Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Strasbourg
The Neustadt and the European quarter in six hours
Place Kléber, the German imperial city built after 1871, Tomi Ungerer's museum, the Orangerie park and the European Parliament.
After 1871 Strasbourg was German, and the new rulers built a whole second city north and east of the island: wide avenues, a palace for the Kaiser and a university, all listed with the old town by UNESCO in 2017. This route starts on the old town's main square, crosses into that imperial Neustadt, and carries on through the Orangerie park to the glass parliament of the European Union beyond it.
The route, stop by stop
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Place Kléber
The main square, named after General Kléber, born in Strasbourg in 1753 and buried under his statue here. On its north side the Aubette holds the 1928 interiors designed by Theo van Doesburg, Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
15 min here Walk here → -
Église Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune
A Gothic church with a stone rood screen of the early 14th century, wall paintings from the Middle Ages and a small cloister. It is the Protestant one of the city's two churches of that name.
20 min here Walk here → -
Place de la République
The Kaiserplatz of the German city, a round garden with the Kaiser's palace, now the Palais du Rhin, on one side and the national library and theatre on the others. The war memorial in the middle shows a mother holding two dying sons, one who fought for France and one for Germany.
20 min here Walk here → -
Musée Tomi Ungerer
Strasbourg-born Tomi Ungerer, author of The Three Robbers, gave his home town thousands of his drawings, shown in the Villa Greiner. It covers his children's books, his satirical posters and his collection of old toys.
50 min here Walk here → -
Église Saint-Paul
A neo-Gothic church built in the 1890s for the German garrison's Protestant soldiers, on the tip of an island where the Ill meets the Aar. Its twin spires are the Neustadt's landmark from the river.
15 min here Walk here → -
Parc de l'Orangerie
The city's oldest park, around the Pavillon Joséphine, built in 1804 to winter the orange trees and named after the Empress, with a lake for rowing boats and a small zoo. White storks, the emblem of Alsace, nest in the trees here every spring.
60 min here Walk here → -
Parlement européen
The Louise Weiss building, opened in 1999, where the European Parliament meets in plenary twelve times a year. The Parlamentarium Simone Veil inside explains how it works and is free; it is closed on Sundays, and the chamber can be visited with registration.
60 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.