Strasbourg Old Town and Highlights Walking Tour

Overview

Meet your guide at the cathedral for a two-hour walk across Strasbourg's two UNESCO-listed halves: the medieval island (1988) and the Neustadt, built by the Germans after 1871 added 2017. The tour uses each district's architecture to explain the city's political history. Start at Notre-Dame Cathedral, built in pink Vosges sandstone, the world's tallest building from 1647–1874 your guide covers its construction, astronomical clock, and Strasbourg's status as a free imperial city before becoming French in 1681. Continue through the Grande Île: Maison Kammerzell's 1589 carved façade, Place Gutenberg, and Petite France, once home to tanners and millers along the Ill. Cross Place Kléber, then stop at Place Broglie, where the Marseillaise was first performed in 1792. Finish at Place de la République, heart of the Neustadt, where the Palais du Rhin and National Library form a monumental square your guide explains the 1871 and 1940 annexations and the returns to France in 1918 and 1945.