Barr travel guide

Visit Barr (Grand-Est, France)

The village of Barr is 10 kilometres south of Obernai, in the Bas-Rhin department. Barr is rather the overlooked village of the Alsace - while neighbour Obernai gets visitors by the coachload, Barr sits quietly by.

Yet the town deserves your visit when you are touring Alsace - although there are no particular individual highlights, there are lots of picturesque cobbled streets lined with traditional Alsace houses, yet without the overcrowding of its northern neighbour.

Exploring Barr

Call in to Barr tourist office to get a map with the circuit touristique otherwise you will almost certainly miss some of the sights. Indeed my favourite part of the town, the Grand Rue, the main shopping street, would be very easy to miss altogether*.

* For some reason the tourist circuit takes you on to this road and almost immediately back off it again. It does though merit the short walk up and down before continuing on the marked route. The houses on this street are smarter than other parts of the town where they sometimes have a slightly shabby air.

Rue Neuve is the oldest street in Barr. It is a narrow street with painted colombage houses down both sides. It is called Rue Neuve (New Street) because it was rebuilt after a big fire in 1678 which destroyed much of the town.

In the centre of Barr you will reach the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, an attractive paved square with a large fountain in the middle.

One important building here is the town hall, an attractive building built in 1640-41 that was originally home to the bailif representing Strasbourg but after the revolution became the Town Hall. The main facade includes a series of arcades, while to the rear there is a double staircase overlooking a courtyard.

Next to the town hall is the Greffe Seigneurial, an attractive half-timber building with a wonderful cupola on the roof. Elsewhere in the town you will see lots of impressive half-timbered houses, typically dating from the 16th-18th centuries (Rue de la Stey, Rue Neuve, Rue Taufflieb, Rue des Cigognes, Rue du College, presbytery on rue de l'Eglise...)

There are also a couple of places in Barr where the architecture of the 'Belle Epoque' is well represented. On Rue du College there is a house with a lovely balcony in the Belle Epoque style and there is another on the Rue du Dr Sultzer.

Another highlight is the La Folie Marco. This is an elegant 18th century house which has a garden which has been restaured to show what a noblemans garden would have looked like at the time. The house is now a museum showing Alsacian furniture of the 17 and 18th century. There is a restaurant in the lovely vaulted cellar of the Folie Marco which sells good food at very reasonable prices.

There are also two churches: typical of Alsace towns, there is a catholic church and a protestant church. Both churches in Barr are called the Church of Saint-Martin!

The town is brought to life especially during the summer by the flowers that are all around, and the Sunday wine market.

Attractions nearby

Barr will often be visited as part of a tour of the many picturesque villages, towns and vineyards of Alsace: see Alsace Wine Route for the most popular itinerary.

You can find more travel ideas in the Bas-Rhin guide and the Alsace guide.