town in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France
Vittel is a town in Lorraine. You might know Vittel from the brand of bottled mineral water of the same name, or their excellent thermal baths. It has a pleasant French small-town atmosphere.
Despite being mentioned in every tourist brochure and website of the region, this spa town only has around 5,000 inhabitants. In the summer months the small town with its one short shopping street is easily flooded by tourists, so it's best to visit either before or after July-August.
If you're coming from outside the region you'll likely arrive via the A31 between Nancy and Dijon, take exit #9 and follow the D165. If you're coming from the other side (Épinal) be careful to follow the signs Vittel-Centre otherwise you can get stuck on the ring road and you will go on a ridiculously oversized ring road around the town.
There are small free parking lots scattered all over the town (max 1.5 hr) but in the summer months they fill up quickly, so you might have to drive around a while in order to find a spot. There's almost always space behind the Aldi supermarket at Rue Saint-Éloi, a pleasant 5-minute walk from the town centre.
There are trains from Nancy (1 hr 15 min) and Épinal (1 hr), but connections are not very frequent, so plan your journey ahead. The station has a handy ticket machine (also in English!) and two ticket counters that never seem to be open when you're there. Regular train tickets can be expensive, but there are many discounts available, for example youth under 26, pensioners or combo tickets for families.
The town is best discovered on foot, not that there are any alternatives. This is no hardship, however.
Have breakfast or lunch at one of multiple Boulangerie-Patisseries along Rue de Verdun, the main street.
Cell phone coverage is good but mobile internet is frustratingly slow. There isn't a lot of Wi-Fi to go around in rural France, and Vittel is no exception.
Go to nearby Mirecourt or Épinal.