Jess and Martin’s Gluten Free Travel Guide

Christmas Markets

We visited dozens of Christmas markets across three towns and villages in Alsace, and they ended up being some of the highlights of our trip. As with any food-focused travel experience, I was a little nervous beforehand. Christmas markets are known for festive food stalls, and I wasn’t sure how many gluten free options they would have. After asking the right questions, I found a surprising number of coeliac safe options.

Here are the tips that helped me enjoy the Christmas markets in Alsace as a coeliac:

Ask questions:

Don’t be afraid to ask plenty of questions at food stalls; we found that people were generally happy to help figure out if the food was safe. I usually asked things like:

• “What ingredients are in this?”
• “Is there a risk of cross-contamination?”
• “Do you mix serving spoons?”

Be mindful of cross contact

With the busy market stalls, you’ll definitely want to look out for the risk of cross contact. I chose my vin chaud (mulled wine) from stalls that only sold drinks and didn’t also handle gluten containing food, which helped reduce the risk and made me feel more comfortable.

Look for nearby gluten free options

One thing that made the markets far more enjoyable was knowing there were safe gluten free options nearby. Strasbourg and Obernai both have 100% gluten free bakeries where I could pick up treats and not feel like I was missing out if I wasn’t able to find something safe at the market. Having those options nearby took a lot of pressure off eating at the markets themselves, resulting in me enjoying them more.

Remember the markets aren’t just about food

Christmas markets aren’t only about what you eat and drink. We spent plenty of time browsing local crafts, decorations, and handmade gifts, and appreciating the atmosphere and craftsmanship. Shifting the focus away from food made the experience feel much more relaxed.

Take time to enjoy the atmosphere

The atmosphere is what really makes Christmas markets special. They’re often set in beautiful town squares, surrounded by historic buildings, lights, music, and decorations. Taking the time to wander around and soak it all in made the markets just as magical.

Wine Tour

One of the highlights of our Alsace trip was our wine tour with Ophorus Tours.

After being picked up in Strasbourg and driving through the vineyards, we spent the morning visiting wineries, learning about the production process and tasting a variety of wines. We then stopped in the adorable village of Riquewihr for a lunch break.

Lunch wasn’t included and we could choose whether to get a quick lunch ourselves or to visit the restaurant our guide pre-booked. I brought a packed lunch with me and the restaurant the group visited kindly allowed me to eat it at the table with the rest of the group.

We finished the day with a walk through Riquewihr to our final winery visit for one last tasting.

Lucky for coeliacs, wine is naturally gluten free, so we were able to fully enjoy the fill experience. Just mention that you’re coeliac when booking and remember to bring a packed lunch!

We’d highly recommend booking a wine tour with Ophorus if you’re visiting France. Our guide was fantastic, the wines were excellent, and overall we had a great experience.

You can book this tour on Get Your Guide here (affiliate).

Self Catering

When travelling with coeliac, especially to more remote destinations, having your own kitchen can make a trip feel a lot less stressful.

We booked a self-catered Airbnb in Strasbourg for this trip, since we knew that rural France can be challenging when it comes to dietary restrictions, and we also had to contend with Christmas opening hours. Knowing I always had a safe meal to come back to gave me real peace of mind.

We found plenty of naturally gluten free options and a decent Free From section at the supermarket Auchin, where we did most of our food shopping (definitely download a translation app in advance to help you read the labels).

We were worried that having to cook every night would make us feel less immersed in the Alsace culture, but our Christmas Day fondue in our Airbnb proved us wrong!

Itinerary Highlights

Strasbourg
Strasbourg was the perfect base for our Alsace trip! It’s on the main SNCF train line, less than 2 hours from Paris (we travelled there in 1 day from London via Eurostar). It’s very easy to get to the other towns and villages in Alsace from Strasbourg too. The city itself is so beautiful; the Petit France area still has an Alsatian village feel! The Christmas markets in Strasbourg were extensive with lots of smaller markets sprinkled around the city, as well as the main one on Place Kleber where we found coeliac-safe options. Strasbourg is also home to one of the only gluten free bakeries in the region, which is reason in itself to base yourself there!

Other Towns (good as day trips)

• Colmar – Colmar really feels like something out of a fairytale and was the perfect day trip from Strasbourg (30 minutes by train). We were so happy to find the shop Ganache which sells coeliac safe macarons which were so good! We also found a stall in the Christmas Market that sold Vin Chaud without any cross contact, which was lovely!
• Obernai – Obernai was possibly our favourite place we visited on our Alsace trip; it was much smaller and less crowded than other towns, had a lovely Christmas market, and also the incredible L’Eden Obernai gluten free bakery! We’d definitely recommend visiting Obernai if you’re going to Alsace. It’s a perfect day trip from Strasbourg, where we stayed, as it’s only 30 minutes by train.
• Riquewihr – Riquewihr is an adorable little village that very possibly inspired the village in Beauty and the Beast. We visited here on our wine tour and weren’t here for very long but we would definitely recommend visiting to get a feel for the quaint villages in Alsace!