Colmar

Colmar, Alsace's most beautiful city, feels made for wonderstruck tourists — its essentially traffic-free city center is a fantasy of steep pitched roofs, pastel stucco, and aged timbers. Plus, it offers a few heavyweight sights in a comfortable, midsize-town package. The town's distinctly French shutters combined with the ye-olde German half-timbering give Colmar an intriguing ambience. Antique shops welcome browsers, homeowners fuss over their geraniums, and locals seem genuinely proud of their clean and lovely town.