When we planned our “Let’s go to Europe trip” we were just excited that Iceland Air would let us book with a stopover in Iceland on the way to Paris then fly out of Zurich. We chose those places because they sounded neat and their timetables worked with ours. So Strasbourg was no different. I needed a place that was in between Zurich and Paris and it was right in the middle and seemed like an interesting city.
I wanted to see the big church there and the clock inside it.
I’d heard the clock was hundreds of years old and it did something fancy at 11:30am. (PS. it was neat, but the awesome-est part of going there for the clock show was that the rest of the church gets emptied at that time so you have the whole place to yourself.)
We ended up climbing the stairs to the top of the church (they were steep with kids) and the views were phenomenal!
A lovely reader also sent me some awesome information about Strasbourg because she had been there and had family that lived there. (Thanks so much Colleen and Emma-you’re definitely one reason I love blogging!) I knew we were going to fall in love with this city.
But we were on Easter weekend so I was a little worried that things would shut down and we’d have nothing to do.
We found out that Strasbourg at a Easter is amazing. Everyone was out and about and it was vibrant and gorgeous.
Our hotel gave out little bunny flyers and with our basic French we knew if we brought them to a specific place at a specific time we would get a bunny-shaped SOMETHING. But we weren’t sure what that was.
That something ended up being a balloon and there were thousands of bunny shaped balloons and it was neat to see some of them soar high above the city.
There was a farmers market at one of the churches and they had animals you could pet. 
The kids loved the amusement rides we found throughout the city too, that I think were only there for the Easter weekend too.
And there was a ton of shopping-I really enjoyed a stop at a cookie store even though I misread the signs and nearly paid hundreds of dollars for cookies. (It was at La Cure Gourmande Alpes and you might want to read the English reviews to understand how to get the cookies before you go.)
The kids were happy we found them a pasta restaurant and I really enjoyed all the food places we ate at (especially a pizza-like regional specialty called a tarte flambee).
We had coffee and pastries at Pastisserie Koenig and the city felt so safe the guys loved wandering a little more independently.
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We also had a fun time trying out our French in some cute little bakeries for snacks and we noticed that pretzels here were called “bretzels” and they were pretty tasty!
And one ice cream stand scooped ice cream in pretty flower shapes!
I was tempted to take the tram or little train we saw driving around or the neat looking flat boats that toured the city waterways but everyone was content to just walk and peruse the sights and we only had a few short days.
The kids really liked wandering the area called La Petite France and the boat locks there were a big hit (especially because we have some nearby our home in Seattle too!)
When we left Strasbourg we were really intrigued by the train station-it looked like a modern glass building but inside it housed what looked like an original station and we loved the design.
We had such a magical time in Strasbourg and it’s neat to think it was just chance that brought us there. I hope we pass through again.
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
Loved seeing your photos! I’ll pass on your post to my sister-in-law. She’ll be thrilled to see her hometown through your eyes!
Thanks Colleen! I’m so glad we stopped in Strasbourg. I wish we could have stayed longer:)
Great article about my home town! I was happy to read that you enjoyed it. Beautiful pictures! The little lambs are part of my childhood. It’s nice to read some names which are so familiar to me: Pâtisserie Koenig, La Cure Gourmande…
There were too many tasty places to eat in Strasbourg. We had such a fantastic time. Thank you for your help!
Strasbourg looks like such a family-friendly destination, and it’s not one that was on my radar. Hundreds of dollars for cookies? Sounds like something I might accidentally do. I hope you were either buying a whole lot or they were dusted in gold. Easter in France looks fantastic. It’s not much of a holiday in Malaysia, so ours was very low key.
Strasbourg was definitely great for families. I think they might even have a science center or zoo. And the cookies were definitely my fault. I thought the price for a box was the price of it filled with cookies but later found out that was only the price for the BOX, the cookies were also an additional charge. But it made a funny story and at least they were tasty. I really need to get to Malaysia on our next trip to Singapore. It looks fantastic.
We so loved our two days in Strasbourg. We stayed right across from the very cool Gare de Strasbourg and steps from Petit France. Found memories. Enjoyed reading about your experience.
I a man loving strasbourg but I have a tantruming 20 month old and everyone is either commenting or shooting me dirty looks, except for the visiting Americans who have reached out with empathy… it’s made me too scared to eat out now which is sad as everyone mentions how family friend it is!
Oh no! 20 months old is tough. I think wherever you are in the world that age can be so unpredictable and I remember feeling like I was in the spotlight a lot when my guys were that age. Sometimes eating out at lunch was our best time and then eating in for dinner made things easier especially in places where meals can take a long time, but we only figured that out through many embarrassing trials and errors. I hope things get better. Thank you for stopping by:)