The Chemin de Fer Touristique du Rhin
Unique Association which owns the last steamlocomotives from the former Imperial Railways in Elsaß-Lothringen.

Start

The CFTR

Train + Boat

Timetable and prices

Find us!

Contact

Tourism

For the fans!

Links

Press

If you want to visit our region...

If you want to come to us only for historical reasons or because it is a part of a larger trip, you will find so much to do here that you can not be bored!

There are tourist attractions for every taste, every pockets and every age.

For the nature enthusiasts:

The Rhine river is the longest river (1325km) of western europe. Its source is in Switzerland, at the Saint Gothard. It crosses the Lake Constance (German Bodensee) and leads to the North sea.

In the Alsace plain, the drop of the rhine is 133m for 166km and it is compensated by 10 locks.

The Ried is this part of territory which borders the Rhine and which has been deeply impacted by it. It is very typical of the region in the center of Alsace.

The typical landscape of the Ried is impacted by the omnipresence of water coming from Rhine, by its unique flora and fauna and its aspect (like virgin forest).

Here are many possibilities to organize small trips with barges or by foot. (Especially on the Giessen with beginning at the city of Biesheim)

On the other side of the Rhine, at only some km from our association, the tourist can visit this particular massif, the Kaiserstuhl, literally the seat of the emperor. It consists of different mountains which are the rise of lava between vosges and the black forest. Its flora and fauna are exceptional and its climate is the sunniest of Germany.

Like the colmar region, which is the driest of France, this area offers the best conditions for the production of fine wines.

face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"

The map on the left shows the Kaiserstuhl, which is vast enough to plan several excursions.

For more informations about this subject, it is possible to visit the following websites (only in German):

http://www.kaiserstuhl.com

http://www.kaiserstuhl.net

http://www.am-kaiserstuhl.de

http://www.kaiserstuhl.de/

*For the culture lovers:* On both sides (german and french), there are a lot of cultural opportunities to discover.
			v
		The fortified site of Neuf-Brisach, which was designed in 1699 by the well known architect Vauban. Unbelievable but true: the city has been kept in original state since 3 centuries! A visit is a must: it is only few hundreds meters from the CFTR. The Vauban museum is opened from may the first until october the 31st.



				On the german side, the city of Breisach is in an impeccable state. The visitor could believe he is back to the middle age when hanging out around the town center and the church Sankt-Stephan, which has been build in the 13th century are typical. Because of the treaty of Westphalia, Breisach became french but it returned to the Holy Roman Germanic Empire thanks to the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. This was the reason why Vauban build the fortified town of Neuf-Brisach. More informations can be found ont the website of the city.

	To close this short presentation, let's talk about the city of Biesheim. The visitor will find 2 museums. One is about the Gallo-Roman civilisation and the second deals with a part of the science: the optic. Both are in the building called "Capitole", with a very particular architecture. For more information, please visit the tourist offices of Neuf-Brisach, Colmar or Fribourg. Finally and because Elsaß is a region which has a strong attachment to the church music, the tourist can find 1200 organs here. For example he can visit the instrument of Eguisheim and combine this with a wine testing or go to the website here to find another church!

*For the sport fans:* The "Rhine Island" (noted île du Rhin on the following map), which is reachable by using the bridge over the rhine, is a tourist area where you can find restaurants, swimming pool (called "Sirenia"), a marina with water skiing, an equestrian centre, a camping, etc.

For the experienced cyclist, the so called Route Verte is going through Neuf-Brisach. This is a 250km route through Lorraine, Alsace and Black Forrest. Riding along it is a perfect combination of sport and culture.

*For those who are interested in industrial culture:* On the Rhine river, the hydroelectric power generation is in use since many decades. From the 20TWh produced in Alsace in 2006, 7,67 came from the Rhine and 11,64 from the nuclear power plant in Fessenheim. The electric energy consumption was 15,1TWh, so that approx. 50% of it are covered by renewable energy. More informations about this issue can be found on the website of RTE. It is possible to visiter the power plant of Vogelgrün, near our depot.

			Without asking EDF for a visit, the BFS Boat will approach the power plant during the cruise.

The rhine river is also used for the cooling of the nuclear powerplant of Fessenheim which can't be visited anymore since the islamic attacks of the 11 september 2001 on the World Trade Center.