Gertwiller: Between Gingerbread, Wine and Cultural Heritage

Discover Gertwiller through its gingerbread craftsmanship, winegrowing and historic cultural sites. These themes reveal different sides of the town: an interactive gingerbread experience, collections on Alsatian history, architectural and mural-painting history, and insights into winegrowing. You can tailor your stay according to whether you are mainly interested in a hands-on activity, historical details or wine.

Make your own gingerbread and discover history

At the Palais du Pain d'Épices, visitors can decorate a gingerbread Mannele with icing and colorful dragees, then take it home with them. Covering more than 800 m², the Palais offers a lively, interactive experience. Making your own gingerbread offers a different focus from looking at historical objects: the Mannele activity results in something tangible that you can take away. The gingerbread-making tradition in Gertwiller goes back a long way. Maison Lips has been making gingerbread by hand since 1806.

The Lips Museum is dedicated to the history of early sweets and rural life in Alsace. It houses more than 10,000 objects across 350 m². The collection thus brings together two subject areas: the history of sweets and everyday life in rural Alsace. The Lips Museum of Gingerbread and Alsatian Folklore has its own architectural link to the past: it is housed in an 18th-century tithe barn.

Saint-Barthélémy Church: Romanesque traces and mural paintings

Saint-Barthélémy Church preserves the lower levels of the choir tower from its Romanesque predecessor. The sculpted decoration in this surviving section probably dates from the third quarter of the 12th century. This date applies to the decoration, not to the entire surviving structure. The church’s mural-painting cycle reveals another historical layer: its oldest scene dates from the 14th century and depicts the Adoration of the Magi. In the 15th century, it was painted over with a scene of the Dormition of the Virgin. The two dates are easy to distinguish: the choir tower points to Romanesque architectural history, while the cycle reflects later religious imagery.

Winegrowing between vineyard, cellar and tasting

Gertwiller’s vineyard lies above the village and faces south-southeast. The Vosges massif, particularly the 826-meter-high Maennelstein, protects it from the prevailing winds. The soil is also part of the local story of winegrowing: Gertwiller’s clay-siliceous area makes it possible to produce all Alsatian grape varieties.

At Maison Zeyssolff, you can taste five or six of its wines. The estate also screens an immersive film projected onto barrels in its century-old wine cellar. The tasting and film offer different experiences: one focuses on the wines, while the other combines moving images with the cellar setting. Together with the vineyard’s location and aspect, they provide a concrete insight into different aspects of wine culture in Gertwiller without reducing it to a single activity.

Getting here and finding a hotel

Gertwiller station can be reached from Strasbourg and is a five-minute walk from the Palais du Pain d'Épices. Check the timetable for your travel date. If you are looking for a hotel in Gertwiller, first consider whether gingerbread, wine, or architectural and art history will be the main focus of your stay. Then compare the locations of specific properties with the places you want to visit. The walking time from the station gives you a useful indication of the journey to the Palais.

Discover more destinations: Niederbronn-Les-Bains, Adamswiller, Gerstheim, Lampertheim, Entzheim, Morschwiller, Gunstett, Breuschwickersheim.

For the regional travel overview: Bas-Rhin.