Destination Strasbourg

By Tim Ware, British Guild of Travel Writers

It's early afternoon and the latest star in the French Railways' constellation - the TGV Est high speed train - is pulling out of Paris.

Leaving the Gare de l'Est, an easy 10 minute walk from the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord, the scenery gives way first to elegant suburbs and finally to open country, the sleek train gathers pace on its two hour 20 minute journey to Strasbourg, France's easternmost city, 300 miles away on the banks of the Rhine.

Before we know it, we are cruising at speeds of up to 200mph. The view through the window is typically French: first, meadows on which plump cattle graze, then the vineyards of the Champagne region and, finally, as we approach Strasbourg, the neat valleys and gently rolling hills of the Vosges.

The extraordinary thing is that, for the most part, you're unaware of travelling at high speed. Only when the train passes beside a motorway is it apparent that you're journeying on Europe's fastest train.

You travel in style and comfort. The carriages are spacious and the seats wide (no travelling with your knees touching the seat in front here) and, unlike travelling by air, you can feel smug about leaving a negligible carbon footprint. You've done your bit for the environment.

The TGV Est - or le Train Grande à Vitesse Est Européen to give it its full name - takes high speed in its stride. At 200mph, the ride is relatively silent and smooth; even in the buffet car, the cup of coffee in front of you stays put on the bar top.

Soon we're pulling into Strasbourg. The very name conjures images of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and bureaucratic largesse. Well, yes. But there is much more besides. The capital of the Alsace region is a city of considerable style and charm.

In fact, I can think of few more pleasant places in which to spend a weekend. While it is undeniably a city, it has more of a country town feel about it. Crossing hump-backed bridges into the Petite France district, ringed by the river Ill, you're surrounded by half-timbered buildings, once the home to tanners, millers and the like. You could almost be in a medieval town in the Dordogne.

The best way to orientate yourself is to take a mini cruise. For a fiver or so you're provided with a one-hour trip through the city and downstream to the European Parliament buildings.

On the way the cruise boat travels along the Ill past high-gabled houses and old warehouses, some of which have been converted into hotels and waterside restaurants, negotiating several locks.

The centre of Strasbourg is cosily compact. We base ourselves at Hotel Maison Rouge, a three-star establishment whose reputation is built on traditional comforts rather than modernity. Our room is a good size and overlooks the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, our stay punctuated by the reassuring clank of trams passing in the street below.

The hotel does not have a restaurant (except for breakfast), but as it is slap bang in the middle of the city, and no more than a five or ten-minute walk from anywhere you'll want to visit, it's ideal.

Top of your list of 'must sees' should be the great 12th century Gothic cathedral, one of the finest in France, whose pink sandstone tower is visible from anywhere in the city. Climb the 332 steps to the cathedral's viewing platform and you're rewarded with a great vista of the old city and, in the distance, the Vosges in the west and the Black Forest in the east.

Also worth seeing in the cathedral is the enormously complicated astrological clock, built 1842, whose crowning performance of the day - the striking of noon at 12.30 - that being 12 o'clock Strasbourg time - attracts hordes of visitors.

Across the river the place de la Républic is a reminder that people living here have had to get used to a shifting border, changing their allegiance over the years from France to Germany and back to France again.

The square is lined with vast German buildings put up during the post 1870 Imperial Prussian occupation and in the middle is a war memorial showing a mother holding two dead sons in her arms - one killed by the French army and the other by the Germans - a situation unlikely to arise again under the new European unity.

The shifting border has had its effect, too, on the local cuisine: meals are a mix of German generosity and French finesse. The signature Alsace dish is choucroute - sauerkraut cooked with goose grease and smoked pork, with ham and sausages added. For around £12, at Maison Kammerzell in the city centre I enjoyed a tasty and filling dish of three kinds of fish - cod, salmon and smoked haddock - served on a bed of sauerkraut.

Contrary to expectation, restaurant prices in Strasbourg are not steep by British standards. There are many places where you can enjoy a well-cooked three course meal for less than £10.

For gourmets, there are around 80 Michelin-starred restaurants in the area. Thanks to the new TGV Est service, you could theoretically enjoy lunch in Strasbourg and be in Paris in time for dinner. Now there's a tempting proposition...

Factfile: Travel from Waterloo to Strasbourg, via Paris or Lille, with Rail Europe, the best place to buy cheap train tickets online. Fares start at £89 return in standard class, travelling on Eurostar and the TGV. Further details from Rail Europe 08708 304 862, or call at the Rail Europe Travel Centre at 178 Piccadilly, London W1. Rooms at Hotel Maison Rouge (00 33 3 88 32 08 60, www.maison-rouge.com) cost from around £60 a night. Further information on Alsace from the Alsace Tourist Board 00 33 3 89 24 73 50, www.tourism-alsace.com and the Strasbourg Tourist Office, 00 33 3 88 52 28 28, www.ot-strasbourg.org or, in the UK, Maison de la France (French Tourist Office), www.franceguide.com, 09068 244 123.