tip-no-149

Wissembourg

City Tours · Northern Alsace

Video Wissembourg

Produced by: logo © 2023

Wissembourg is a friendly small town with around 7,600 inhabitants in the Bas-Rhin department of the Grand Est region, still affectionately referred to as Alsace by its visitors.

Wissembourg marks the gateway to the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park and is part of the "World Biosphere Reserve." Once a village of craftsmen and winegrowers, the town today presents itself as an inviting place for discoveries on foot or by e-bike. It is particularly relaxing to sit by the quays in the shadow of the abbey church or on the benches of the paved alleys.

Wissembourg Impressions
Half-timbered houses, park, and idyll by the Lauter river © Bert Schwarz 2018

History by the Lauter

The town developed around the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-et-Paul, the second-largest Gothic building in Alsace. Despite a chequered border history between Germany and France, daily life today is characterized by active neighborliness. Winegrowers cultivate their vineyards on both sides of the border as if it had never existed.

One can certainly philosophize about whether Wissembourg is not the well-hidden gateway to the German Wine Route.