Discover Plaine: Culture, Gardens and Remembrance

Plaine offers a variety of reasons to stay: a fun walk through the village and forest, a garden with a wide diversity of plants, a church with several building phases, a national cemetery and an artisanal chocolate workshop. You can therefore choose where to stay based on the focus of your trip. For nature lovers, the trail, viewpoint and garden are the main attractions; culture and history are especially evident at Saint-Arnould and the Nécropole nationale de Plaine.

Walk, viewpoint and garden

The “Balade ludique Plaine” is a fun family walk through the village and its forest. Along the way, a viewpoint offers a view of the Climont; one option leads to the Étang de la Falle. The two destinations offer different experiences: you can choose the viewpoint looking towards the Climont or the route to the Étang. The Rocher de la Chatte Pendue is 899 metres high, adding a specific elevation to the nature-related attractions.

Jardin de Niargoutte is home to more than 1,000 plant species, including trees, shrubs, perennials and bulb plants. Private visits are available by appointment; arrange a time before your trip. The garden offers a different focus from the walk: here, the emphasis is on plant diversity and the scheduled private visit.

Church and memorial

The parish church of Saint-Arnould can be explored through its building phases and surviving features. It was rebuilt around 1740. The surviving features from this period include the lower part of the entrance or tower porch, part of the nave and a holy-water stoup dated 1743. The church was extended after the war: work began in 1923, and it was consecrated on 22 September 1924. The building comprises plastered masonry, a three-storey entrance porch, a three-bay nave, a transept and a semicircular choir.

The Nécropole nationale de Plaine is located on Rue du Général-Tabouis. It contains the remains of soldiers who died for France during the fighting in the Bruche Valley in the summer of 1914 and during the liberation of the Colmar Pocket in 1944–1945. The site features an equestrian statue of Joan of Arc, commemorating the sacrifice of those who died in the First World War. The memorial site thus brings together two distinct wartime contexts; the equestrian statue explicitly refers to the dead of the First World War.

Chocolate and a train ride

Chocolat Chic operates an artisanal chocolate workshop and shop in Plaine, in the heart of the Bruche Valley. Its range includes chocolate creations, figures, pralines and other chocolate specialities. If culinary interests are also part of your choice of destinations, the workshop adds a distinct focus alongside the historical and nature-related attractions.

A ride with Le Tortillard on a scale-model steam locomotive at a scale of 1:3 takes 20 minutes. For 2026, Le Tortillard listed only 11 July from 2 pm to 6 pm, and 12 and 14 July from 10 am to 6 pm, as opening dates and times; schedules may change. The ride is clearly different from the walk through the village and forest. Check the opening dates and times before your trip.

Discover more destinations: Heidolsheim, Reichstett, La Petite-Pierre, Oberschaeffolsheim, Hessenheim, Meistratzheim, Maisonsgoutte, Weyersheim

For the wider travel overview: Bas-Rhin.