COLMAR TRAVEL GUIDE | Best Things to Do in Colmar, France | Magical Fairy Tale Town in Alsace

Greetings from Colmar, France!

This enchanting fairy tale town seems to be the real-life version of the village from Beauty and the Beast, and boy, does it sparkle! Strolling down its lanes feels like stepping into a magical storybook world.

In the picturesque reality of the region, Colmar stands out as a small treasure located in Alsace, northeastern France. It serves as a unique blend of French and German influences, reflecting a history where ownership has often transitioned between the two countries.

We will also dive into the flavors of Alsace and try a tarte flambée, a thin crust topped with cream, onions, and bacon, as well as some smoked pig knuckles and a hearty choucroute, a dish of sauerkraut with sausages and meats. We will sample some delicious local wine for the perfect dining experience.

Colmar’s fairy-tale charm, rich history, and delectable cuisine make it a perfect destination for anyone looking to experience the magic of Alsace. Whether you’re exploring its picturesque streets, delving into its history, or savoring its local flavors, Colmar offers an unforgettable adventure.

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Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:41 Little Venice
01:32 Canal Boat Tour
03:40 Tarte Flambée & Dessert
05:12 Pfister House
05:50 St. Martin’s Church
06:35 House of Heads
07:18 Bartholdi Museum
08:04 Favorite Bakery
08:24 Center of Trade in Colmar
09:18 Wine Tasting
10:20 Market Hall
11:12 Old City Wall
11:56 Aperol Spritze with Pasta Straw
12:38 Amazing Dinner
16:35 Measurement in the Middle Ages

