Strasbourg, France

Day 1

• Notre-Dame Cathedral

  Entry to the cathedral is free and needs no booking. The viewing platform is another matter: €8 (€5 reduced), 330 spiral steps with no lift, reaching 66 metres, with a view to the Vosges and the Black Forest. The hours carry a midday break: 9.30am-1pm and 1.30-8pm from April to September, last climb at 7.15pm, with earlier closing the rest of the year. The single spire is not a flourish: the second was never built.

• Petite France

  The tanners' quarter, with its 16th- and 17th-century half-timbered houses: these were working houses, not grand ones, and the wide sloping roofs existed to dry hides. It is walked free at any hour, but it is small and packed in the middle of the day: early morning it is empty and the canals are still, which is when the photographs everyone later sees are taken. In the evening it is lit and the houses reflect.

• Grande Île

  The island between the two arms of the Ill was the first entire urban centre to enter the UNESCO list, in 1988: not a monument but the whole fabric, ordinary houses included. You cross it on foot in 20 minutes from one bridge to the other and there is nothing to pay. Since 2017 the listing has been extended to the Neustadt, the German quarter: the two cities in one are why Strasbourg is on the list twice.

Day 2

• Ponts Couverts and Barrage Vauban

  The three medieval towers are the remains of the 14th-century fortifications, and the bridges beneath them were once roofed in timber, later removed: the name stayed, the roofs did not. Two hundred metres on stands the Vauban dam of 1690, built to flood the fields to the south in case of siege. On its roof is a public, free viewing terrace framing the towers, the canals and the cathedral behind: it is the best view in the city and costs nothing.

• European Quarter

  The European Parliament can be visited free but under strict rules: ID, security check and limited days, because access changes during plenary sessions. The Simone Veil Parlamentarium explains how the Union works and is free. The district lies to the north-east, twenty minutes from the centre on tram line E, and at weekends it is empty: it is offices, and anyone going on a Saturday finds architecture and nobody.

• Palais Rohan and museums

  The former residence of the prince-bishops on the Ill contains three museums in one building (Fine Arts, Decorative Arts and Archaeology), each with its own ticket at 9 € full and 5 € reduced, free under 18. Watch the arithmetic, which many guides get wrong: the one-day pass for all the city's museums costs 20 €, 15 € reduced, so it pays off not from the second museum but from the third. Tickets are sold only at the desk, because online sales are not running. It closes on Tuesday and on weekdays runs 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00, while at weekends it stays open through, 10:00-18:00, with the last ticket at 17:30. The 18th-century state apartments on the first floor are the best part and are covered by the Decorative Arts ticket.

Day 1

• Neustadt (German imperial quarter)✦ hidden gem

  The wide avenues, monumental buildings and gardens between the station and the university were built between 1871 and 1918, when Alsace was German and Strasbourg was to become the showcase of the empire: hence the scale, out of all proportion to the medieval city. It has been UNESCO-listed since 2017 and almost no tourist sets foot in it, though it is 10 minutes on foot from the cathedral. It costs nothing to walk and place de la République is the spot from which the intention becomes obvious.

• Boat trip on the Ill✦ hidden gem

  The Ill cruises last about 70 minutes, leave from the landing stage beside the Palais Rohan and pass through two locks, which is the part people enjoy most: the boat rises and falls inside the chamber. The route covers Petite France and runs as far as the European quarter. There are evening departures too, with the floodlighting. It is ticketed and in the busy months it needs booking, because the boats fill up.

• The Krutenau district✦ hidden gem

  The district east of the Grande Île, between the university and the canals: this is where students live and where you drink without centre prices. There are winstub, Alsatian taverns with checked tablecloths, alongside newer bars, and the market on place du Marché-aux-Poissons. It is not a quarter to visit but one to use in the evening: ten minutes on foot from the cathedral, across a bridge.

Day 2

• Choucroute and baeckeoffe

  Choucroute is not a side dish but a whole meal: fermented cabbage cooked in white wine with sausages, bacon, pork belly and potatoes, served on one big platter to share. Baeckeoffe is the stew families took to the baker on Mondays, washing day, so it could cook in the bread oven while they did the laundry: hence the name, 'baker's oven'. Both are ordered for two people minimum and take hours: winstub put them on set days.

• Tarte flambée (flammekueche)

  A very thin base baked for two minutes in a wood oven, covered with crème fraîche, onion and smoked bacon: it began as the farmers' way of testing the oven's heat before the bread went in. It is eaten in slices with the hands and ordered one at a time, because it has to be eaten scalding. In traditional stube you order in rounds: one arrives, you finish it, you order another. Often the second is the gratinée version with cheese.

Day 1

• Choucroute and baeckeoffe

  Choucroute is not a side dish but a whole meal: fermented cabbage cooked in white wine with sausages, bacon, pork belly and potatoes, served on one big platter to share. Baeckeoffe is the stew families took to the baker on Mondays, washing day, so it could cook in the bread oven while they did the laundry: hence the name, 'baker's oven'. Both are ordered for two people minimum and take hours: winstub put them on set days.

• Tarte flambée (flammekueche)

  A very thin base baked for two minutes in a wood oven, covered with crème fraîche, onion and smoked bacon: it began as the farmers' way of testing the oven's heat before the bread went in. It is eaten in slices with the hands and ordered one at a time, because it has to be eaten scalding. In traditional stube you order in rounds: one arrives, you finish it, you order another. Often the second is the gratinée version with cheese.

Day 2

• Kougelhopf, bretzel and Alsace wines

  The kougelhopf is the ring-shaped brioche with raisins and almonds baked in the earthenware mould every Alsatian family keeps in the kitchen; there is a savoury version too, with bacon and walnuts, served with wine. Alsace whites are recognised by the tall slim bottle and drunk young: dry Riesling, aromatic and sweeter Gewürztraminer. The wine road starts half an hour from the city and is done in a day, but the cellars close at lunchtime.

• The Krutenau district✦ hidden gem

  The district east of the Grande Île, between the university and the canals: this is where students live and where you drink without centre prices. There are winstub, Alsatian taverns with checked tablecloths, alongside newer bars, and the market on place du Marché-aux-Poissons. It is not a quarter to visit but one to use in the evening: ten minutes on foot from the cathedral, across a bridge.