Upon arrival to Strasbourg we need to accommodate in a hotel – and this is what our colleagues from the Sogeho Hotel company, that runs seven affiliated hotels in Strasbourg and one in Colmar ranging from 3 to 5 stars, can help us with.

Strasbourg:
- Régent Petite France & Spa 5* (75 rooms, 4 conference-halls, restaurant, bar, spa-center and fitness);
- Cour du Corbeau MGallery 4* (63 rooms);
- Les Haras 4* (55 rooms);
- Best Western Grand Hôtel Bristol 4* (91 rooms, 5 conference-halls, 2 restaurants, bar, Wellness & fitness area);
- BOMA 4* (103 rooms, conference-hall);
- Régent Contades 4* (48 rooms);
- Le Grand Hôtel 3* (92 rooms, 6 conference-halls).

Colmar:
- Hôtel Kyriad 3* (41 rooms).

After choosing the hotel, we start our journey to Mulhouse along the wine route from north to south. Passing by Vosges, we can make a stop at the Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, the emblem of a French medieval castle, in Riquewihr, one of the most picturesque villages of France, and certainly in Colmar to take a boat trip on magnificent canals nicknamed the "Little Venice".

One can get to Mulhouse from Strasbourg in 1,5 hours, without stops. By the way, Mulhouse is called the "French Manchester", because it is a key industrial city in France. Mulhouse is also famous for its top-notch museums in the southern region of Alsace – you can visit the unique museum of textiles, the museum of automobiles and the railway museum.

The Mulhouse Manufactures supplied the whole Europe with fabrics for a long time. The year 1806, when Napoleon imposed a ban on the import of textiles from England, was the most favorable for the city. Today the craftsmanship of the local textile printers is on display in the Museum of Printed Fabrics (Musée de l'Impression sur Etoffes), which was founded back in 1883 and now hosts the collection of about 6 million historic tapestries, attires and textile samples. The museum is also a source of inspiration for the world-famous designers.

The Mulhouse textile tycoons made huge amounts of money and spent them on luxuries. For example, the Schlumpf brothers became famous for an incredible collection of automobiles containing more than 500 car models such as Mercedes, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Maybach, and also the largest and the most comprehensive collection of Bugatti motor vehicles in the world. Nowadays these prestigious cars are on display in one of the world largest car museums – The National Automobile Museum (Musée National de l'Automobile), located in the former textile factory warehouse of the Schlumpf brothers in Mulhouse.

In 1963 the Schlumpf brothers purchased 18 personal cars of Ettore Bugatti himself, including Bugatti Royale Coupé Napoléon manufactured in 1929 that was the biggest luxury car of the time.

The Autodrom in the open space of the museum presents car-related shows displaying both retro and modern cars in action.

Close to the Automobile museum there is the Railway museum (Cité du Train), the largest railway museum in Europe. Here you can see dozens of old steam engines, carriages and royal lounge cars that once belonged to the Emperors Nicholas II, Napoleon III and Charles de Gaulle. The interactive exhibition covers the period from 1844 to the present day, with the Orient-Express glorified by Agatha Christie as the gem of the collection.

Undoubtedly, there are many more attractions and museums in Alsace that are worthy of mentioning and we will definitely continue our story in the following articles. To be continued, à suivre!