Strasbourg has two faces. The medieval island around the cathedral is the famous one, but just beyond it lies the Neustadt, the new town that the German Empire built after it annexed Alsace in 1871. This guide follows five places that span both: the Alsatian Museum and the Palais Rohan on the river, the opera house on Place Broglie, Place de la République at the centre of the Neustadt, and the church of Saint-Paul on its island. All five are stops on our scavenger hunt.
Alsatian Museum
On the quai Saint-Nicolas, across the Ill from the old town, three half-timbered houses dating from the 17th century have been joined into one museum of everyday life in Alsace. Instead of grand art, it shows how people in the region lived, worked and celebrated: furniture, costumes, toys, religious objects and whole rooms rebuilt as they once were. The Alsatian Museum is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt. The museum is closed for building work until 2028, so check before you go; the facades on the quay can still be seen from outside.
- Reconstructed interiors such as a stub, the panelled living room of an Alsatian farmhouse, as well as a kitchen and an old apothecary's shop.
- Objects from Jewish life in Alsace, including a paper-cut mizrah made in 1822 by Elias Danhauser, and the Sponselé, a 17th-century doll from Ensisheim.
Palais Rohan
Next to the cathedral, facing the river, stands the palace of the prince-bishops of Strasbourg. Cardinal Armand Gaston Maximilien de Rohan commissioned it in 1727, and it was built from 1732 to 1742 to designs by Robert de Cotte, the first architect of King Louis XV, with Joseph Massol in charge on site. It was built in the manner of the great Paris town houses of the day, and its guests show how important it was: Marie Antoinette spent her first night on French soil here in May 1770, on her way to marry the future Louis XVI, and Napoleon stayed several nights in 1805, 1806 and 1809.
Bombs damaged the palace on 11 August 1944, and in 1947 a fire during the repairs destroyed much of the painting collection. The full restoration took until the 1990s. Today the palace holds three museums: archaeology in the basement, decorative arts on the ground floor, in the former princely apartments, and fine arts on the upper floors. The Palais Rohan is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The courtyard on the cathedral side, which opens onto the square next to the cathedral.
- The long river facade, best seen from the opposite bank of the Ill or from a boat.
Opéra national du Rhin
Strasbourg's opera house stands on Place Broglie, a long square north of the cathedral. The building was put up between 1804 and 1821 to designs by the architect Villot. In the German bombardment of 1870 it was almost gutted, and it was rebuilt in the same style and reopened in 1873. Today it is the Strasbourg home of the Opéra national du Rhin, a company formed in 1972 that also performs in Mulhouse and Colmar. The opera house is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The six muses above the columns of the portico, by the sculptor Landolin Ohmacht. Tradition counts nine muses, so look for the three that are missing.
Place de la République
Cross the Ill to the east of Place Broglie and you are in the Neustadt. Place de la République was laid out from 1880 as the Kaiserplatz, the imperial square, a round park surrounded by grand buildings meant to show German power in the new capital of Alsace-Lorraine. On one side stands the Palais du Rhin, the former imperial palace, built from 1884 to 1887 by Hermann Eggert and now the seat of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine. Opposite are the National and University Library and the Théâtre national de Strasbourg, which was built as the parliament of Alsace-Lorraine.
In the middle of the park stands the war memorial by Léon-Ernest Drivier, inaugurated in 1936. It shows a mother holding her two dead sons, who are understood as one who died for France and one for Germany: a quiet image of a region that changed hands several times. The square is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt, and in 2017 the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the old town was extended to include the Neustadt.
- The memorial up close: walk round it to see the mother and her two sons from every side.
- The massive Palais du Rhin, and the domed library facing it across the park.
Église réformée Saint-Paul
South of Place de la République, the twin spires of Saint-Paul rise at the southern end of an island in the Ill. The church was built between 1892 and 1897 by the architect Louis Muller in Gothic Revival style, as a church for the Lutheran soldiers of the German garrison; its spires reach about 76 metres. After Alsace returned to France, it was handed to the Reformed Protestant church in 1919, and it still serves a Reformed congregation. It is the last stop of our scavenger hunt.
- The view of the church from the bridges over the Ill, where it seems to float on its island, especially in the evening light.
How to see them in one walk
Start on the quai Saint-Nicolas with the Alsatian Museum, cross the Ill and walk past the river facade of the Palais Rohan to its courtyard beside the cathedral. From there go north through the old streets to Place Broglie and the opera house. Cross the river again to Place de la République and walk once round the park to see each of its buildings. Finish by walking along the Ill to Saint-Paul, ideally towards sunset.
See Strasbourg with World City Trail
Our Strasbourg scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from the Ponts Couverts to the Église réformée Saint-Paul, and the Alsatian Museum, the Palais Rohan, the Opéra national du Rhin, Place de la République and Saint-Paul are all stops, along with the Ponts Couverts, St. Thomas Church, Place Gutenberg, the cathedral and Place Kléber. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Strasbourg, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Strasbourg scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Strasbourg →
Play the outdoor escape game in Strasbourg →
Facts checked in October 2026.