Riquewihr is the Alsatian wine-route fantasy in concentrated form: timber-framed houses, a guarded old gate, flower boxes, steep vineyards, and crowds that can be startling for such a small village. It is undeniably pretty, and also undeniably busy in season. Come early or late in the day if you want to see the place rather than the procession.
The village sits below the Schoenenbourg grand cru vineyard, one of the great names for Alsace Riesling. Wine is not decoration here; it is the reason the houses are so handsome and the reason families such as Hugel have stayed central to the town's identity for centuries.
Inside the walls, the Dolder and Tour des Voleurs give Riquewihr a tougher medieval edge beneath the prettiness. Use it as a short but rewarding stop between Colmar, Kaysersberg, and Ribeauvillé.