Best Tours in Strasbourg

Most of the best things to see and do in Strasbourg involve exploring the architectural and historical heritage of the city centre. This place stands out for being a metropolis that throughout its history has mixed cultural aspects of France and Germany creating a unique style that can be perceived both in its streets and in its gastronomy and lifestyle.

So in this publication I will tell you all the aspects you need to know about the guided tours through the most touristic neighbourhoods of the city of Strasbourg. All this so that you are aware of their duration, price and convenience. This will make it much easier to organise a more balanced budget to suit your expectations and needs.

The best option

Strasbourg Private Tour

Strasbourg walking tour

Enjoy a private and personalised guided walking tour of Strasbourg's main sites.

From £45 at Hellotickets

Recommended if you are interested in the idea of having a private guide tell you the most important secrets about each of the buildings in the historic centre of Strasbourg. It is also ideal if you need to speed up your sightseeing exploration because your trip is relatively short.

It is a good plan for families with children of all ages as well as for adult travellers with only a few companions. At the same time it is a good investment of your time and money knowing that it includes guided entry to several important sites.

The first thing you need to know about the best tours of Strasbourg is that these tours focus on a very specific area of the city. This is the Grand Isle and its surroundings, which for centuries has been the epicentre of the social and cultural life of this city and, therefore, houses most of the tourist districts as well as important monuments such as the cathedral or the Rohan Palace.

There is also the fact that the average duration of this type of tours makes them an extremely favourable option for those who have a one-day visit to Strasbourg. With the accompaniment of a local guide, participants have the opportunity to learn all the relevant information about the past of the streets they walk through and some of the important buildings. The tour is also accelerated to a fraction of the usual time, which makes it easier to see all the most representative areas of the city.

As for the type of tour, you should know that it is almost always a walking tour, although it is also possible to use other means of transport such as Segway. However, this alternative is only available to those who are tall enough and heavy enough to drive such an individualised means of transport.

You should also bear in mind that this is almost always a relatively private experience because it is reserved for groups of no more than 10 to 15 people. It is also common for there to be a minimum number of participants for the experience to take place. As for average prices, they vary from 50 to 100 euros per person. This depends on whether lunch is offered at one of the stops.

There are different ways to book a tour around the city of Strasbourg, but the best of all is usually an online purchase of the service. This has to do with the fact that through this method you have the possibility to get and secure a tour for the date and time you are interested in. This is while you can make the payment months in advance to organise your expenses in a more favourable way.

It is also possible to find out about the opinions of other people who have bought that particular tour and you almost always have the possibility to cancel the purchase for free if you give sufficient notice.

In fact, the reality is that nowadays most tour services are paid for through online booking and so this means of purchase may be your best option if you are also interested in single day tours from Strasbourg, which can be ideal for extending your sightseeing exploration if your visit extends over more than three or four days.

The average duration of Strasbourg city tours is about two to three hours in total. However, that number is quite subjective, as it all depends on different factors such as the weather, the number of tourists in the city at the time of your visit and the number of participants going on the experience. It is not the same for a guide to have to deal with a group of 10 people than to have to answer the questions and concerns of up to 25 participants.

In any case, you should know that usually with a three-hour walk you will be able to visit most of the tourist areas in the centre of Strasbourg, which are characterised by their cobbled streets and medieval houses with a clear German architectural influence.

Whether it is a two-hour or four-hour tour, you should know that this type of experience fits perfectly into the itinerary of a two-day visit to the city of Strasbourg. The idea is to visit as many areas as possible without neglecting to learn about the historical importance of each of the buildings and streets you visit.

Strasbourg city tours usually take you through a very specific type of landscape. And that is that they go through the areas with that unique and representative architecture that almost always has to do with that post-medieval period in which this city grew quite a lot and which is directly related to the construction of its cathedral and the future German occupation a couple of centuries later.

For this reason, the historic city centre and its immediate neighbourhoods are the preferred sites for this type of tour. However, the financial district and the residential suburbs are not usually included in the itinerary of these tours.

In any case, you should know that this area of the city is distinguished by its cobbled streets, its high concentration of buildings in a relatively limited space and above all by the canals that surround both the Grand Ile de Strasbourg and other nearby neighbourhoods.

So one thing you have to be sure of is that a sightseeing tour of the city of Strasbourg is an experience that makes you feel as if you are back in a medieval French or German village. For this reason, the Christmas markets that take place in this part of the city are one of the best things to do in Strasbourg during the month of December. Especially since they create an atmosphere that really feels like something out of a fairy tale.

Although Strasbourg city tours are a very well planned experience where you don't really run the risk of having a bad time, there are also some changes or decisions you could make to make the whole thing a much more favourable and enjoyable event for everyone.

