Budget · 3-hour walk · Strasbourg
The Grande Île in three hours
The cathedral and its clock, the prince-bishops' palace, Gutenberg's square and the half-timbered lanes of Petite France.
Strasbourg's old town is an island, the Grande Île, held in a loop of the river Ill, and the whole of it has been a World Heritage Site since 1988. This route crosses it from east to west: the cathedral first, before the queues, then the squares the medieval city traded in, the church where Mozart played, and the tanners' and millers' quarter at the western tip, finishing on the dam that guarded the river's entrance to the city.
The route, stop by stop
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Cathédrale Notre-Dame
The pink sandstone cathedral's 142-metre spire made it the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874. Entry is free; the astronomical clock in the south transept, rebuilt by Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué in 1843, sets its apostles parading at 12:30.
40 min here Walk here → -
Palais Rohan
The prince-bishops' palace of the 1730s, built on Parisian lines beside the river, with a courtyard you can walk into for free. Three of the city's museums fill it now: fine arts, decorative arts and archaeology.
15 min here Walk here → -
Place Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg for about ten years in the 1430s and 1440s and began his printing experiments here. David d'Angers' statue of him went up in 1840, in front of the Renaissance building that was the old town hall.
10 min here Walk here → -
Église Saint-Thomas
The city's main Lutheran church, five-naved and Gothic. Behind the altar is Pigalle's marble tomb of the Maréchal de Saxe, and Mozart played its Silbermann organ in 1778.
15 min here Walk here → -
Petite France
The old quarter of tanners, millers and fishermen, where the Ill splits into channels and the half-timbered houses lean over the water. The tanners hung their hides to dry in the open lofts under the steep roofs.
25 min here Walk here → -
Ponts Couverts
Three bridges and four square towers that were part of the 13th-century city wall. The wooden roofs that gave them their name came off in the 18th century; the name stayed.
10 min here Walk here → -
Barrage Vauban
A covered stone dam of the late 17th century, built to flood the land south of the city if it were ever besieged. Its roof terrace is free and has the best view of the Ponts Couverts with the cathedral spire behind.
15 min here Walk here →
More walks in Strasbourg
More in Strasbourg
Every walking route in Strasbourg, the full Strasbourg guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.