Colmar and Little Venice

Seventy kilometres south of Strasbourg, Colmar distils the Alsace of picture books: half-timbered houses leaning over the Lauch, the tanners' quarter, the canals of Little Venice where flat-bottomed boats glide by. The Unterlinden Museum holds Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, a deeply moving masterpiece, steps from the lanes where Bartholdi, father of the Statue of Liberty, was born.

Allow forty-five minutes' direct drive with your chauffeur. He drops you at the edge of the pedestrian centre; you explore at your own pace — covered market, boat ride, waterside terrace — and he meets you at the agreed time. On the way back, a stop in Eguisheim or Kaysersberg is easily improvised.