So the following recommendations are some of those changes you should keep in mind to make a Strasbourg city tour everything you expect and even exceed your expectations.

Ask as many questions as possible

The main benefit of a guided tour is to be accompanied by a specialist who is at your disposal and that of your companions. This is so that you can understand the past behind each of the places you come across along the walking tour.

For this reason you should take advantage of the experience to ask as many questions as possible, as you are investing your time and money so that at the end of the tour you will have no doubts about the monuments or buildings you have seen.

Opt for personalised alternatives

There are two ways in which sightseeing tours are given in most cities. One is rigorously planned with no changes possible and the other is more personalised to suit the requirements and interests of the participants.

Therefore, my advice is to go for those alternatives that offer you a personalised tour. This way you will still get to see important sites such as the cathedral or the European Parliament, but the time you will spend at each of these sites will be adjusted according to your own requirements.

Try to speed up each individual visit as much as possible

On the other hand, there is also the fact that a Strasbourg city tour may include in the individual visit some important buildings or areas such as the cathedral or the houses of La Petite France, which are among the best things to do in Strasbourg in January due to the low tourist influx that defines them at that time of the year.

However, the amount of time devoted to this part of the tour may not suit your interests. So if it is a private tour, then I advise you to speed up each individual visit as much as possible when you feel you have had enough of the place.

The exact price of a tour of Strasbourg varies greatly, ranging from 45 or 50 euros to 80 or 100 euros per person. This variation in prices has to do with different factors such as the time of the year in which you decide to visit the city or the type of tour. It is not the same to have to walk because it is a walking tour as it is to be able to do it on an electric bicycle or a Segway.

The number of hours of the tour also has a direct influence on the price of the tour and the number of participants determines the final price, as the budget for a tour for 25 people is not the same as one that is reserved exclusively for a family group of four or five participants.

In any case, there is very little variation in price during the tourist season, which is why this type of tour is one of the best things to do in Strasbourg during the Christmas season. Especially because it is an opportunity to tour the areas that are occupied by the Christmas markets accompanied by a guide who is specialised in the historical importance of these events.

The sites that are part of the Strasbourg tours are really out of your hands. Although many of them are customised, the truth is that they always focus on the historic centre of the city and its surroundings. This is because it is the area with the largest number of representative buildings and the typical medieval aesthetics that define this city.

The following three places specifically are those unmissable sites that are part of the itinerary of this type of tour. Therefore, I will tell you about them so that you know what to expect from a sightseeing tour in the centre of Strasbourg.

The Great Island of Strasbourg

This part of the city is an island formed by the passage of the River III through the centre of Strasbourg. It is known for the fact that it is home to the famous Notre Dame de Strasbourg Cathedral, as well as the Rohan Palace and Kleber Square. It is characterised by its cobbled streets and by the Petite France district which is located at the southern end of the city, just where the canals are.

The Neustadt

The translation of this name would be German district and basically this is the area that was developed with large Prussian-style buildings during the period when Germany occupied the city after the Franco-Prussian war. It is an excellent place if you want to appreciate the neoclassical architecture that can be seen in these buildings that were built during the 19th century. The area around the Place de la République and the botanical garden are the most visited places in the area.

European Quarter and Parc de l'Orangerie

The European Quarter is the name used locally to describe the area where the Council of Europe and the European Parliament are located. Both buildings are located right next to the Parc de l'Orangerie and the area is generally a tourist attraction both for the beauty of these important buildings and for the tranquillity of the park and the surrounding baroque and neoclassical mansions.

For this reason, a tour that includes this part of the city is highly recommended if you are wondering how to visit the seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Some tours offer guided visits while others give you access to the interactive exhibits.

In terms of the advantages of taking a guided tour of Strasbourg, it is worth noting that this experience reduces the time spent in the most important part of the city to a very short time. This means that in four or three hours you can get to know the most emblematic corners of the Great Island of Strasbourg and its surroundings and then you can spend the rest of your trip on other much more peculiar activities that have motivated you to visit this corner of France.

At the same time, the accompaniment of a specialist in its history allows you to learn about the importance of this city, which does not let you return home without knowing the decisive significance that Strasbourg has had for France and for Germany throughout its history.

At the same time, the fact that the experience is relatively inexpensive compared to what sightseeing tours cost in other parts of the world makes it a good investment of your time and money. Although you should know that the alternative of touring the city on your own at different times on different days is something to recommend when the weather is not so favourable.

And in that case visiting museums and being in indoor attractions is a more recommendable plan and, therefore, the museum of fine arts or the museum of decorative arts are recommended plans that are part of the best things to do in Strasbourg in November, which is a rather rainy time of the year in which a city tour can feel like a challenge for many people.