France’s smallest province is cosy, compact, pleasant and relaxed. It is a narrow strip of territory just 200 km long by 30 km wide, with a travel-brochure image of picture-postcard prettiness – half-timbered houses, burgeoning window boxes and neat ranks of vines lapping at the edges of well preserved medieval villages – which is not very different from the reality.

Bordered to the east by the Rhine and Germany, and to the west by the Vosges mountains, Alsace has spent as much time under German ownership as it has French, which perhaps accounts for its orderliness. Alsace is also jolly, clean, prosperous, extremely well-fed and a pleasure to visit at any time of year.

Take spring, for example, when the upland meadows are filled with wild flowers. Or early summer, when storks overhaul their cartwheel-sized nests. Even at the height of summer, when the heat and tour buses down on the plain become too much to bear, there is an escape into the mountains, or rather the high hills which make up the Vosges. They resemble monks’ tonsures, with thickly wooded sides and rounded, bare-topped crowns known as ballons. Take advantage of more than 1,200 km of marked paths for walks long and short through vineyards and forests, and for long-distance routes such as the GR5 which strikes out along the roof of the Vosges covering much the same ground as the spectacular Route des Crêtes, which forms part of our suggested driving route.

Seeing the best places visit in Alsace is made easy by a dozen signposted itineraries. The prettiest is undoubtedly the 120-km Wine Route along the foothills of the Vosges. Linger along the way to sample local vintages in traditional winstubs: dry Sylvaners, fruity Rieslings, full-bodied Tokays and Gewürztraminers are typically served in bulbous glasses on long green stems.

And then there is Alsacien cuisine: tartes flambées filled with onion and bacon; platters of choucroute (sauerkraut), or coq au riesling (chicken in white wine); not forgetting local Munster cheese served with a pinch of cumin seeds; and exemplary plum tarts.

TRANSPORT

Main line trains between Strasbourg and Mulhouse stop at Sélestat and Colmar. A local line from Sélestat back-tracks via Dambach, Barr and Obernai to Molsheim for return connections to Strasbourg. Bus services are sketchy, but bike hire is widely available (check with local tourist offices for details and suggested itineraries).