Petite Venise de Colmar

What makes it special

Petite Venise is the stretch of the Lauch where it runs through Colmar, with half-timbered houses on both banks. In places flowers hang over the water, and elsewhere the banks are grass and greenery.

Growers, market gardeners and boatmen first settled this bank, and they shipped their produce into the centre of town in flat-bottomed boats, the same kind that now carries visitors. At the Pont de l’Abreuvoir, look for the gentle slope down to the water, which gave the market gardeners access to the river.

Along the Quai de la Poissonnerie the houses sit lower, and most open straight onto the water, where fishermen once unloaded the day’s catch. The quay joins the Quartier des Tanneurs, whose tall timber-framed houses date mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of their top floors are open-sided, because tanning families hung their hides there to dry.

Visiting

Before nine, the quays are close to empty and the low light falls across the house fronts, so walk them then. Start in the Quartier des Tanneurs and follow the Quai de la Poissonnerie, which turns into the rue de la Poissonnerie and brings you to the Petite Venise bridge. Stop on the bridge, then carry on along the river.

Then take the boat. There are two docks: the one by the rue Turenne bridge is very busy, and the one at the Saint-Pierre bridge, beside the Caveau Saint-Pierre restaurant, is much quieter. Be at the dock when it opens at 10am, because the morning boats fill fast, and buy your ticket there for the next free boat.

The ride takes 25 to 30 minutes and comes with commentary on the quarter and the fishmongers’ quay. Step carefully when boarding, as the boats rock. They pass under some very low bridges, so keep your head down.

Tips

Keep walking past the Petite Venise bridge rather than turning back there, because the half-timbered houses line the whole length of the river. For lunch, buy food in the Marché Couvert, the covered market on the canal, and eat it sitting by the water. The market shuts on Sundays and, outside the season, on Mondays.

At weekends, book the restaurants and wistubs near Petite Venise ahead. In July and August, if the queue at the dock is long, come back for a quiet ride at the end of the day, once the tour groups have left the quays.