welcome to comar in the beautiful alsas region of France right here on the border with Germany and this town looks like it came straight out of the story book with its half-timbered beautiful houses and its Charming canals you’d be forgiven if you thought you in the middle of a g of a brother Grim’s fairy tale so we’re going to explore the cuisine and the Charming architecture let’s go [Music] [Music] okay so this canal flows down from the Little Venice region of kar which is just down the stream here and like the real Venice in Italy uh the merchants built their houses alongside the canal and they use boats to go up and down to uh deliver their their goods and the colorful house were used to identify what trades the individuals had and for example if it was a blue house then you knew a fisherman lived in that house and also like Venice in Italy today in Kar you could take a a a gondola ride a boat ride up and down the canals to see the beautiful sites and the Beautiful buildings lining the canals [Music] here all right so if you want want to take a ride on the canal on in the boats which I highly recommend it gives you a great vantage point to see the the city at the canal level on the water level then come here and look for the giant rooster and at um um you can um for 8 per person you can do about a 30 minute Boat Ride Along the canal and it’s very Scenic it’s very picturesque it takes you out kind of out of the city as well into kind of a little more remote uh area so it’s a very nice very nice ride I really recommend it so 8 eurs and look for the rooster and take a boat ride on the canals of comar all right so the Canal cruise is it’s a nice way to to spend some time and it’s only 8 per person so it’s very relaxing and it’s uh very cool to see the canals down here on the water level so yeah I definitely recommend taking the Canal cruise here in h Kar all right so we have to duck underneath this bridge for our Gonda Cruise it’s a pretty low bridge so we’ll see how this goes but we got to get down there check it out it’s pretty low Betty’s crunching down here we go all right made it [Music] [Music] tar flambe ham and cheese and then we have with a little bit of goat cheese on there this is supposed to be the best place in town we arear France one up a te that is really good okay so if you if you’ve never had t flamb or flam cin it’s a specialty of of V sauce and it’s kind of like a very delicate thin crust pizza without tomato sauce has cream fresh on it and some different toppings but so I think it’s like probably what pizza was like before they brought Tomatoes back from the new world and so there you go it’s very delicious and something you have to try and all sauce and some uh some whipped cream and and some nuts perfect way to top off your meal here in Kar and all sauce life is sweet [Music] [Music] so one of the most distinctive houses in Kar is the Fister house which was built in 1537 and this was the house of a wealthy Merchant who really liked to decorate at on the outside so everyone could enjoy it but also so they could be envious he could show off all the money he had I guess but it’s pretty spectacular and now it has a nice wine shop on the ground floor you can go in and get some delicious alaan wine [Music] all right so this is St Martin’s Cathedral and it was built in the 13th century it’s a stunning example of Gothic architecture it has one lone Bell Tower and inside is quite stunning as well it has some very beautiful stained glass windows on the inside so you have to come in and check it out it’s free to go in and walk around so uh yeah when you’re in Kar you have to go check out the St Martin’s Cathedral [Music] [Music] okay so this is this building is called the house of heads and uh because of all of the heads and faces adorning the uh outside of the building it was built in the early 1600 16009 I think and uh it was a Merchant’s house it served as the uh the burgermeister’s house or the mayor’s house also a custom house and then finally if you look at the top there’s a statue of a barrel maker up there and uh one of its last functions was that it served as the wine exchange for uh Kar so the house of heads now there’s a nice restaurant inside so come check it out it’s a very very beautiful building all right so this house which was built in the 15th century is where the famous sculptor Frederick bori was born and he’s is famous for creating the Statue of Liberty which stands in New York city so if you know Lady Liberty and you’re a fan of uh the Statue of Liberty in New York you can come here and now it’s a museum so you can visit the home of Frederick Bodi the man who gave us the Statue of Liberty [Music] all right so this is my favorite Bakery and Kar and the first time we came here was about 12 years ago they have a lot of delicious treats inside and they speak good English so step inside grab yourself a [Music] treat okay so this was the center of trade for ancient Kar and right behind me you have the customs house and basically all the trade coming into the city it was a center for a major for many major European cities trade would come in and out of here and when it came to the city would always come here first the customs house it would get taxed and then it would go out to wherever it was going from here and if you look at this beautiful Square it’s lined with these beautiful half timbered buildings and over here to my left we have a statue that was built by bartoldi who was the same guy who built the Statue of Liberty and in New York City and he’s holding up it kind of looks like maybe the Statue of Liberty he’s got his right hand up this person but he is holding vines that were brought back from Hungary and so here you go it’s a beautiful day in Kar all right so we have a wine tasting here and we have some local wines I have a reasing we have AET and a kont which is a sparkling wine similar to Champagne but it’s not from Champagne so we don’t call it champagne anyway so I I have the reasing smells nice cheers cheers you know on a nice sunny warm day when you’re walking around on that first drink nice cold wide wine hits the back of your throat oh my gosh it is so good this reasing is really dry it’s really good Che all right so this is uh kar’s um historic Market Hall and uh this building was built in the 1800s and it’s been renovated fairly recently and inside they have uh uh a lot of nice places to buy produce to buy uh you know groceries things you need for your house they have wine tasting they have a couple cafes a couple bars so a lot of locals will be in here buying this stuff for their daily needs it’s really cool we’re going to take you inside and show you around let’s go inside the Old Market Hall here in Kar [Music] all right so like virtually every uh City from the Middle Ages in Europe Kar also had a walled had had a wall for protection around the city and this is basically what’s left of the old medieval uh wall and you can see the moat is basically right underneath me and it runs straight down to uh the Little Venice the peti the petite um Venice if you will so right here is our medieval wall and [Music] Kar all right so always trying to be environmentally friendly here in your Europe and you look we have this apple Spritz and look at our straw not plastic not paper but H how you about that good for the environment and good for you [Music] oh man that is unbelievable it’s called hawen in Germany but it’s a pig leg lower Pig leg this is roasted it’s kind of smoky very tender very delicious and here we have some um sourkraut I forget what they call it in French but it’s a sauerkraut with the different Meats then we have a flam Cookin tart flambe I believe it’s called in in French so here we have it our alaan Feast B of tee all right look at that it just Falls completely off off a bone you touch it with your fork it’s gone so the the sourkraut the shr I think it’s called here is made um it has a little twist it’s it’s made with the local reasing wine soaked in the sauerkraut so it’s very good then we have the five meats and a little horseradish so you put the horseradish on your meat mix it with some Sauer crop it is very delicious all right so it’s time for dessert and I have a kogal C which thick means ballhead in German and uh it looks good got some oh look at that it’s like ice cream it’s like ice cream with like a cake around it and a little bit of whip [Music] cream some vanilla sauce holid it’s fantastic all right so this is the cafe Alan and oh it has like a hard bottom punch it it goes down in there the twin has the CR oh it’s a very hot some sort of alcoholic drink at the bottom and it had like a hard bottom separating like the coffee and the whipped cream but I punched it with my straw so that’s going to kind of mix in there this is a very interesting drink quite quite delicious that’s good wow look at that that’s [Music] interesting really good I don’t know what it is is really good you got to try this okay so we just had a delicious meal at won’t even say it uh but uh it was excellent fantastic um had the um the the pig leg theana haxen as we would as you would say it in German um we had the shrut which is like sauerkraut with different meats and we had flam cukin which is tart flambe I think and French and then we had dessert had coffees had a bottle of wine and a really truly excellent meal it’s my birthday so it was a great birthday meal and here in Komar and it’s a beautiful evening so it’s a fantastic way to spend your day [Music] all right so often times in the Middle Ages standards of measurement was not standards of measurement they weren’t standardized from place to place and here in Kar they had their own different uh system for weights and measures so when uh Tradesmen would come into town bringing Goods to trade they would have to determine what does what did each City use for its length of measure and here in Kar here in this building building that was built in 1419 up above me there’s a figure who’s holding a stick and basically that was the length of measure that was standardized here in Kar so they’d have to determine what standards they were using whenever they come into each City [Music] kar’s Fairy Tale charm Rich history and delectable Cuisine make it a perfect destination for anyone looking to experience the magic of alsas whether you’re exploring its pictures best streets delving into its history or savoring its local flavors Kar offers an unforgettable Adventure thanks for joining us don’t forget to like subscribe and hit the Bell icon for More Travel Adventures be sure to turn in next Sunday for more adventures in alluce [Music]