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Rhine boat trip
À partir de 210€
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Rhine boat trip
À partir de 210€
Details...
> Your stay in Alsace > Geography
A wide variety of landscapes
The Alsatian plain covers approximately 30 km in width and 160 km in length. Here, you can discover three different types of landscape:
The "Rieds" and the Rhine forest
This area was once the former flood bed of the River Rhine. It contains a number of marshes, poplar and elder forests, in addition to the damp grasslands known as the "Rieds". Among these, "Le Grand Ried" between Colmar and Rhinau contains most of these damp prairies.
The "forêt sèche" (the dry forest)
The plain also includes areas of pebbly soil, which are remains of the ancient arms of the River Rhine. These are poor, permeable soils. Dry forests comprising hornbeam, oak and pine trees have developed here. These include among others the Hardt Forest which covers an area of 1300 ha between Basel and the border of Upper Alsace.
The rich loessic areas
The loessic zones are an area covered by a limestone deposit which has been reduced to powder. This makes the area extremely fertile, an ideal for growing cereals, tobacco or cabbages for sauerkraut production. An excellent example is the Ackerland area between Sélestat and the Zorn Valley. We should also mention the Kochersberg area (which is often referred to as Strasbourg's wheat loft), where among other things hops are grown, in addition to the Hanau and Outre Forêt areas situated within easy reach of the abundant Haguenau forest (covering a total of 15,000 ha!). Finally, there are the Sundgau hillsides in southern Alsace, the eastern end of which is also covered with Loess and where visitors can admire the area's superbly preserved landscape and agricultural heritage.
