EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Picturesque little OBERNAI , on the D422, is the first place most people head for when travelling south along the route from Strasbourg. Miraculously unscathed during the last two world wars, Obernai has retained almost its entire rampart system , including no fewer than fifteen towers, as well as street after street of carefully maintained medieval houses. Not surprisingly, it also gets more than its fair share of visitors, though this shouldn't put you off as the town is just about big enough to absorb the crowds. The tourist office , on place du Beffroi (May-Oct Mon-Sat 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-7pm, Sun 9am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; Nov-April Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2-5pm; tel 03.88.95.64.13), has lots of useful information about wine and easy-to-follow routes for exploring the region. The only reasonably priced hotels are the Maison du Vin , 1 rue de la Paille (tel 03.88.95.46.82, fax 03.88.95.54.00; under 160F/24), whose pretty rooms are above a wine shop; and La Diligence , 23 place de la Mairie (tel 03.88.95.55.69, fax 03.88.95.42.46; 220-300F/34-46), with a charming and reasonably priced salon de thé serving petits plats all day. La Halle au Blé   café is a good place for a hot chocolate after a hard day's hiking in the Vosges.

ROSHEIM , 7km north of Obernai and up in the hills a little to the west of the D422, is relatively off the beaten track. Its two main sights are the Romanesque church of St-Pierre-et-St-Paul , whose roof is peppered with comical sculptured figures contemporary with the building, and the twelfth-century Heidenhüs , at 24 rue de la Principale, thought to be the oldest building in Alsace. The simple, clean, friendly family-run Hôtel Alpina , 39 rue du Lion (tel 03.88.50.49.30, fax 03.88.49.25.75; under 160F/24), with an attractive terrace and breakfast room, makes a very nice place to stay. Rosenwiller , a couple of kilometres up the hill among the vineyards, has a prettily sited and atmospherically overgrown Jewish cemetery at the edge of the woods, testimony to Alsace's once numerous Jewish community.

From Rosheim's gare SNCF , 1.5km northeast of the village, a steam train runs up the valley on Sundays and holidays to Ottrott , which produces one of the few red wines of Alsace. An elegantly restored and modernized village house at 11 rue des Châteaux has been transformed into a rather luxurious hotel , the Hostellerie des Châteaux (tel 03.88.48.14.14, fax 03.88.95.95.20; over 800F/122), with a sauna, swimming pool and overpriced restaurant. Just out of town is the Aquarium d'Ottrot, Les Naïades (daily 9.30am-6.30pm; 43F/6.56), with sharks, crocodiles and thousands of fish from all over the world: follow the signs.

Ottrott brings you within hiking distance - 6km - of Mont Ste-Odile (763m), whose summit is surrounded by a mysterious Celtic wall, originally built in the seventh century BC. The wall is almost 10km in length and in parts reaches a height of 3.5m. Ste Odilia herself is buried in the small chapel on top of the hill, a pilgrimage site even today. According to tradition, she was cast out by her father at birth on account of her blindness, but miraculously regained her sight during childhood and returned to found the convent on Mont Ste-Odile, where she cured thousands of cases of blindness and leprosy. Accommodation is available here at Le Mont Ste-Odile (tel 03.88.95.80.53, fax 03.88.95.82.96; 160-220F/24-34; bookings advisable).