Remparts & Tour de la Chapelle Walk
Obernai is one of the best-preserved walled towns in Alsace, yet most visitors never leave Place du Marché to discover the near-complete circuit of 13th-century ramparts that rings the old town. The 1.5 km walk along the walls and their towers is free, mostly shaded and almost always quiet.
Walking the Walls
Start at the Tour de la Chapelle — a slender 13th-century watchtower on the southern edge of the old town — and follow the gravel path that runs along the base of the ramparts westward. You'll pass through a series of half-moon bastions and beneath the branches of lime trees planted in the 19th century that now form a leafy tunnel.
The walls are punctuated by four surviving towers, each with a different profile: round, square, octagonal and polygonal. Local historians have nicknamed them and their stories are told on small illustrated panels fixed to the stonework — the detail about the 1679 French annexation of Obernai is particularly striking.
The Garden Side
On the inner side of the ramparts, private gardens back right up to the medieval stone — you'll glimpse kitchen gardens, espaliered fruit trees and the occasional dovecote through gaps in the hedgerows. It feels like a secret Alsatian village hidden inside the tourist village.
The best section for photography is the northeastern stretch near Porte Basse, where the wall steps down toward a small moat garden planted with heritage roses in June and July. Early morning light hits this section perfectly.
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