2 Best Sights in Alsace-Lorraine, France

With gingerbread, half-timber houses that seem to lean precariously over the canals of the Ill, plus old-fashioned shops and inviting little restaurants, "Little France" is the most magical neighborhood in Strasbourg. The district, just southwest of the center, is historically Alsatian in style and filled with Renaissance buildings that have survived plenty of wars. Wander up and down the tiny streets that connect Rue du Bain-aux-Plantes and Rue des Dentelles to Grande-Rue, and stroll the waterfront promenade.

To find Colmar at its most charming, wander along the calm canals that wind through La Petite Venise, an area of bright Alsatian houses with colorful shutters and window boxes that's south of the center of town. Here, amid half-timber buildings bedecked with flowers and willow trees that weep into the eddies of the Lauch River, you have the sense of being in a tiny village.