Some old friends of mine from America are coming through Central Europe and they wanted to know, what are some cities 2-3 hours away that would be fun for young people to visit this time of year? We were thinking of making either a day or weekend trip.
Certain traits we have in mind are places that are relatively easy on the wallet and have lots of cultural offerings in terms of music, museums, or art.
Virtually impossible. Germany is a much safer bet.
(The English holiday in France in their thousands every year and a really small percentage can actually speak the language well, if at all but they seem to manage).
I was about to post a similar question as I've just moved to Zurich as a young adult (23) and looking to do some travelling as well!
As for Strasbourg, I lived there for 3 months last year and my French was maxed out at 'bonjour' and 'merci'. Given the international organisations there (EU, council of europe, etc.) and the high volume of tourism, you don't need French to survive out there (although, I would admit, don't expect the locals to speak in English to you). Beautiful city and definitely worth a trip; if you are there for more than a couple of days, I recommend doing the Route des Vins (cycle and drink lots of local wine) http://www.alsace-wine-route.com/en .
For a day trip for a weekend trip, I would suggest Strasbourg and Colmar. These are 2 major cities in Alsace. There are lots of attractions in both of the 2 cities.