Things to do
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Barrage Vauban
From the roof terrace you look up the Ill to the Ponts couverts and the cathedral spire, and you pass a gallery of cathedral statuary on the way up.
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Cathédrale Notre-Dame
330 steps take you up to the platform, 66 metres above the square, for a view over the roofs to the Vosges and the Black Forest; leave large bags at your hotel.
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Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain
Across the Ill from Petite France, you can give an hour and a half to Doré, Kandinsky and Ernst under one glass roof.
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Parc de l'Orangerie
Pack a picnic for the lawns by the lake on the day you visit the European quarter across the road.
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Petite France
Along the canal lanes the tanners' houses lean over the water; follow them west across the small lock bridges to the towers at the island's tip.
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Place Kléber
In Advent you will find the city's great Christmas tree lit in the middle of the square.
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Bâtiment Louise-Weiss
If you come in a sitting week, reserve to see the chamber while a session is under way; the visit itself is free and needs a passport or national ID card.
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Église Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune
Half an hour here gets you the fourteenth-century frescoes and the cloister, a few minutes' walk from place Broglie.
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Église Saint-Thomas
If you care about organs, step in on the way to Petite France to see the instrument Mozart praised, in a church known for its acoustics.
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Grande Île
Three hours on foot covers the island's main sights, from the cathedral to Petite France, all a few minutes apart.
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Jardin botanique de l'Université
When the old town is crowded, an hour in the glasshouses by the university gives you quiet, a walk from the Neustadt avenues.
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Jardin des Deux Rives
One footbridge takes you over the Rhine from France into Germany; afterwards, sit on the Kehl bank among the sculptures.
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Krutenau
For dinner or a drink, cross the Ill to these streets in the evening; they are also a place to look for a quieter room near the cathedral.
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Maison Kammerzell
Coming out of the cathedral's west door, look up at its carved oak front; it stands on the same square.
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Mont Sainte-Odile
By car it makes a half-day out, for the view over the whole Alsace plain from the convent terraces and a stop in Obernai below.
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Musée alsacien
Until 2028 the museum is shut for works, so save it for a later trip and look at the house fronts from the quay across the river.
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Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame
The cathedral's original statues stand here at eye level; see them after you have looked up at the copies that replaced them on the west front.
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Musée historique
Before you walk the old town, an hour and a quarter here gives you the city's story from its earliest days to the present.
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Musée Tomi Ungerer
Travelling with children, you can bring them to the drawings of the Strasbourg-born illustrator on any day but Monday.
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Neustadt
North of the island, around place de la République, you walk into German-era avenues of sandstone and brick, a short walk from the cathedral.
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Palais Rohan
On Tuesdays the Beaux-Arts upstairs is closed, so plan the palace for another day and give the state rooms and the paintings two hours.
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Place Gutenberg
On the walk from the cathedral to Petite France you cross this square, so take it as the link between the two.
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Ponts couverts
Three bridges link the towers at the tip of Petite France: walk across them, then look back from the Barrage Vauban to see them with the spire behind.
