Start from 34 curated places around Strasbourg, FR, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
S'Burjerstuewel (Chez Yvonne)
The winstub that defines the genre for most people who come to Strasbourg — wood-paneled rooms, checked tablecloths, tables close enough that you will overhear your neighbours' conversation in three languages, and a menu that covers the full Alsatian canon without apology. Founded in 1873, Michelin Bib Gourmand. The pork cheeks braised in Pinot Noir and the cockerel simmered in Riesling with house-made spaetzle are the plates that come up in every local recommendation, alongside the choucroute garnished with a full line-up of regional pork. Politicians, musicians, and half the diplomatic corps of the European institutions have eaten here; the atmosphere is completely unaffected by any of that.
Au Crocodile
The address that anchors Strasbourg's fine-dining history — three Michelin stars for decades, then restored to one star after a complete renovation and reopening. Named for the stuffed Nile crocodile in the window, brought back from Egypt by a Napoleonic soldier and still there. The kitchen produces contemporary French-Alsatian cooking with genuine local sourcing — scallop ravioli with squash cream, Dover sole with shellfish bisque — at a level that gives the room its weight without performing it. The tasting menu is the argument for going; à la carte is fine but does not show the full logic of what is happening in the kitchen.
Trails & outdoors
Forêt de la Robertsau and Pourtalès Park
A 493-hectare national nature reserve in the northeast of the city — a Rhine alluvial forest that looks and feels genuinely wild, with lianas climbing the trees and Karpfenloch Lake providing waterbird habitat throughout the year. Highland cattle graze in the meadow sections as part of the eco-management. Adjacent is the 18th-century Pourtalès Park with contemporary art installations scattered through it. The forest connects via the Ill river corridor all the way to the village of La Wantzenau, making longer cycling loops possible from the city without a car. The standard circuit is about 8.6 kilometres at an easy two-hour pace.
Ill River and Petite France Canal Walk
The flat towpath and quay network following the arms of the Ill through Petite France, past the Barrage Vauban, and onward toward the Parc de l'Orangerie and the European Quarter — a route that changes character every few hundred metres from tourist-dense canal to almost empty riverside path. A full Grande Île circuit on foot runs around five or six kilometres; by bicycle the same route extends naturally north toward the Robertsau or south toward Illkirch. Kayak trips through the Petite France channels run May to October through local clubs, passing under the Barrage at water level where the city looks completely different than from any bridge.
Things to do
Opéra National du Rhin
One of France's national opera companies, staging 200-plus performances a year across Strasbourg, Mulhouse, and Colmar, and co-producing with major European houses in Paris, Vienna, and Berlin — which means world-class productions at regional prices. The home stage is the 19th-century theatre on Place Broglie in the historic centre. The Ballet National du Rhin is based here too, and the Opéra Studio programme for young singers produces performances that are significantly cheaper and, in the best cases, startlingly compelling.
TNS — Théâtre National de Strasbourg
The only French National Theatre outside Paris, founded in 1968, with a permanent company, a drama school (École Supérieure d'Arts Dramatiques), and a programming philosophy that runs explicitly toward experimental and contemporary European work rather than traditional French repertoire. Around 15 productions and 180 performances per season, split between the main Salle Bernard-Marie Koltès and the more intimate Studio Grüber. The studio productions are often the most formally adventurous work in the building, in the smaller room on Rue Jacques Kablé.
Landmarks & sights
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg
A Gothic cathedral built over four centuries from rose-pink Vosges sandstone, with a single 142-metre spire that was the tallest structure on earth until the 19th century. The interior is lined with medieval stained glass ranging from the 12th to 15th centuries, and the astronomical clock in the south transept stages a parade of mechanical apostles daily at 12:30pm. The platform at the top (332 steps) looks directly across the rooftops to the Black Forest. Nave entry is always free; the clock and the platform are ticketed separately.
La Petite France
The tangle of 16th- and 17th-century half-timbered houses along the western arms of the Ill River where tanners, millers, and fishermen once worked, and where the water still runs in mirror-flat channels between the buildings. Rue du Bain aux Plantes is the most photogenic lane, but the real pleasure is wandering the full island perimeter — the back channels along Quai de la Petite France see a fraction of the foot traffic with equally beautiful views. The name has nothing romantic about its origin: it came from a hospital for soldiers with syphilis.