La Petite France, Strasbourg

No visit to the Strasbourg-Alcade region is complete without a stroll down the Grand Île in La Petite France. Once a tanning and slaughterhouse hub, La Petite France is located on the Grande Île (Main Island), where the river Ill divides up into a maze of canals, cascading through a pristine thatch of medieval half-timbered houses and baroque sandstone buildings. In 1988, the Grand Île was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, making it a must-see on your itinerary. The name Petite-France ("Little France") was not bestowed upon the region for patriotic or architectural reasons, it originates from the "hospice of the syphilitic" (Hospice des Vérolés, in French), an area constructed in the late fifteenth century on this island, to cure persons with syphilis, then called the "French disease" in German. Use our Strasbourg online trip planner to add La Petite France and other attractions to your Strasbourg vacation plans.