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Écomusée d'Alsace

A whole Alsatian village, taken apart house by house elsewhere in the region and rebuilt at Ungersheim. Eighty buildings, craftspeople at work, farm animals.

Ungersheim (about 1 hour from Orbey)

Tour length

A full day

Location

Ungersheim (about 1 hour from Orbey)

From

€16.50 adult · €11 for ages 4 to 17 · €50 family pass

The site

What to know

The Écomusée d'Alsace is a complete, inhabited village rather than a collection behind glass. Eighty buildings representative of rural Alsace have been rebuilt here after being dismantled beam by beam in their home villages, where they were due for demolition. You push open every door: behind it is a furnished interior, a cowshed, a potter's or a wheelwright's workshop. Craftspeople work in front of visitors, old breeds of livestock fill the farms, and more than a dozen activities run through the day, from 10:30am to 5:45pm. It is the outing that works whatever the weather, and it really does take a day: the museum gives one entry free for one bought in the last two hours, which tells you plainly what a short visit leaves out.

History

The story of the place

It began in 1971, when a group of history and archaeology students led by Marc Grodwohl grew alarmed at the disappearance of Alsatian farmhouses. At Gommersdorf, in the Sundgau, they restored a few and dismantled others that were headed for destruction. The association Maisons paysannes d'Alsace was founded in 1973. Unable to keep the buildings where they stood, it decided to rebuild them identically elsewhere: the village of Ungersheim offered a patch of waste ground between Mulhouse and Colmar, and the house from Kœtzingue was re-erected there in September 1980. Nineteen more followed. The museum opened to the public on 1 June 1984 and drew 75,000 visitors in its first year; Jack Lang inaugurated it. The Tour Forte, rebuilt between 1985 and 1987 from late-15th-century fragments of Mulhouse's medieval ramparts, marked a shift in scale. Close to 300 volunteers still keep the association going today.

The must-sees

What you really shouldn't miss during your visit.

Eighty rebuilt houses

Every building was taken apart in its home village, carted here and reconstructed exactly as it was. The doors open: inside is a staged interior, a cowshed or a workshop.

Craftspeople at work

Forge, pottery, wheelwright, saddlery, stained-glass workshop. Demonstrations run all day: the blacksmith works from 2pm to 3:30pm and again from 4:30pm to 5:45pm.

The village animals

Old and local breeds, spread across the farms. The feeding round by cart leaves at 10:30am, the pigs eat at 1pm, and the animal parade comes through at 2pm.

The Tour Forte

Rebuilt between 1985 and 1987 with stone from Mulhouse's medieval ramparts, it stands between the Renaissance garden and the medieval garden. You can see it from far off.

The boat ride and the tractor ride

Two ways of crossing the museum without walking, welcome once small legs give out. The tractor leaves from the Place des Charpentiers, €1 per person, times posted on site.

The old schoolroom

Primary certificate drill at 10:45am, old-fashioned games at 11:45am. Children sit down at the old desks and play along.

Opening hours

Open: 10am to 6pm. 2026 season: 3 April to 1 November, then 4 December to 3 January 2027 for the Christmas period. The museum does not open every day: Friday to Sunday in spring and autumn, daily except Monday in July and August, and more often during school holidays. Day-by-day calendar at ecomusee.alsace. The ticket office closes an hour before the museum.
Closed: 2 November to 3 December, then 24, 25 and 31 December

Tickets

Adult (over 18)
€16.50
Child aged 4 to 17
€11.00
Under 4
Free
Family pass
2 adults and 2 children
€50.00
Reduced rate
Students under 26, over-65s, teachers, jobseekers, disability card, Jeun'Est
€14.00
Annual pass
Adult and child, valid one year
€57 · €38
Petit Prince combo
Écomusée and Parc du Petit Prince, adult and child
€33 · €27
Cité du Train combo
Bought at the desk, at the Écomusée or at the Cité du Train
€29 · €19

In pictures

The place from several angles, to prepare your visit.

Our tips before you go

1The museum does not open every day. Outside school holidays and outside July and August it is Friday to Sunday only. Check the calendar at ecomusee.alsace before you set off.
2Plan on the whole day. Activities run one after another from 10:30am to 5:45pm and there are more than a dozen of them: leaving at 3pm means seeing a third of it.
3Ungersheim is about an hour's drive from Orbey, via Colmar then the A35. In other words, this is an outing you decide on the night before, not over breakfast.
4It is the wet-weather fallback and it holds up: 80 houses to visit from the inside, covered workshops, exhibitions. Rain moves the visit around rather than cancelling it.
5Picnics are expected and well catered for: 8 shaded areas, 2 of them covered, and more than 120 tables. Otherwise there are two restaurants and a bakery on site.
6You can leave and come back during the day by telling staff at the gate, to fetch the cool box from the car for instance. In the last hour before closing, though, leaving is final.
7The lanes are gravelled, which makes life hard for strollers and wheelchairs. The museum lends wheelchairs free of charge; ask when you buy your tickets.
8Sat navs cannot find the Écomusée. The museum recommends entering the coordinates 47°51'7.4''N and 7°17'6''E directly. Parking is free, with spaces for campervans.
9Dogs are welcome free of charge and on a lead, with tie-up points near the restaurants. They cannot go on the boat or the tractor.
10In December the museum reopens for Christmas from 4 December to 3 January, with Saint Nicholas arriving on 6 December and the Three Kings on 3 January.