public, including the former imperial Palais du Rhin facing the big Place de la Republique park / square / roundabout thing. The National Libraryen across from the palace is a pretty cool building that's been modernized inside, although visitors can't enter the actual stacks.

A little further east is the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, and the very large and very pretty Parc de l'Orangeriefr.

A quick note on map and transit apps

Google Maps works great in Strasbourg, with accurate business info and hours. Some restaurants have reservations integrated, which is nice. I mostly use Apple Maps for getting around, as I like the UI and it handles transit, but be warned that often hours are wrong, and I inexplicably encounter businesses I frequent that have been marked "permanently closed". No idea what's going on there.

For actual regular transit use, I highly recommend Transit.app on both iOS and Android. It brings in the CTS real-time data and has other useful features like notifications for reduced holiday service.

Coffee

There's a pretty good coffee culture here, with a large handful of cafes brewing specialty coffee. There are also at least two local roasters, Mokxa and Omnino, that do good work, and several other cafes either use their beans or rotate through small European roasters.

My highlights are:

• Coffee Stub in Krutenau, along the canal
• Mokxa Boutique, on a quiet old town street
• Cafe Bretelles in the heart of Petite France
• Kiosque d'Omnino in an old greenhouse(?)

Food

Alsatian food is pretty heavy meat-and-potatoes stuff, plus tartes flambee (flammkuchen), so if that's not your jam or you're looking for vegetarian or vegan options you may have to work a little harder. There's a lot of French and Alsatian places, and unsurprisingly the closer you get to tourist areas like Petite France, the less reliable they get.

If you're going out for dinner, make a reservation, especially in winter. A lot of restaurants have very limited table space and booking one online or by a call is worth doing to make sure you aren't going door to door while hangry.

Day trips

I'll fill this out more later, maybe, but there's some good stuff within an hour or so. Strasbourg is chill and easy to get around and can be a good base for short day trips if you want to explore Alsace or Baden-Wurtemburg.

• Colmar
• Riquewihr
• Baden-Baden
• Bern

Other resources

• my google maps list for food, coffee, and sights, with some notes
• a Guardian guide from 2022en that's not bad
• the Strasbourg city websitefr has more info in French if you're having issues finding things on the english versionen.

strasbourg-for-visitors.md

1.1.5  2023-11-17  minor content changes, language tags for links, added links
1.1.0  2023-11-16  formatting, apps, added links
1.0.0  2023-11-16  initial version