France and Germany collide in Strasbourg. The French city by the River Rhine (and just a stone's throw from the border with Germany) has a very international feel. The nicest part of town is Petite France, just a five-minute walk from the main railway station, where the names of the streets recall the local industries that underpinned medieval Strasbourg: milling, lace-making and tanneries. Those industries are long gone, and Strasbourg nowadays mainstreams on education, research and politics. It is home to the European Parliament.

Strasbourg makes a perfect overnight stop on longer itineraries, but it's also an excellent choice for a two or three-night break. The Vosges Mountains are an ever-present backdrop to Strasbourg life and border-hoppers can cross the Rhine to explore nearby areas of Germany. The Schwarzwald (Black Forest) is within easy striking distance.

The main railway station in Strasbourg is a short walk west of the city centre. A bold modern armadillo-like structure masks the handsome old station from where trains generally leave every hour for Paris, which is less than two hours away. New for 2019 is a twice-daily direct regional train (TER) to Paris - it's much slower than the TGV, but takes in some fine countryside, passing through the Champagne region and the beautiful Marne Valley en route to the French capital.

Strasbourg has excellent rail links. Take your pick from the departures board: Lille or Lyon, Moscow or Marseille. A new fast twice-daily TGV link to Brussels was launched in 2016. There are direct TGVs to a host of French provincial cities as well as to major German cities like Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Munich. Strasbourg lies at the hub of a good network of local trains with routes running west into the Vosges, east over the Rhine into Germany and south through Alsace to Bâle (Basel) in Switzerland. Getting around the city is easy with its good bus and tram network. The latter was extended over the Rhine into Germany in spring 2017.