Ribeauvillé

Situated on the Wine Route, between vineyards and mountains, Ribeauvillé is a charming town that has managed to make the most of its historic heritage.

In the Middle Ages, the town was the seat of the Ribeaupierre family seigneury (hence the name Ribeauvillé).

The Ribeaupierre family built 3 fortified castles, the ruins of which still majestically dominate the town and surrounding hills.
All three are accessible via a hiking trail on the mountainside:

château st Ulrich, (the oldest and most important of the 3 castles)
château Girsberg,
château du Haut-Ribeaupierre, (as its name suggests, the highest of the 3 castles).

From its medieval fortifications, the town still retains part of its ramparts and some of its defensive towers, including the "Tour des Bouchers" (13th century, rebuilt in the 18th century), which owes its name to the Butchers' Guild (charged with defending the town from this tower in the event of an attack).

The Grand Rue and its picturesque quarters, lined with flower-filled buildings (15th-18th centuries), are punctuated by squares adorned with Renaissance-style fountains.

Many of these buildings are well worth a visit:

Town Hall (18th century) and its prestigious collection of silver Hanaps (drinking cups) donated to the town by the Counts of Ribeaupierre,
Butchers' Tower (13th century)
The old wheat market, a former storage area,
Maison des ménétriers (a house with a unique facade decoration dating from 1683) etc.?

Numerous festivals punctuate the calendar of events in this commune, including
the "Pfifferdaj" (festival of the minstrels), which perpetuates the memory of the meetings of the Alsatian brotherhood of minstrels, who have been meeting in Ribeauvillé since 1481 to elect their king. The oldest festival in Alsace, it alternates between floats and brass bands (with a different medieval theme each year), and is still celebrated in Ribeauvillé every first Sunday in September.

Office de tourisme du pays de Ribeauvillé et Riquewihr